Dallas Institutes New Laws on Homeless

[deadparrot]

DALLAS - Panhandling banned. Shopping carts prohibited on city streets. The distribution of food to the homeless restricted to designated areas.

With a series of ordinances governing its growing homeless population, Dallas is gaining a reputation as a city uncharitable toward some of its neediest citizens.

The National Coalition for the Homeless recently ranked Dallas sixth among the Top 10 "meanest" cities in the country. No. 1 was Sarasota, Fla.

Dallas officials say they are trying to steer the homeless toward help and make the streets a little safer for them. But advocates for the estimated 9,000 homeless people in Dallas say the city is pursuing a harsh and pitiless policy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060309/ap_on_re_us/dallas_homeless

[sam sarrha]

1. they will soon be firing up the ovens ... NOLA refugees vote Democratic

[demosincebirth]

6. Yes they do, but.

"NOLA refugees vote Democratic"


...they have to register first.

[Mithras61]

2. Was it two, or three laws like this one...

that have been struck down by the TX Supreme Court already?

Why does Dallas keep doing the same thing over & over and expecting a different result?

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EFerrari]

12. Sure, but think of buying a $5 head of lettuce and then

maybe them Mexicans won't seem so threatening to you. :sarcasm:

Geezus. To find this on a progressive board. No wonder this country is completely screwed.

Tell me the progressive position on univeral health care and education?

Can you?

The answer to this problem is not bigotry. It's holding YOUR government and YOUR industry responsible for fair wages.

[sam sarrha]

21. There is no way paying a worker twice minimum would result in 10 times the

product price.. it would barely be .1% considering the thousands of heads of luttice each picks a day.

you got to quit believing the Fascist propaganda.. people would do those jobs if the didnt pay slave labor wages..

the factories that are being outsourced are good steady reliable profitable companies.. the Competitive aspect is a buzz word... for the money made thru slave labor.. after the factories are cut up and sent to China there will be 'NO', REPEAT 'NOOOO' competition and they will SCREW US.

[EFerrari]

28. Too late. The racism here in this country has obscured the

real problem.

We wink at undocumented workers' exploitation.

We,then, also wink at any worker's exploitation.

That's Clue Number 1

[sandnsea]

16. Back that up

Mexico's elite standard of living is second only to France??? Start anywhere, prove either one of those statements are true.

good god. Don't we have enough hate in this world without this kind of shit?

[sam sarrha]

27. here is a... Link>... you have already made up you mind so i'm not going

waste my time on this.. http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/americas/mexico/slope/section3.html the france statement was out of a CNN report on the cause of the Mexican invasion..yes invasion because it is sanctioned by a foreign power..FOX brags about it .. the largest migration of people in the history of the earth http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/2/26/164611.shtml

i just say things like they are, i have sympathy for the poor being used as pawns, but until we do something about it they will continue being slaves in their own country and be used by the Fascist Capitalists as pawns in lowering wages here. I have lived in El Paso and known many Mexicans who tell me many horror stories, slavery, minimum wage in mexico is $4.23 a DAY. and you have to kick back a big part of your check to your boss to keep your job, and bribe every authority to get anything done.

mexico was declared by the UN as Morally Bankrupt and Democratically irretrievable.

THEY, the Mexican Government and Fascist Corporations here, are the problem, not the people like me who say they are the problem.

[pinto]

33. The Global Exchange web site sure doesn't state that

"Mexico is exporting their poverty to the United States" as you infer.

I live in a fairly rural, agricultural County in CA and don't have the sense that we a re being "invaded" at all....and I have no qualms with providing medical care to immigrant labor working here. No qualms at all.

