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The Apocalypse comes early to Colorado Springs


Shryke

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I am curious because from what I have heard, seen in the field and whatnot, there is not enough shelters to go around. I am in Minneapolis/St. Paul which has one of the better shelter systems in the nation, we pretty much have to, as it is either provide some kind of shelter or let people freeze to death. I know that we have seen an uptick of around 300% in people utilizing shelters in the past year or two and space is simply not available.

Yeah, that is typical, no alcohol or drugs allowed inside. I don't know of a shelter that will allow that as it is usually against city/county/state guidelines. Some though enforce different guidelines for being dry, there are some that you can't bring stuff in, but are under the influence and still functional you can come in; whereas others require you to be totally sober. Depending on which rule they have this really affects ability to house.

Guy, my point in bringing this up is that the fact that some people were camping in the park in CS does not necessarily mean they have no other options. I simply don't know their shelter situation. Personally, if the shelters are full, I think those folks should be permitted to stay in their tents.

Seeing families on the streets in my city is very rare. In fact, I can't recall seeing it, though that obviously doesn't mean it hasn't occured. The vast majority are single adults with either drug/alcohol/mental illness issues.

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Guy, my point in bringing this up is that the fact that some people were camping in the park in CS does not necessarily mean they have no other options. I simply don't know their shelter situation. Personally, if the shelters are full, I think those folks should be permitted to stay in their tents.

Seeing families on the streets in my city is very rare. In fact, I can't recall seeing it, though that obviously doesn't mean it hasn't occured. The vast majority are single adults with either drug/alcohol/mental illness issues.

Most cities have anti-vagrancy laws which means camping is illegal. Depending on your city you will find that most homeless campers have gotten very good at hiding where they camp. I have run across campsites that I didn't know they werecampsites until the individual living there let me know. Campsites tend to also be highly transitory, for a whole host of reasons, so where one is one day, it is not the next. While there are not alot of homeless families, they do exist, alot of that has to do with the societal dynamics of men and women in the community. Children usually stay with the women, and usually in the exchange of companionship, are able to shack up with men. Men don't usually have that option and tend to be on their own.

I can't speak to camping in CS, as I do not know the situation specific to that locale. With that said, rarely do I find people have much choices when it comes to camping. While there might be some independent decision making, most people are a victims of circumstance. The Wilder Foundation has done an interesting study on the habits and numbers of the homeless population. Unfortunately, I do not have that information in an electronic format, but if you would like to read into more I encourage you keep tab on their homeless counts and interviews.

I guess, in response to your point, while you may be technically correct, I think it is such a small percentage, that you are practically not correct.

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Nope, Marietta - East Cobb, believe it or not. Known for an enclave of wealth (East Cobb, that is), somehow, Darling and I managed to find the last affordable home in the area - which is a small, blue-collar or even working poor (that's the renters) slice in the larger pie of East Cobb.

We are off the South Loop and Powers Ferry Road. Home prices are currently about $120,000 - $200,000 in our little 'hood. :)

Our neighbors across the street used to have dogfights, until they got evicted. Charming little area. :) I call it "up and coming".

Actually, I can believe that. I am rather familiar with the breakdown of Cobb enclaves! Pretty much half of the Roswell St corridor could probably be called blue-collar (or worse) until you get out past the Loop and and into "real" East Cobb and McMansionland.

I'm out in the West-central Cobb and it's pretty much the same situation. Lots of older houses, more of a working class feel, although with a few more farms and open space scattered around. Not much scope for gentrification out here :)

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The only thing mentioned which could affect the poor disproportionately is that the buses will not run on evenings and weekends.

as I recall the rich and middle class (and car owners in general) all tend to have jobs in the 8am-6pm time range on monday through friday. The poor are generally those who have to work swing shifts, night shifts, graveyard shifts and weekend shifts. Cutting bus service to M-F 8-6 means only people without cars and with jobs in that time frame will be taking public transit.

I expect the grass mowing and grass watering thing will be repealed, because brown parks and overgrown parks could negatively affect the property values of the wealthy and middle class homeowners in C.Springs. but street lights may well go, because its only poor women walking to their jobs at night who will be grabbed in the much darker streets, taken inside, and raped. And this is acceptable because it takes a long time for the rape of poor women to affect property values in a large way.

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as I recall the rich and middle class (and car owners in general) all tend to have jobs in the 8am-6pm time range on monday through friday. The poor are generally those who have to work swing shifts, night shifts, graveyard shifts and weekend shifts. Cutting bus service to M-F 8-6 means only people without cars and with jobs in that time frame will be taking public transit.

I expect the grass mowing and grass watering thing will be repealed, because brown parks and overgrown parks could negatively affect the property values of the wealthy and middle class homeowners in C.Springs. but street lights may well go, because its only poor women walking to their jobs at night who will be grabbed in the much darker streets, taken inside, and raped. And this is acceptable because it takes a long time for the rape of poor women to affect property values in a large way.

:thumbsdown:

Another poster who knows little about the demographics of rape, and simply attempts to use the word as a club for their own personal soap box session.

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:thumbsdown:

Another poster who knows little about the demographics of rape, and simply attempts to use the word as a club for their own personal soap box session.

my apologies I read the rest of the thread, and figured my snark from early thread viewing wouldn't go over all that well. I'd edit the post but you already quoted it.

fwiw, streetlights, parks, museums and the other things proposed are all worthy of being cut, I just don't like them being cut.

for some reason, though, cuts to teaching always remind me that we mainly have mandatory education in order to keep children out of the workforce. Sure child-labor is bad and all that, but we didn't end child labor simply for humanitarian reasons; to a certain extent school is government provided day care to keep children from depressing the wages of everyone else because they're a large population that will work for less and is a population that can be paid so much less because they lack the standard-of-living overhead adults are required to carry.

Sure, increasing class size while cutting teacher pay is fine and dandy, but as the quality of schools goes down, the dropout rate goes up and that changes the dynamics of the labor pool.

of course, the flip side of this suggests that the real way to solve the non-assimilation cultural problems of illegal immigrants and take away their wage depressing effect on the labor pool is to send them all to school. :-p

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