4 ms·

Homelessness and the post-2008 wave of poverty ruined it. A few people who need to use a public bathroom everyday is fine, but when you have 100x of ppl who are

Homelessness and the post-2008 wave of poverty ruined it. A few people who need to use a public bathroom everyday is fine, but when you have 100x of ppl who are desuetude, on drugs, mentally ill etc. emptying their medications and needles and so on it becomes a public health hazard, attracts crime, and overwhelms staff. Better to just shut it down altogether or limit to staff only. .

deadbunny 2mo ago
Good thing that stops the "destitute, on drugs, mentally ill etc" from doing this simply by removing the public toilets right?
- skinfaxi 2mo ago
  Well it becomes someone else's problem, right? That kind of short-term thinking is in vogue at the moment.
- nxc18 2mo ago
  Portland put out portable toilets during the pandemic. They had big signs on them about how toilet access was a human right, or something like that. One by one, they were all burned down. Homeless people seem to be really good at destroying stuff. My apartment building is taking on new low income tenants and the rate of fires - with sprinkler activation - is boggling. The public park I walk by often is losing a little bit more greenery to homeless fires every few months, but I’m still saddened by the loss of a large, beautiful tree - torched by a camper. The problem isn’t removing public resources, it’s keeping them in working order against a persistent opponent.
  - deadbunny 2mo ago
    Seems like the problem is the utter lack of mental health support to me.
    - 9x39 2mo ago
      The utter lack of it? There's an entire industrial complex around homeless "support" to do magic tricks on money. Portland's county allocates $9m annually. LA's county allocates $4b annually. Should it be 2x that? 20x? 200x before any positive change occurs? "Mental health" is a non-answer designed to shift accountability and agency from individuals into everyone else vis a vis whatever system is expected to provide this vague "support", despite the failed track record of these systems to improve anything but their employees' and contractors' pockets.
- gosub100 2mo ago
  The point isn't to stop them, it's to prevent them from ruining public places for everyone else. A homeless man pooing/injecting behind a dumpster is way better than the floor of a restaurant bathroom.
peterfirefly 2mo ago
> post-2008 wave of poverty ruined it but the US is not poor. The US has the richest "poor" people in the entire world. There is a massive social security net with massive redistribution. There was no "post-2008 wave of poverty".
- paulpauper 2mo ago
  huge surge of homeless camps, people going on various disability programs, job loss and ppl not returning to labor force. it's possible for the US to be collectivity wealthier yet a lot of people poorer.

deadbunny 2mo ago

Good thing that stops the "destitute, on drugs, mentally ill etc" from doing this simply by removing the public toilets right?

skinfaxi 2mo ago
Well it becomes someone else's problem, right? That kind of short-term thinking is in vogue at the moment.
nxc18 2mo ago
Portland put out portable toilets during the pandemic. They had big signs on them about how toilet access was a human right, or something like that. One by one, they were all burned down. Homeless people seem to be really good at destroying stuff. My apartment building is taking on new low income tenants and the rate of fires - with sprinkler activation - is boggling. The public park I walk by often is losing a little bit more greenery to homeless fires every few months, but I’m still saddened by the loss of a large, beautiful tree - torched by a camper. The problem isn’t removing public resources, it’s keeping them in working order against a persistent opponent.
- deadbunny 2mo ago
  Seems like the problem is the utter lack of mental health support to me.
  - 9x39 2mo ago
    The utter lack of it? There's an entire industrial complex around homeless "support" to do magic tricks on money. Portland's county allocates $9m annually. LA's county allocates $4b annually. Should it be 2x that? 20x? 200x before any positive change occurs? "Mental health" is a non-answer designed to shift accountability and agency from individuals into everyone else vis a vis whatever system is expected to provide this vague "support", despite the failed track record of these systems to improve anything but their employees' and contractors' pockets.
gosub100 2mo ago
The point isn't to stop them, it's to prevent them from ruining public places for everyone else. A homeless man pooing/injecting behind a dumpster is way better than the floor of a restaurant bathroom.

peterfirefly 2mo ago

> post-2008 wave of poverty ruined it but the US is not poor. The US has the richest "poor" people in the entire world. There is a massive social security net with massive redistribution. There was no "post-2008 wave of poverty".

paulpauper 2mo ago
huge surge of homeless camps, people going on various disability programs, job loss and ppl not returning to labor force. it's possible for the US to be collectivity wealthier yet a lot of people poorer.