Homeless Encampments on School Grounds

[KingAugie]

A sweep is more than a forced move. It is a police presence forcing the people out of the park/encampment, usually without advance notice, followed by a clean up that involves throwing out everything that the people there couldn't gather up fast enough and carry when being herded out. Sweeps strip the homeless of their few possessions, particularly of tents, tarps, sleeping mats, and whatever other makeshift shelter they might have set up, while doing nothing to solve the actual problem of homelessness. They're just left to start over, still homeless and now homeless with nothing but the clothes on their backs. I can completely understand why the school board would want to see more humane means used to relocate the homeless people living in that camp.

It's not a campground it's school grounds. Their stuff (all that stuff you mentioned PLUS their feces, needles and filth) don't belong there. If school is in session all of it needs to be gone one way or another.
Would you want your children to have to walk through that encampment or what's left behind. Would you want them to be playing outside for recess and stepping in human waste, or finding a used needle?
The kids deserve humane treatment as well and since it's their school they come first IMO. The homeless camp should have never been allowed there in the first place but since it was and school is in session it needs to be sweeped if the people are not willing to leave on their own.

 

[Sanchez]

A sweep is more than a forced move. It is a police presence forcing the people out of the park/encampment, usually without advance notice, followed by a clean up that involves throwing out everything that the people there couldn't gather up fast enough and carry when being herded out. Sweeps strip the homeless of their few possessions, particularly of tents, tarps, sleeping mats, and whatever other makeshift shelter they might have set up, while doing nothing to solve the actual problem of homelessness. They're just left to start over, still homeless and now homeless with nothing but the clothes on their backs. I can completely understand why the school board would want to see more humane means used to relocate the homeless people living in that camp.

I really don't know what some of you are reading. You are, apparently incorrectly, assuming that the sweep in this case will be performed without notice and without further assistance. The Mayor's office is stating that resources will be provided. In that context, your fears are unfounded. If the occupants cannot be forcibly removed then how exactly does the School Board think they should be? Again, word games. The School Board is opposed to "sweeps" but has provided no alternative to removal of the camps. It seems they are opposed to forced removal, even though shelter and support has been offered, under any circumstance.

This is from the article quoting the Deputy Mayor (emphasis added):

In the March 29 email, Sixkiller said the city shares her desire to help the homeless, noting that campers have all been offered shelter during sweeps. But he warned of waiting too much longer to address the issue:

…it has also been the City’s experience that despite days or sometimes weeks — even months — of advanced outreach some individuals do not accept offers of shelter until the posted day of removal, if at all. Unfortunately, many encampments are dangerous not only for children and the surrounding community but for the individuals living in the encampment.

 

[EMom]

So glad we don’t live there.

Before I clicked on the articles, I thought they were about Austin, Tx. We visited recently and were shocked by the state of things in that once beautiful city.

 

[Pink Partridge]

I can completely understand why the school board would want to see more humane means used to relocate...

Children are going to have to dodge needles and piles of human fecal matter to get an education. Not to mention the unstable adults that are creating these filthy conditions.

I don't understand the school board one bit.

 

[JLTraveling]

Marginalized or not homeless encampments should not be allowed on school grounds.
A sweep is a forced move of them. That is exactly what should be done if school is in session. In this situation you have to pick someone to be "for" and the school board should be for the students of those schools.

A sweep is NOT a "forced move." A sweep is a mass incarceration. They used to do it here in New Orleans every year right before Mardi Gras so the tourists wouldn't have to see the "scary homeless people" (note the sarcasm there, some of my very best friends are or were homeless here. It's a terrible thing, and I'm glad the school board is asking for it not to happen.

 

[VandVsmama]

Middle school students will have to walk through the encampment to get to school. In fact, the homeless now line the entrance to the school’s gym. Human waste, needles, and garbage will welcome these children each morning.

School board members don't want the encampments removed. That seems normal


https://mynorthwest.com/2745058/ran...not-sweep-homeless-encampments-from-schools/?
https://komonews.com/news/local/as-...meless-encampments-at-2-schools-stir-concerns
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...an-50-after-covid-pandemic-began-survey-says/

Yet another reason why I'm glad I don't live in Seattle. It's turned into a cess pool.

 

[Nicolepa]

Before I clicked on the articles, I thought they were about Austin, Tx. We visited recently and were shocked by the state of things in that once beautiful city.

We just recently moved from Seattle to TX. I was in Austin a few months ago for the first time. Downtown Austin looks like the Seattle of 2010, the Seattle of 2020 is much, much worse. This is one of the big reasons we left.

Yet another reason why I'm glad I don't live in Seattle. It's turned into a cess pool.

