4 ms·

There are several answers to this question. On a moral level: major cities are the economic engines of the US, and are unrivaled in the opportunities they can o

There are several answers to this question. On a moral level: major cities are the economic engines of the US, and are unrivaled in the opportunities they can offer their residents, in terms of education, employment, upward mobility, etc. I don't think you have to think everyone should have a right to live wherever they want to be uncomfortable with the idea that only people that already come from money should have access to those opportunities, just like a lot of people aren't comfortable with the idea that only rich people should be able to go to college. It smells of entrenched aristocracy of the kind that at least in theory Americans aren't wild about. On a more practical level: even many (most?) gentrifiers with money like to live in vibrant and diverse cities. They want there to be people to work in their coffee shops and clean their officers, and they want access to the pho joints and bodegas that come with immigrant populations. That requires making accommodations for people less well of than them to be able to live in their cities.

jmspring 10y ago
I don't live in a major city, I live, ostensibly in a suburb of San Jose/Silicon Valley (have for 25 years, and a bay area native). Living close to Silicon Valley (being in tech) as well as being a part of a community that is tied tightly to agriculture, looking at how people work and what they require/demand from society is interesting. Santa Cruz, based off of really questionable "point in time counts", has a homeless population of around 3500. If Santa Cruz was to scale to the size of San Francisco, we'd have nearly 50k homeless. Basically 5% which is absolutely nuts. We are a mixed community, tech, service, labor, farm, etc. Even with a "day labor" center, I daily see individuals from central and south america looking for work. Do I see the "indigent" white kids freeloading downtown trying to work? No. There should be a need to require (or at least work towards a path of) doing something gainful for the community in exchange for services, housing, and rehab. Homelessness is a real issue. Unfortunately, the majority of those in the "industry" can't/won't/refuse to distinguish different categories and that is a problem. The 20-something meth-head from Santa Barbara, I reached out to her "friends" on Facebook to get her the hell out of the local spiral, no response. Our community owes her nothing. A friend of mine who lived across the street, works in the arts, couldn't find a single room rental in his budget is currently couch surfing and thinking about an RV/Van, he's been here 20 years; I'm trying to help him out. He has enough contacts/etc, to not enter the system based off of a housing need, he's an exception. The system should provide for locals and those with a track record of ties. Yet, in liberal areas, like the military industrial complex, there is a homeless industrial complex...Non-profits and others that "mean well", but require those state, federal, and private dollars to "do good" and justify bloated salaries. If "homelessness" was cured in Santa Cruz tomorrow, I estimate that 1000 people would be out of a job, at the least. I understand the need for non-profits and those willing to do the hard job, but many times "compassion" is bandied about as a means to milk $$ and do nothing.
Camillo 10y ago
The notion that diversity is necessary to enjoy a variety of food is readily disproven by visiting San Francisco. You can enjoy great food from all sorts of cuisines: French, Chinese, Greek, Puerto Rican, Hungarian, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, etc. But if you look in the kitchen, it's all made by Mexicans.
- douche 10y ago
  You can also see this in some of the whitest states in the nation. All of these types of cuisine are available in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, in the major cities (i.e. > 50k people...) You don't need a whole lot of population to supply the ethnic food economy.
  - jacobolus 10y ago
    Yep. Go to many/most parts of the country and you can find a wide variety of cuisine prepared by Mexicans. :-)
- joshkpeterson 10y ago
  What the fuck? Are you seriously using this as a counter argument to the value of diversity? This place is a self-parody sometimes.
- prawn 10y ago
  Are those restaurants started by Mexicans, or just staffed by them once the founder gets busy and is looking to maintain a profit? I dare say you don't get Hungarian restaurants in a city without Hungarian people.
maroonblazer 10y ago
>major cities are the economic engines of the US, and are unrivaled in the opportunities they can offer their residents, in terms of education, employment, upward mobility, etc. Isn't that where public transportation enters the picture? If the homeless' situation is such that even public transportation isn't within their grasp then that should be part of the solution as well.
- NetStrikeForce 10y ago
  If you are working minimum wage, the last thing you want is to spend between 2 and 4 more hours per day on public transportation or driving (if you can afford it). It could be worse though, it could be that you can't afford public transportation either. Look at London: Unaffordable to live in if you're minimum wage (hence the unofficial "London minimum wage"), plus the train could get as expensive as £500 a month while still living 30 minutes away from zone 1. So there's the situation where what you save on housing you spend on transport (and feeling miserable spending hours on a train/tube/bus).

