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You might think this is a homeless issue, but this is more than that. Before you start on me about being politically correct with the word BUM, be sure to read my pages explaining who I am and what this blog is. Besides, it wasn’t my choice of words. It was the choice of the person that posted the stickers on the walk/bike path. Let me explain.
A friend told me there were signs on the walk/bike path that runs along the railroad tracks from Orcutt Rd to the train station. When you get there, the bag dispenser (shown in the slide show) has a note on it warning that you are now in a bum poop zone. There are various other stickers on signs that you will see here warning of HEP-C and other notes about bum poop. One asks why we cannot put out bum bathrooms (some people might insist they are porta potties for the homeless).
I could not tell if the person that did this was being sarcastic or really wants restrooms for the homeless. The fact that they are using the word BUM and that they have other notes all along the trail, I doubt their outrage is concern for the homeless and more for the safety of kids and pets along the walkway. What about homeless and the problems they experience as well as the residents of SLO? Let’s visit this topic.
EOC wants to construct a homeless shelter and day center on South Higuera next to the building that houses Social Services. (You will see more here about the Portland homeless plan SLO wants to adopt) This homeless center would hold more beds than the one on Orcutt Rd. on two levels. That would be very convenient. Why bother walking far, when you can go get your county assistance applications next door and cigarettes and beer across the street? Hey, let’s open a post office on the other side, so the homeless can have their post office box to get their notices and checks right there. How about a Bank of America branch over there, too.
Of course, we don’t want the homeless inconvenienced or embarrassed so let’s put their benefits on a debit card that they just have to swipe at the store’s register or any ATM. This has also created concerns that this costs taxpayers with charges from banks and stores for using the cards. I submit to those people, this may actually be less costly than printing up food stamps that can be counterfeited in some cases. It also saves on postage, which is one reason the post office is going out of business. Of course, if the holder has no incentive to save money like letting it cost them every time they use it instead of costing us taxpayers, then they could end up costing us a couple bucks every time they buy cigarettes with these cards.
Yes, they have cash benefits on the card that can be used to buy cigarettes or something to trade to get cigarettes, booze, and drugs. Let’s give them everything they want. Let them buy pot, booze, and drugs with the money we/you give them. They are going to do it anyway, so why not make it easy so they can enjoy their time on this planet before the homeless die of HEP-C, liver failure, exposure, stabbing, or pneumonia.
I am not opposed to helping people who need it. I am opposed to helping people who use you and choose to be homeless with your money. I think the scales have tipped toward abuse. Now that we accommodate all homeless and repressed no matter what the cause (some are even child molesters and sex offenders – not a high percentage, but there are some listed in SLO as transient on the Megan’s Law listing), so much money goes to such little success. One is on the Megan’s Law site, gets SSI, county aid, and even rides a bike around town begging for cash at the bank ATMs. He must have a decent life, considering this homeless predator gets more money every day than many people working for minimum wage.
How about along the creeks in SLO? The homeless have their own condos and apartments set up along ALL the creeks. Check out along San Luis Creek from the cemetery to south of LOVR (homeless won’t go too far south or they would have to walk far for food and cigarettes). You can find homeless camps all along the creek between the Madonna Rd on ramp and the Marsh St. exit seen from 101. How about the creek that runs from Orcutt Rd across from the homeless shelter or near the new condos there?
You can walk along that area and see paths from the sidewalk leading down to individual areas where homeless have set up under their own bushes, like apartments. Heck, even the little creek near Laurel Lane has tenants, even though they found a dead body down there just a few years ago. Cuesta Park has had a homeless problem in the past, and along that part of the creek. Are they urinating and defecating in our creeks? These all wash down to Avila Beach where mothers let their children play in the warm calm water under the bridge there.
Do you know of other places where homeless sleep? Post it here so we know where to stay away from. Yes, we must stay away due to possible sharp broken glass, needles, disease, ticks, fleas, feces, and heaven forbid that you should come up on one of them when they are freaking out or protecting their “home” with a knife. You can’t do anything about it because the ACLU will sue anyone that cleans out the homeless to make the creeks safe again. Bye bye creeks.
This doesn’t account for those homeless that live in cars, vans, campers, and motor homes they park around town in the industrial areas and dark unoccupied spaces. You can see their cars in the evenings or mornings behind buildings, on dead-end streets, or near shopping centers. They throw stuff out the windows, in dumpsters, and fill garbage cans wherever they are with the trash from snacks, drinks, and cigarettes, not to mention the butts they drop all over and the cups of urine they dump out their door or the bushes where they go to relieve themselves.
