bums

[sabrina]

couldn't agree more Sabrina..

i've been to san fran several times.. that damn haight-asbury district is . . uh.. words can't describe.. homeless cats everywhere.. everybody lookin like they just came from a rave.. seen a dude with a beard and his face tattooed like a dog.. certainly not the "corporate" look..

The Haight / Ashbury area mostly has kids that ran away from home and came to live in SF. I don't care about how they look honestly, and if anything, I feel worse for these kids (some of them are as young as 15!) than I do for the drunk, angry bums that fill the downtown areas.

But yeah, their looks don't offend me, it's mostly the whole thing with being asked for money about 15 times a day. Not to mention that even though I have clean clothes, I'm still a poor art student. I don't HAVE any money to give, even though they assume I do based on the way I'm dressed.

 

[Dysfunctional]

I live in San Francisco, and the city is pretty much littered with bums, especially around the touristy areas. I can't go to school or work without being asked for change at least seven times on the way. When I first moved here, I did feel bad for them. However, as I kept living here I started realizing that the majority of them (not all, but the majority) are thankless, rude, mean, unkind, and sure as hell would not do shit for you were the situation reversed.

I had some friends who instead of handing out money one day went out and handed out business cards of a place that helps you get on your feet as long as you stay off drugs / alcohol. Most of the responses they got were the cards being thrown right back at them, anger, cursing, and sometimes even the bums spitting at them. I've seen a guy give a bum a meal, and the bum proceeded to throw it out in the nearest trash can.

I, myself, have been threatened by some of them and insulted as well.

The way I see it, I've worked for all of the money that is mine. The only people who have ever helped me were my FAMILY. Not strangers. I don't expect anything from anyone, and I don't owe anyone anything either. I'd help a friend in need, but I won't help some thankless asshole who would otherwise probably make a rude remark if I didn't give him / her the cash.

Sorry if this seems unkind, but I honestly think that those who hand bums money only perpetuate the problem.

I was in Frisco a couple years back for a business meeting. The shops and streets in Chinatown were very nice, and so was the food.

Other places has a distinct smell of urine in most of the doorways.

 

[sabrina]

I was in Frisco a couple years back for a business meeting. The shops and streets in Chinatown were very nice, and so was the food.

Other places has a distinct smell of urine in most of the doorways.

Umm, sounds like the opposite of what I've witnessed. Chinatown is pretty... icky.

Then again, tourists don't ever go to the nice neighborhoods in the city, they all crowd around the touristy spots - fisherman's warf and downtown (dunno wtf there is to do there other than shop, it's pretty much one of the most boring places in the city).

I bet if you went to Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, or Noe Valley, you wouldn't think the city smells like bum urine

 

[simple]

Yeah I’ll slip a bum a few bucks every so often, and it’s not so much because I feel bad for them, it’s more so to make me feel good about myself for being so caring for those lower in both social and financial status. I’ll walk home a little more briskly and erect, assuring myself that it’s deeds like these that make me a good person, and hold that thought as to not come to the grim realization that I’m walking home to a house I never clean and to my significant other that I barely pay attention to.

 

[Dysfunctional]

Umm, sounds like the opposite of what I've witnessed. Chinatown is pretty... icky.

Then again, tourists don't ever go to the nice neighborhoods in the city, they all crowd around the touristy spots - fisherman's warf and downtown (dunno wtf there is to do there other than shop, it's pretty much one of the most boring places in the city).

I bet if you went to Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, or Noe Valley, you wouldn't think the city smells like bum urine

I think we went to some place in Sausalito and then to a Redwood Forest via the Golden Gate Bridge. That was upscale.

The hotel was within walking distance of the end of the trolley tracks.

So, we road them up the hills. As best as I could remember, places we stopped had plenty of bums. It just simply smelled as though they felt free to whizz in any alley or doorway.

Chinatown didn't have the bunch of bums. It was crowded and and had a kind of sulky air about it. But the food was great. I loved the whole pigs, head and all, hanging in the glass windows.

 

[sabrina]

I think we went to some place in Sausalito and then to a Redwood Forest via the Golden Gate Bridge. That was upscale.

The hotel was within walking distance of the end of the trolley tracks.

So, we road them up the hills. As best as I could remember, places we stopped had plenty of bums. It just simply smelled as though they felt free to whizz in any alley or doorway.

Chinatown didn't have the bunch of bums. It was crowded and and had a kind of sulky air about it. But the food was great. I loved the whole pigs, head and all, hanging in the glass windows.

Yeah those places are nice, but there are really upscale parts of the city too. The bums tend to hang out in the touristy spots because the tourists are usually the ones who give them money (I've seen tourists give bums $20 bills, what a waste!)

I've had food in Chinatown a couple of times, but usually I'm not brave enough to do it because of the health ratings they get, even in the nicer places.

I think It's kind of sad that most people don't get to see the *real* San Francisco when they visit, though. The bars in the Mission, sushi in the Marina, restaurants in Hayes Valley, cute coffee shops and boutiques in the Fillmore, etc. Then again, it took me a couple of years to discover a lot of it, and I still don't know every neighborhood.

 

[Dysfunctional]

Yeah those places are nice, but there are really upscale parts of the city too. The bums tend to hang out in the touristy spots because the tourists are usually the ones who give them money (I've seen tourists give bums $20 bills, what a waste!)

I've had food in Chinatown a couple of times, but usually I'm not brave enough to do it because of the health ratings they get, even in the nicer places.

I think It's kind of sad that most people don't get to see the *real* San Francisco when they visit, though. The bars in the Mission, sushi in the Marina, restaurants in Hayes Valley, cute coffee shops and boutiques in the Fillmore, etc. Then again, it took me a couple of years to discover a lot of it, and I still don't know every neighborhood.