[sam sarrha]

36. i lived in a rural area of CA and we were invaded, you couldn't walk down

the street.. i had one friend stabbed and two others attacked with knives.. they fenced in the parks and locked them up because the drug dealers were murdering each other and attacking locals..

my 80 year old mother had shopping carts rammed into her ankles by mexican women.. i personally stopped a 8 year old boy from ramming her with a loaded cart.. i saw his mother tell him to do it. a group of 8 men chased my mother to her car while trying to put their hands up her dress to scare her.. she was 80!!

while escorting her at walmart, i saw a mexican woman walk by her and knock her to the ground with a backward blow of her elbow because the Walmart checker put a closed sign on the counter was she was walking up to it about 20 feet away.. the woman got away because i had to first check on my mother.

we had relatives that lived near modesto that had to put up 4x8 steel plates along the walls of their living room and their and children's bedrooms, and put everything on the floor, because 3 or 4 cars would drive down their street at night and fire automatic weapons out both side of the cars at high speed.

that is why i left, i got tired of being threatened and not being able to find even a minimum wage job, i got run out of several of those by gangs damaging my car, breaking mirrors, slashing tires.

i also ended up in El Paso when my wife got a good job there that got outsourced to mexico.. same problem with gangs but not as bad. there was no work. i got run out of 3 jobs there.. with threats of violence..

same thing here in TN with a black gang.. on my last job.. the supervisor was terrified of them and fired me when they were obviously on the security monitors bullying and throwing things at me that would have killed me if they had hit me.

i am quiet and mild mannered.. i do my job and keep to myself.

[pinto]

35. Sorry, gotta ask again, have you a source link for this statement:

"mexico was declared by the UN as Morally Bankrupt and Democratically irretrievable."

Thanks.

[Boomer]

17. The homeless aren't immigrants

Overwhelmingly they are drug addicts, the mentally disturbed or vets.

These are the people we're allowing to starve.

[pinto]

32. Got a link for the stats? Thanks.

[demosincebirth]

9. Definiction of insanity.

[DemoTex]

3. Too bad. Dallas could have done much better. The Stewpot proved that.

The Stewpot has been the catalyst for the formation of other nonprofits, including Genesis Women's Shelter, Austin Street Shelter, Day Resource Center, and Interfaith Housing. The Stewpot is a model collaborator with other human service organizations including:

Crossroads Community Services of First United Methodist Church -groceries, clothing, rent/utilities assistance
North Texas Food Bank
Community Dental Care, Inc.
Community Voice Mail
Veterans' Administration
Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance offices for Americorps/Vista staff
Parkland Homeless Health Care Team
Dallas Metrocare and ABC Behavioral Healthcare- on-site mental health care
Southwestern Medical School - AIDS Testing/Counseling and Epilepsy Clinic
North Texas Legal Services
Dallas County Welfare
The Welcome House - drug and alcohol counseling and residential treatment
Open Art Project - opportunities in creativity and self-expression
Community Court Project - Dallas Association of Young Lawyers and the Municipal Courts of Greater Dallas
City Park Elementary School and downtown shelter youth participate in weekly children and youth programs
Non-violence initiatives - Gun Buy Back in conjunction with Grace Presbytery
The homeless newspaper STREETZINE offers immediate self-employment to individuals

http://www.presbyterians.org/stewpot/

Dallas is home to a world-class soup kitchen, The Stewpot. In addition to free lunch, The Stewpot offers free medical and dental care (including psychiatric services), AA and NA on-site, a food bank on-site, a clothing bank on-site, mail services, Community Voice Mail, art classes, and much more. I used to do volunteer work at The Stewpot when I lived in Dallas. The director of the Stewpot is a very fine liberal Christian man and a very dear friend of mine. I know for a fact that he fought this law tooth and nail.

The economy is obviously these homeless peoples' fault, as was Katrina. :sarcasm:

[flamingyouth]

10. That sounds like a great organization

I work with a couple of agencies here in Seattle. Quite a few of the homeless people I know have jobs but can't afford to live in this city. Right now there are about 100 people living in tents in the parking lot of our church because they have nowhere else to go. It breaks my heart every single day.

http://www.cehkc.org/hikc-scope.shtml

[sam sarrha]

13. I was a VISTA Volunteer setting up Food Bank warehouses, 1 man job, i

moved 1,000,000 pounds of surplus food in 2 years, and built 3 homeless shelters, started a USDA Surplus Commodities distribution sites for 2 counties.

i really thought the 'Service economy' was going to be an economy based on helping others so the money would stay in the communities.. but i think that was a dream i had, but it was a great idea..

[AlienGirl]

23. "Service Economy" means we exist to serve the rich. nt

[Earth_First]

4. They did this in Rochester, New York under similar pretenses two years ago

Surprise, surprise, it did nothing to help the homeless, and even furthered endangered the homeless population by passing stricter laws on what determined when/how you could be admitted to shelters.