jmspring 10y ago

I don't live in a major city, I live, ostensibly in a suburb of San Jose/Silicon Valley (have for 25 years, and a bay area native). Living close to Silicon Valley (being in tech) as well as being a part of a community that is tied tightly to agriculture, looking at how people work and what they require/demand from society is interesting. Santa Cruz, based off of really questionable "point in time counts", has a homeless population of around 3500. If Santa Cruz was to scale to the size of San Francisco, we'd have nearly 50k homeless. Basically 5% which is absolutely nuts. We are a mixed community, tech, service, labor, farm, etc. Even with a "day labor" center, I daily see individuals from central and south america looking for work. Do I see the "indigent" white kids freeloading downtown trying to work? No. There should be a need to require (or at least work towards a path of) doing something gainful for the community in exchange for services, housing, and rehab. Homelessness is a real issue. Unfortunately, the majority of those in the "industry" can't/won't/refuse to distinguish different categories and that is a problem. The 20-something meth-head from Santa Barbara, I reached out to her "friends" on Facebook to get her the hell out of the local spiral, no response. Our community owes her nothing. A friend of mine who lived across the street, works in the arts, couldn't find a single room rental in his budget is currently couch surfing and thinking about an RV/Van, he's been here 20 years; I'm trying to help him out. He has enough contacts/etc, to not enter the system based off of a housing need, he's an exception. The system should provide for locals and those with a track record of ties. Yet, in liberal areas, like the military industrial complex, there is a homeless industrial complex...Non-profits and others that "mean well", but require those state, federal, and private dollars to "do good" and justify bloated salaries. If "homelessness" was cured in Santa Cruz tomorrow, I estimate that 1000 people would be out of a job, at the least. I understand the need for non-profits and those willing to do the hard job, but many times "compassion" is bandied about as a means to milk $$ and do nothing.

Camillo 10y ago

The notion that diversity is necessary to enjoy a variety of food is readily disproven by visiting San Francisco. You can enjoy great food from all sorts of cuisines: French, Chinese, Greek, Puerto Rican, Hungarian, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Polish, etc. But if you look in the kitchen, it's all made by Mexicans.

douche 10y ago
You can also see this in some of the whitest states in the nation. All of these types of cuisine are available in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, in the major cities (i.e. > 50k people...) You don't need a whole lot of population to supply the ethnic food economy.
- jacobolus 10y ago
  Yep. Go to many/most parts of the country and you can find a wide variety of cuisine prepared by Mexicans. :-)
joshkpeterson 10y ago
What the fuck? Are you seriously using this as a counter argument to the value of diversity? This place is a self-parody sometimes.
prawn 10y ago
Are those restaurants started by Mexicans, or just staffed by them once the founder gets busy and is looking to maintain a profit? I dare say you don't get Hungarian restaurants in a city without Hungarian people.

maroonblazer 10y ago

>major cities are the economic engines of the US, and are unrivaled in the opportunities they can offer their residents, in terms of education, employment, upward mobility, etc. Isn't that where public transportation enters the picture? If the homeless' situation is such that even public transportation isn't within their grasp then that should be part of the solution as well.

NetStrikeForce 10y ago
If you are working minimum wage, the last thing you want is to spend between 2 and 4 more hours per day on public transportation or driving (if you can afford it). It could be worse though, it could be that you can't afford public transportation either. Look at London: Unaffordable to live in if you're minimum wage (hence the unofficial "London minimum wage"), plus the train could get as expensive as £500 a month while still living 30 minutes away from zone 1. So there's the situation where what you save on housing you spend on transport (and feeling miserable spending hours on a train/tube/bus).