If I remember correctly, there was this one place close to the docks where all the seals hung out. That food was good.

Then there was this little bar directly across from this huge club that specialized in circa 20's nights. Limos pulled up with young people doing the 20's dress and all. They were really putting on the dog... so, it must have been a place for the young of the rather rich. But the pub was cheap drinks and decent food. This was 2 block from the hotel.

 

[Wren]

I will pay a bum a dollar or two for directions sometimes. Other than that I won't give them money. If I'm near a place that sells food, I'll buy them some food. Seriously, why would you be 3 blocks from the nearest food outlet if you were hungry? I'd try and stand right outside Jack in the Box or something. Supporting someone's drug habit isn't helping them.

 

[wanko80]

Not too long ago, police could stop you and arrest you for vagrancy.

You would have to prove to be a local resident or have enough cash on you to support your stay in that town.

Times have changed.

Homeless, illegals and a traveling criminal class of 'father rapers and mother stabbers' are now a protected group.

You seem so bitter. Accept the world for what it is and you'll be much happier and have much less good ole days syndrome.

 

[Dysfunctional]

You seem so bitter. Accept the world for what it is and you'll be much happier and have much less good ole days syndrome.

Really? How so?

In many ways, these are the good old days.

In my youth, young adults still got polio.

Open heart surgery was extremely dangerous.

There was no such thing as shock trauma units and automobiles had no design for absorbing impacts.

As I have commented before, I see a future that is in many ways negative... but not everything was positive about the past.

Concerning the vagrant issue, we simply opened the doors to hospitals, in order to 'mainstream' people that really needed 24 hour care.

 

[wanko80]

Really? How so?

From what I've seen you post, you always seem to favor things of the past. Whether it's games, forums, pensions, or vagrant policy, the theme seems to be you always think the grass was greener.

You're last post was one of the first that I've seen that talks about anything good in the present day.

Maybe it's just me.

 

[Coqui]

and it has nothing to do with beating my ass in video games



<3

That would be 100% then not 90%

 

[Syrup Beaver]

One of the news stations in Boston extensively videotaped a few of the panhandlers in the area a few years back. Several of them were discovered stripping their 'hobo' clothes into a bag at the end of the day, and climbing into expensive new SUV's to go home.

They interviewed one fellow who claimed to be pulling down $75,000 a year sans taxes that way.

I only give change to the (actual) homeless guy who has a dog cuz I know he isn't wasting it on drugs.

I tell the nasty, aggressive ones that get in my face "Hey, you're better off than me. At least you don't have debt!"

 

[Dysfunctional]

From what I've seen you post, you always seem to favor things of the past. Whether it's games, forums, pensions, or vagrant policy, the theme seems to be you always think the grass was greener.

You're last post was one of the first that I've seen that talks about anything good in the present day.

Maybe it's just me.

First of all, I have only been here a short time.

Second, I feel that my contribution to many subjects is a historical reference.


I see the US drifting toward looking like Calcutta and the solid Ward & June Cleaver days gone forever.

It is not inconsistent to have a better standard of living for lower classes and still have the police sweep the streets of bums who are willing to drop their feces on the sidewalk.

In the 50's my mother used to take a bucket and scrub brush and scrub the brick sidewalk out in front of the house.

The street was brick and the entire community used to hose down the bricks.

Yes, those days really did exist.

You read it here.

 

[wanko80]

First of all, I have only been here a short time.

Second, I feel that my contribution to many subjects is a historical reference.


I see the US drifting toward looking like Calcutta and the solid Ward & June Cleaver days gone forever.

It is not inconsistent to have a better standard of living for lower classes and still have the police sweep the streets of bums who are willing to drop their feces on the sidewalk.

In the 50's my mother used to take a bucket and scrub brush and scrub the brick sidewalk out in front of the house.

The street was brick and the entire community used to hose down the bricks.

Yes, those days really did exist.

You read it here.

Further proof to my point.

You're mom wouldn't have been scrubbing the bricks if she had a Wii to play. That's a fact.

 

[Sarcasmo]

Front page story on CNN.com right now is about teens 'sport killing' homeless people.

On a side note, I couldn't help but laugh at the picture above the article, because it says "Beloved Brother" on the gravestone of one of the homeless men who was murdered. Beloved brother, huh? You'd think you could've given him a place to stay or something.

 

[my little brony]

I'm a lot more receptive to bums that do something for the money. Sing a song (badly, if need be), do a little dance, get some yarn and beads and make a necklace, anything. Tell a cheesy knock knock joke or even guess my weight for a quarter. Just do something beyond sitting there with a hand out.

 

[wanko80]

Front page story on CNN.com right now is about teens 'sport killing' homeless people.

On a side note, I couldn't help but laugh at the picture above the article, because it says "Beloved Brother" on the gravestone of one of the homeless men who was murdered. Beloved brother, huh? You'd think you could've given him a place to stay or something.

Maybe they got the gravestone from a discount wholesaler who specializes in mistakes. Did it read "Bee loved brother"?

 

[Dysfunctional]

Further proof to my point.

You're mom wouldn't have been scrubbing the bricks if she had a Wii to play. That's a fact.

You know, I think you really believe that.

There wasn't a TV in my house when I was in high school, although most people had them and watched the Patty Duke show through Bonanza.

But I had a million things do to, people to see and places to go.

People cleaned the streets because it was a German neighborhood and the front of your house, the street and the entire community was a reflection of self respect.

Having lived in a poor neighbor I know for sure there is no connection between poverty and shitting in the street, or stealing from your neighbor.

 

[JAXvillain]

I've been working in downtown atlanta for 6 years now and I'm well beyond giving them anything...I sometimes give them a smoke but never money anymore...even when I did give money it was rarely anything beyond change or a buck or two