Disgusting.

[Journeyman]

7. Ah, "the law, in its majestic equality. . .

forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

--Anatole France (The Red Lily, 1894)

[Mithras61]

8. Interesting bit of info here...

Last month, Dallas began enforcing an ordinance that prohibits charities from distributing free food to the homeless except at city-approved locations and only after volunteers undergo food safety training, provided free by the city. Violations of the law, enforced by city food inspectors, are punishable by fines up to $2,000.

"It's OK to sell someone a sandwich, but if I hand a sandwich to a homeless person, I'm committing a crime," groused Charles Wellhausen, a volunteer for the Sathya Sai Baba Center.

Can't "give" sandwiches away, but you can "sell" them? No problem... sell the sandwiches for cost (and make sure the homeless people are given a charitable donation of that same cost as they come to the distribution point).

[Tempest]

11. This is unconstitutional

Especially the distribution of food to designated areas.

Federal courts have already ruled on that issue, and ruled against the city of Miami (I think).

[EFerrari]

14. Dallas officials are full of sh!t.

And when one or more or them go homeless, which will happen, I hope their regret is long and lasting.

[Mr_Spock]

15. Compassionate Conservatism at it's finest...

There is nothing too mean for a conservative bastard

[superconnected]

18. Easier to round them up for the camps.

I'd like to say it's just to drive the homeless from their city but I wouldn't want to over estimate republican compassion.

[VegasWolf]

19. Oh, those compassionate conservatives spreading their Christian love

all over Texas.


:puke:

[Megahurtz]

20. How kind of those Fat Oil Fucks.

:sarcasm:

[roguevalley]

26. they screwed the homeless in Anchorage too. I still give them help

when I can.

[lostnfound]

22. Please RATE this story UP on yahoo.com

People need to see it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060309/ap_on_re_us/dallas_homeless

[EFerrari]

29. Done.

:hi:

[DemoTex]

24. Ironically, a fairly high percentage of the "new" homeless are GOP voters.

I noticed this in the last months of my volunteer work in Dallas as the Assistant Postmaster General of The Stewpot. We collected, sorted, and distributed mail to the homeless. In late 2002, as our lunch crowd swelled from about 350 a day to over 475 (a good sign of the times), I started noticing credit card bills (including platinum American Express accounts) forwarded from toney addresses. Those claiming that mail, the newly homeless, looked (still) prosperous.

My theory is that more Americans that are heavily debt-levered are GOPers. Their high debt bites them on the ass when their jobs are lost to Bu$h's poohas in India. That debt leverage puts many well-off folks in danger of homelessness when the hammer falls. How will they vote from the shelter?

[roguevalley]

25. if that doesn't work, they can always use them in the construction

of new jails. you can never have enough mortar. I wonder if you can get the death penalty for jay walking. :(

[rainbow4321]

30. They then tote them away to Dallas' jail that fails state inspection

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031106dnmetjails.1064fb9f.html

Dallas County's troubled jail, already under federal investigation, earned failing grades Friday from state inspectors for the third year in a row.

Despite more than $5 million invested in improvements over the past year, and numerous vows from county officials to fix things, the state cited some of the same deficiencies it had a year ago - and added some new ones.

Inspectors with the State Commission on Jail Standards found that the jail continues to have overcrowded cells and insufficient staff, and noted that inmates continue to wait far too long for medical care.

State inspectors also launched a warning shot across the county's bow, noting that the continued violations could jeopardize the variances the county has enjoyed over the years which have enabled it to slide on some other state jail requirements.

[HuffleClaw]

31. hmmmm, whats next? i know! little stars for them to wear!

or maybe they'll have to carry little bells to ring and cry 'unclean! unclean!' as they roam their 'designated areas'

[annabanana]

34. "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless...."

Someone once said that these sorts of things should be done. Who was that again now? I wonder if they've ever hear of him in Dallas?

[Blaze Diem]

37. Great Statement annabanana...

Please Do Email that to the Dallas Newspapers..!!!!

Better Yet Lets Make it a National Billboard.

Start with Dallas.

Thanks