Posted on 11/16/2012 5:52:32 PM PST by null and void
NEVADA CITY (CBS13) – A police chief says he’s found a one-of-a-kind way to manage a growing problem in his city, and it’s putting the homeless on the hot seat.
A new law would give Nevada City the power to hand out permits to a small group of homeless, which would give them permission to sleep in public. While the new ordinance would give some homeless a place to stay, it would tell others, mostly the troublemakers and the criminals, to stay away.
“I come down here every fall,” said Bob Barton, who chooses to be homeless in Nevada City.
For Barton, the new ordinance that would essentially identify law-abiding homeless and reward them is music to his ears.
“The goal is to start managing the homeless population within our city,” said Chief James Wickham.
Wickham asked council members to pass a no-camping ordinance.
“It just basically means you can’t set up a tent. You can’t live in your vehicle. You can’t live in the woods in Nevada City,” he said.
That is unless you have a permit.
The chief says his program is one of a kind, making only a select few of the city’s homeless population an exception to the law, like William Peach.
“There’s some of us out there like me who try to blend in with the community,” said Peach.
However, others who come to Nevada City to commit crimes or with a criminal history won’t be so lucky.
“Those are the ones we really don’t want in our city and that we’re trying to keep from camping in our city,” said Wickham.
“We’ve seen a huge upsurge in homeless people,” Teresa Mann said.
Mann, who owns a business in downtown, says it’s about time. And so do the homeless who stay out of trouble and want trouble to stay away.
“If they’re homeless and heartless, hey, we got a place for them,” said James, who is homeless. “It’s called county jail.”
For now, the police chief will give out about six to 10 permits. He’ll check back in six months to see if the program is working. If it is, that’s when he says he’ll give out more.
Wickham says he’s identified at least 60 homeless in his community, and 500 homeless countywide.
What ever happened to vagrancy laws?
Absolutely... then kick the rest to the gallows: those who have no family left (oh, like, say me), those who have no one to turn to.
If you are fortunate to have an extended family to support you, well, God bless you.
Just perhaps, sometimes, things don’t turn out the way you didn’t expect. (That isn’t a typo.)
If your job went tits up 9 months ago, would you be pushing the same “help me, Salvation Army, my church, my, um, help me?...” line?
No, get in line, no, that line.
And you will.
Apparently, this city has been inundated with criminal activity from migrating homeless transients every year. The article doesn’t mention age. I’m not against the authority’s attempt to rid their town of the criminal element, but I share your concerns for those caught in the Marxist’s unconscionable economy.
You know the “authority” will find no distinction.
Sad.
Some are born hobos and like it. Others have vagabondage thrust upon them. Of these the “one paycheck away from the streets” guy or family is rare, and if they do exist they don’t stay hobos for long. Because normal people avoid it like death.
Most are alcoholics, junkies, and crazies whom we support in their crapulence.
By the way, the only difference between gubmint and private charity, aside from the latter being voluntary, is scale. This form of private charity is deleterious for the same reason are all Poor Laws: it creates more poverty.
Wanna know why? Read Malthus.
I could be wrong, but I garnered from the article that the sheriff planned to run background checks for criminal records.
Seemed to me like the town had a returning group of the same homeless transients each year.
I can’t imagine why. The weather in that area isn’t warm!
My parish helps those in need.
This effort will be overrun, sadly.
Maybe if you think, real hard, you can come up with a reason. It might have something to do with the economy being torpedoed by marxists... or perhaps you have a better explanation based on slackers?
Okay, the slackers are the problem.
Now then, what do we do about the persons actually looking for a job, you know, work.
No FReekin subtleties here... those, I will assist.
Just sayin.
I understand the charitable instinct. It seems good, and on a person to person level and in particular cases it might be a positively good thing. But we’re talking about the Homeless Problem, here, not your personal giving or not giving. Concerning the extended economic order as a whole charity is damaging. It always, always, always created mire poverty than it started out with. Because it encourages people at the margins to qualify fir derbies instead of struggling on their own.
This is a universal phenomenon. Like I said, the only thing that makes government welfare worse is its scale. Private charity has the advantage of only encouraging so much poverty.
That’s freebies, not derbies.
If they have outstanding warrants, lock em up!
If they don’t, buy them and their family dinner.
It’s the thing to do. All homeless aren’t bottom feeders.
We’re living an Alfred Hitchcock movie now.
Lord bless and save us all.
Are you telling us that Christian charity, in our local parish, encourages poverty?
Okay, I'd best throw our outgrown clothing, and excess food in the dumpster, rather than sending it to St Vincent's... rather than encourage these homeless parasites.
I only hope y'all can take a moment to understand that there are a few of the newly found homeless who aren't parasites. These folks being the futureless, the newly unemployed - up to this point - hard workers. You know, Obama's newly potential bitches.
Probably not as cold-hearted as you seem to be presuming (if I read your post right). From the article: “I come down here every fall,” said Bob Barton, who chooses to be homeless in Nevada City.
A number of "homeless" are that way by decision and seem to have the means to travel to their "vacation" spots. Catering to them is akin to Zero running Spanish ads in Mexico explaining how illegals can come into our country and get on food stamps...
Ten years ago my house was a crash pad for a bunch of homeless.
Been there done that. And the stories posted on the old Freoples/Dimensional Door threads are legendary...
Ultimately?
Under this regime?
It means you will be resettled in the air.
As smoke.
5 years for me. Know anyone looking for a really sharp wafer fab engineer?
I lived for 12 years just south of Nevada City. I had clients in Nevada City.
They will be allowed to ‘sleep in public’.....
Nevada City is a big tourist place, but a very small town. Main street is the biggest tourist attraction. If these people start sleeping on the sidewalks in front of those businesses, thie businesses owners won’t be happy.
If they drift off away from Main Street, then they will be on PRIVATE PROPERTY. There are lots of retired people in Nevada City. They won’t be comfortable with homeless people sleeping on their sidewalks, or trying to get into garages, etc. Where are they going to have bathroom priviledges? This won’t end well, IMO.
In the winter-—which is already knocking on the door in Nevada City, I have seen one snowfall bring as much as 2-3 feet of snow & paralyze the town. It looked spectacular, but it took 5 days to get all the streets open. Streets are narrow & the town dates back to the 1849 Gold Rush days.
This will not solve the problems, IMO. But I do like the fact that the authorities are doing criminal background checks. Those who know they will get caught in that net will just continue to camp in the woods.
In N San Juan, north of Nevada City, the pot growers have completely taken over that part of the Tahoe National Forest. You cannot ride horseback or hike there any more. You will get shot at. Even the Sheriff of nevada County won’t send deputies into N San Juan.
;)!
How long before some jerk-water legal group sues the city for discrimination?
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