Oh, and how about the homeless that hang out at the parks in SLO? They have taken over some of the parks. Forget about finding a bench or park downtown that isn’t occupied or a regular home to someone panhandling or just napping. The city even had to pass an ordinance to keep the homeless from staying on a bench for too long. That’s pretty pathetic, but the city of SLO has invited the homeless with open arms. I guess all other communities should thank the city of SLO because it could have been 5 Cities or Morro Bay instead. No, I guess not, they don’t have the county services that SLO does.
Have you had a ride on the city bus routes lately? Many homeless head to the transit center where you will be greeted by the smell of dirty clothes, perspiration, cigarette smoke, and something I have failed to identify but I am sure is similar to the smell of a dead cat. These smells carry onto the buses, so it is a gamble that you will get where you are going without excessive olfactory stimulation. One time while riding a bus in a tropical city I saw an apparently homeless woman take out a cockroach from a bag on her head and eat it. That was nothing compared to what you get to see, hear, and smell on the buses in SLO, and it is all day long. Homeless people need something to keep from getting bored or sunburned. Be sure to wipe off the seat with a sanitary wipe or put down a disposable rag before you sit down. How about spraying down the buses each time they reach the transit center?
The city was so anxious to accommodate homeless people that they built the restrooms behind the Couch Potato store (that is what is there right now, it keeps changing) on Marsh at Broad. They specifically stated, besides tourists, that the homeless needed a place to use since businesses won’t let them use their restrooms. Have you been to the ones behind the art museum in the mission area at night? If you need drugs, you can usually get hooked up there or through people who hang out there. I guess they need restrooms too. At least they don’t have to use that part of the creek or the bushes to relieve themselves.
That brings us to the walkways and bike paths. Of course it wasn’t long for the homeless to discover this area for their relief. If you decide to walk here, be careful. I looked for feces, and the only suspicious stuff I found was a blue bag under a tree that seemed to hold feces, and what looked like toilet paper loose along the path. You can see pictures of both of these in the slide show above. Maybe this person is right. Maybe we really do have a BUM POOP problem in SLO. Maybe it is in more places than just along the walk.
I have been to downtown LA in the evening and early morning. I have walked along the sidewalks not far from the mission there and saw human feces on sidewalks, urine running down walls from the homeless there. I have smelled it, and watched shop owners rinsing off their sidewalks. I have talked to them and found out that it is a daily thing. The homeless grab cardboard from the stores to make their homes each night along buildings and fences. I have seen a small homeless tent city. I don’t know where the tent mayor was, or tent city hall, but it seemed organized. Maybe that pile of POOP in your bushes that you picked up with a plastic bag while it was still warm wasn’t from a stray dog. Maybe you should be more careful what you handle in your front yard.
Do we have a BUM POOP problem in SLO? I would say yes we do. Maybe not in YOUR yard, but certainly in other people’s yards and where your kids and pets go. This is dangerous, so should we continue to encourage homeless here? We want to help them, but if they don’t want to help themselves, are we really obligated to do so? I think if they want to help themselves we need to stand up and do what we can. If they CAN’T help themselves, they need special care. But, if they WON’T help themselves, I say send those homeless down the road until they have a change of heart.
Perhaps if we got rid of the abuse and plain overuse of our resources, we would have enough to help homeless and others that cannot take care of their own needs, rather than asking to have more money thrown at homeless shelters and programs that are being phased out, and are often ineffective. We have more than a BUM POOP or homeless problem, we have a systematic ACLU and bleeding heart problem, which is worse. If you keep throwing money at things instead of fixing them you will never take care of everyone. There isn’t enough money to go around, even if you tax all the rich and try to make them homeless (that might be another topic).
Yes, we do have a BUM POOP problem and porta potties won’t take care of it. We need to adjust how we deal with homeless people. We need to get rid of the waste, and take care of those that we can. If we tighten the belts of homeless and indigent programs and insist they learn how to manage their money and who they help, then maybe we will have more resources to go around. There is too much waste. Let’s focus and take care of those that really need it, not those that just want it. Let them clean up all the POOP and earn what we give them.
Oh, POOP, that just isn’t going to get past the ACLU and bleeding hearts that want to “do good” and throw good money after bad.
The Opinionator OTCC
