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He has been in the system for years, but he is one of those that needs its protection. Seeing him less on the streets is a good thing :)
I just want to say how much I share your distaste for the very reasonable proto-fascist and fascist reactions evident above.
They recall similar sentiments articulated at length in the discussion about the removal of the bench outside Tesco.
Fascism is much closer to our experience than we imagine.
The line that separates the cosy and secure from the worthless, infrahuman scum whose "anti-social behaviour" spoils our improving environment is actually quite thin.
Of course, nobody who comes on here will have their mind changed by the arguments they find but it's great that you have the stamina to challenge that fascistic common-sense when it pops up under the protective anonymity of this virtual community.
So what am I saying? Nothing really, except that ill thought out solutions are no solution at all, it can just 'punish' those innocents that are in need for totally different reasons.
On a lighter note, (and I've seen it done very effectively) is to keep the pavement wet outside to discourage people from 'camping' out on the pavement. Who wants a wet bum?
PS. Where do they go to the toilet?
I would be annoyed if they started pissing outside my door, but we get that at the top of SGR anyway. Last night some of the Karmenz crowd started pissing in any doorway they could. Do they not think of using the loo before leaving the bar/club? Luckily I don't see this often but woke up due to their noise (cars and stereos being pumped up to the max). Here comes the summer...........
Bring it on, I say.
However, they're not, they have a flat, so why should they be allowed to take over the pavement as they do. I also wouldn't have a problem if they were just smoking the odd bit of weed, but when I walked past (with my young nieces) the other day, they looked to me like they'd been doing something far stronger, like heroin. I don't really want my nieces to see that.
Personally, I think that someone should start hosing down the street a few times a day - and next time they go off to the alley to do drugs someone should come along with a bin van and cart all their rubbish off to the dump. If I put an old mattress and some old boxes on the pavement outside my house I'm pretty sure the council would take it away (or actually they'd probably fine me for littering the streets).
I really can't believe that they've been tolerated for so long.
Hmmmm. Trouble is I suppose it would go bonkers at just about everybody else walking up and down SGR.
Big cities house people from all walks of life, all backgrounds and classes. I just thank my lucky stars when I see those who've been reduced to such hard times as needing to sleep outside, that I had chances in my life which gave me a bit more security than them...
All those people who think you can just snap out it if and get a job are living in a dreamworld. Young people with degrees and a good education are still scrambling for jobs. It is so demeaning to be regarded as rubbish which can be swept away and I feel ashamed to read that kind of comment. These are human beings talked about as if they have come from another planet, with no thought to the circumstances which led them to ending up in trouble, and maybe more trouble, and then an endless cycle of troubles. Much of their problems will have been passed on from their parents before them, who themselves couldn't break the cycle of difficulties in their lives.
I think some of those who are so obsessed about having a 'clean pavement' should get out a bit more and see what life is really like for people on the streets. Do you ever stop to find out? Can you ever imagine what home life was for some of them? No, you probably have no idea. Have they ever harmed you? Live and let live, help if you want to, walk on by, no harm done but please have some heart...
And really, we have, what, two people sleeping on the streets here!? In the "street cleanliness" stakes, it really isn't much of an issue compared to some places.
I think the attitudes on here are reflective of a divide between the 'i've got where I am today through hard work' and the bleeding hearted liberals who think that they're a sad reflection on society.
My view is that they're people who have probably got in a spiral of addiction and helplessness. However, no one can help them, but themselves. I'm sure I've seen crowds of social workers swarm around them. They can access that care if they want to.
However, I conclude by saying I don't think they're a big social menace (could be wrong and correct me if I am). I think some of the crowds of people who cause anti-social noise and violence on SGR should be hated more.
What we witness outside Tesco is nothing compared with other places in the world. I've seen little children rummaging through rubbish heaps and paddling in pools of fetid water. Tell me they have a chance to get out of their situation if they only had the will?! On the other hand you have those living closeted in small rural communities in Britain who have little experience of life outside their boundaries, except what they see on television. Maybe it's better not to know, but, if you choose to live in the big city you cannot expect that everything is going to be streamlined and perfect, and therefore acceptance of difference has to be part of our way of life...