American Thinker:
Some things are so obvious that only a progressive could fail to anticipate them. That dynamic is underway in Austin, Texas, where residents and officials are dismayed that the recent change in city ordinances allowing the homeless to camp out on public sidewalks and other municipally owned land has led to an increase in homelessness.
KXAN TV reports:
Hundreds of people attended Tuesday night’s Downtown Austin Alliance forum to hear directly from Austin’s police chief about how APD is interpreting and enforcing the new camping and sit/lie ordinances.
The changes went into effect on July 1.
Under the new ordinances, sleeping, sitting down or lying down in public areas is now allowed as long as you’re not blocking the public right of way and as long as you aren’t being a safety hazard to yourself or others.
“I’ll be honest with you. We are beginning to see an uptick in the issues in downtown,” said Dewitt Peart, President of CEO of Downtown Austin Alliance.
He said at Republic Square Park, the number of people who are homeless sleeping at the park, has increased from three or four to about 20.
That’s about 500%, a nontrivial increase. more
duh!
The homeless, at least most of them, are the homeless because there is no other place for them.
Everybody’s got to be somewhere, and that is the only place they can be.
There are many different types of people and most of them fit in somewhere while others have been forced out because the places they used to fit are no longer there.
Maybe instead of trying to “help” them, those concerned citizens that want to address the issue should start looking into why there is not someplace else for them, a place where they belong instead of intrude.
Maybe we should think about bringing back the “skid row” and low rent districts in our cities instead of urban renewing them out of existence and forcing their former residents out of them with no place else for them to go.
Naw … it’ll be explained away as Globaloney Warming or Trump Effect.
They’ll learn to step over the bums and needles and piles of feces.
Reality NEVER interferes with “The Narrative.”
izlamo delenda est …
Used to love Austin…
.
The traffic is absolutely insane and homeless were camped under every overpass… That was before the new law
Austin has the same problem as the West coast. It’s heavily zoned with a lot of environmental restriction, driving rents through the roof
Can’t wait until they let them start crapping on the sidewalks. Isn’t progress wonderful?
Another shithole I hope to never again visit.
Most of these people have burnt every bridge with anyone who helped them in the past. Burning a bridge may be too kind. Navy Seal underwater demolitions teams probably do less damage than these fuckwads.
Who doesn’t have some form of mental illness.
Christ knows I do. I have an irrational fear of living under a bridge with people who smoke meth and wipe their ass with their bare hands.
As a result, I injure myself emotionally by sitting in high stress traffic two hours a day to work a job I hate. It’s taken a terrible toll on my freewheeling, devil may care attitude.
It is the hallmark of communism (and all left-collectivist sociopolitical ideologies) that human nature is mutable and perfectible. They believe that if you teach (condition) people, or treat them, the right way, then they will conform to the wished-for ideal. This belief is at its heart magical thinking.
In the Austin and west coast city examples, the truism that “if you subsidize something you will get more of it” is incompatible with the ideology so it is ignored or denied.
Right-collectivists don’t care whether people agree as long as they can be forced to act as though they do.
Isn’t Austin where a University is located? Nuff said!!!!!!
Just think about how good the economy is doing to support that many homeless people.
I was stationed at Bergstrom AFB back in the 70’s. Austin was great. I lived on Cogress Ave, a block from the Amarillo World Headquarters. AUSTIN had a population of @ 300,000 PEOPLE. AHH. Lake Travis. Just wonderful. The city has been totally ruined, largely with transplants from CA.
I can only imagine how much worse it will be in Austin when Texas finally legalizes medical marijuana and then shortly thereafter retail will be allowed. That would be their next step to getting more homeless flocking to a climate that supports homelessness a lot better than Denver and some other liberal cities.
Austin shitty limits, embrace the suck because you think you care more than God, but his solutions are way different.
I have three sons who used to live in Austin. They all moved out to smaller surrounding communities and avoid going into Austin whenever they can.
IT’S THE SAME HOMELESS PEOPLE!
Now that the police are not allowed to chase them away, the dirt can settle at the bottom of the pan showing how much dirt their actually is.
It’s not really the policy change, it’s that they don’t need to rotate around as much.
Progtardism: the cause of, but NOT the solution to, ALL life’s problems! 😳
Subsidize it and you get more of it. Hoodathunkit?
They are sick, twisted malcontents who think this shit is so cute, or so funny or so smart. OK fine, I’ll go along:
OMG, you screwed up another place that you managed to get control of. OMG, you progs are so funny !!!!!!!!!
Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha Ha-ha
Every state used to have mutiple places for them. They were mostly self sustaining. With there own truck gardens, dairys, cannerys, laundries etc.
Then the ACLU happened.
If they had a brain, they’d license their shopping carts!
“The homeless, at least most of them …”
Stop right there.
How do you know that?
Do you know them?
Interview them?
Take of poll?
You read like a fuckin politician: “MOST Americans WANT ME to be lord and master of the Universe!”
Oh, yeah, and the unforgettable: “The people of France think I should be President!”
Outside of mental illness, I suspect (with no evidence, whatsoever) that most bums choose to be bums.
izlamo delenda est …
My condolences to the Congress Avenue Bridge Bats, who are being displaced by human bats.