I used to go into Seattle often. As a kid we went weekly with my parents. I used to take my kids and we would spend all day there walking around the city. We'd take the bus or park and walk around all day. I never felt unsafe. The last 5 years or so I refused to go unless where I was going had a parking lot attached so I did not have to go off the property. If I had to go somewhere where I had to walk I would not go without my husband and never after dark. The decline of Seattle the last 10-15 years has been so hard to watch.

 

[Pink Partridge]

A sweep is NOT a "forced move." A sweep is a mass incarceration.

Good. If you are setting up a camp on property that is not yours, and you refuse other arrangements? You should be incarcerated.

They used to do it here in New Orleans every year right before Mardi Gras so the tourists wouldn't have to see the "scary homeless people" (note the sarcasm there, some of my very best friends are or were homeless here. It's a terrible thing, and I'm glad the school board is asking for it not to happen.

Children having to maneuver around drug needles, human feces, and unstable people (that think it's normal to pull pants down and have a bowel movement on the sidewalk) is VERY scary.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

This is a story about the homeless problem in Seattle. It should be a warning to other cities. It does have a glimmer of hope about what can be done to help. This story is 2 years old.

 

[JimMIA]

This is a longstanding problem in Seattle, and in some other cities as well. It's also a big problem in San Francisco.

This is the best I've seen on the subject -- "Seattle is Dying" by one of their local TV stations. It's an hour long, and it's hard to watch, but it's pretty even-handed and has some hopeful info on programs that actually do WORK toward the end.

 

[JimMIA]

This is a story about the homeless problem in Seattle. It should be a warning to other cities. It does have a glimmer of hope about what can be done to help. This story is 2 years old.

Great minds think alike!

 

[starry_solo]

So, exactly how does the School Board expect this to be cleaned up?

 

[Pink Partridge]

The school board's priority should be the students.

Exactly.

 

[AndreaA]

So, exactly how does the School Board expect this to be cleaned up?

It’s Seattle - the school board probably wants the students to admit their own culpability in the homeless people’s situation and then band together to make them all TinyHomes run by solar power of course.

 

[JimMIA]

Dismissing homelessness as "marginalized" or having psychiatric issues is no more helpful than Jay Leno's bit a hundred years ago calling them "outdoorsmen!"

It's true that many of them have mental issues, but THE problem is drug addiction, as "Seattle is Dying" shows.

 

[Sanchez]

So, exactly how does the School Board expect this to be cleaned up?

I guess their empathetic feelings are so strong that unknown forces of the universe will intervene and create a magical solution.

Or, you know, the city authorities can move them to a better location (sans “mass incarceration”) just like they are planning.

 

[AndreaA]

I guess their empathetic feelings are so strong that unknown forces of the universe will intervene and create a magical solution.

Or, you know, the city authorities can move them to a better location (sans “mass incarceration”) just like they are planning.

Except you know they won’t all agree to the move. Something similar happened not far from me - encampment on grounds of city hall - and all efforts to move them to a different location met with resistance from at least some of the people.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Would you want your children to have to walk through that encampment or what's left behind.

Not at all. The underpass we regularly have to use to get to the grocery store was taken over by an homeless encampment and I felt nervous even driving through it. It's been closed/moved about a year now and it's a much safer feeling.

 

[Pink Partridge]

It’s Seattle - the school board probably wants the students to admit their own culpability in the homeless people’s situation and then band together to make them all TinyHomes run by solar power of course.

Years ago, I saw a 20/20 type program where homeless camps were setting up in neighborhoods that people took great pride in their homes. One resident was very upset because urine and feces was literally smelling up the entire neighborhood. Visibly running down the street.

Children couldn't go out to play. People lost property value and couldn't move from their beautiful home (in a now horrible neighborhood) even if they wanted to. Nobody would buy their home.

Yet people were shaming the home owners. How dare you pick your property over these people going to the bathroom on your lawn. These are human beings taking a poo on your sidewalk and throwing garbage on the streets. Needles? Well, how would you feel if that drug addict was your child? They should be allowed to discard their dirty needles wherever they want.

The home owners were made out to be the bad people. It was disgusting and frustrating.

But I actually know people that think like this. That believe a homeless person should be able to forego the shelter and set up wherever they please. That a homeless person somehow should get a free pass on trespassing, littering, public nudity, public drug use, etc. I find that mindset scary.

 

[JimMIA]

I guess their empathetic feelings are so strong that unknown forces of the universe will intervene and create a magical solution.

I understand "empathetic feelings," but those thoughtful feelings do absolutely nothing to HELP these people.

Buzzwords, sweetness and light are a distraction. They are intentional avoidance of the actual issue. They are a deliberate refusal to ACT.

What actually helps, as shown in the latter minutes of "Seattle is Dying" is people who have both sincere empathetic feelings, AND a determination to ACT to make things better.