He supports McCain’s tax plan.
In anticipation of the upcoming Democratic Obama-lovefest, the city of Denver faces the dilemma of many big cities nearing the limelight of a major event: what to do with those human eyesores, the homeless. And yes, this is the question they pose, whether an American liberal or conservative (although San Francisco is trying creative ways of dealing with this suffering population).
The options include the Republican-esque strategy of putting them on buses and dumping them in a Blue state. With only 4,000 homeless people, Denver would have an easier time of it than New York. That would not be very Democrat-like, so it’s off the table for now. Instead, the city will just find nice ways to make them disappear, temporarily.
Denver is going with a kinder and gentler, to borrow Daddy Bush’s words, approach. The city is showering the homeless with positive alternatives:
They arranged for free movie passes and bingo games to get them off the street, as well as temporary housing and free tickets to the zoo and Museum of Nature and Science.
They are also giving out vouchers for haircuts so that the homeless people not at the zoo or playing bingo during the convention can look spiffy.
There is one problem with the incentive-structuring of this. The homeless who take Denver up on its offer to essentially disappear from public eyes will fore go the potential of record panhandling revenue. Who would give more than mobs of bleeding heart liberals out to impress each other? Maybe Denver should offer cash to subsidize the opportunity costs of the homeless going elsewhere. The amount should be derived from a complex formula including the cost of a Starbucks frappacino since that will likely be the beverage in hand at the time of a homeless person’s ask.
Maybe the move to find places for people living on the streets is really intended to avoid causing Democrats psychological discomfort since the party of the people has accomplished so little for the country’s worst-off. It’s like a reminder of the party’s failures. It would be like Arabs and Muslims roaming free in Minneapolis when the Republicans converge on the twin cities.
The symbolism of Denver’s efforts is obvious. Just as the major candidates have ignored the plight of this country’s burgeoning homeless population, which will only grow in these economic times, convention-goers will be free to continue ignoring them thanks to Denver’s soft efforts at constructing a new Potemkin village.
To be fair, Denver’s measures are very slight compared to China’s round-up-the-usual-suspects attitude for the Olympics: what Naomi Klein calls police state 2.0. Its other measures have been strange, including attacking the weather with missiles and felinocide.
Not that China is that different. The Olympics and such events tend to be bad for a city’s worst off, wherever they are held.
Obama wants me to hope. I hope the Democrats in Denver do not think that managing the images of the city and the convention is a substitute for policies addressing actual problems. Man, do I feel naive!
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Wow, Denver (2.7 million) has only 4,000 homeless? Boston (pop. 600,000) has nearly twice that. And probably more bleeding heart liberals too!
Interesting.
Posted by Jillian | August 20, 2008, 8:25 amRepublican-esque strategy
When was the last time Republicans rounded up homeless people and bussed them out of state? you must be confusing this with democrats, who bus homeless people around to vote in nearby swing states
So weird. You’re describing Democrats trying to sweep homeless people under the rug, and you blame it on Republicans…
the fact is, liberal solutions fail 100% of the time.
Will, i know it’s hard to believe, since you’ve never actually spoken to a homeless person, being a liberal, but I have. You don’t really give a shit about them. all you care about is appearing to care for them, without even knowing what they need or what they want. you’re just like the liberals who will be passing through denver, trying to look progressive in front of their friends by handing out 50 cents and making sure you don’t actually touch the homeless person’s hand when you do it
most homeless people I’ve spoken to, whether in New Jersey, San Diego or Miami are homeless out of choice. many of them lived full lives with homes and jobs and families, and one day something just snapped. they don’t consider themselves impoverished. they think they are living on the edge, living life to the fullest. they are proud of their freedom of movement. in fact they call themselves “traveling people”.
they don’t want to be forced back into homes. they don’t want to be forced to have jobs. they will work a week and live a month on the money. they will buy a $200 car, drive it to toronto (a big homeless hangout) and just dump it there. they don’t have obligations or restrictions, no bills to pay, no one else to worry about. all they do all day every day is meet people and philosophize about the world
in short, they don’t need denver’s repulsive liberal guilt, and they don’t need yours
Posted by Anonymous | August 20, 2008, 10:11 amThe Hebert Hoover adminstration rounded them up and sent them to a labour camp on the Arizona-Nevada border. John Hodjman discusses the incident in detail in his book “Areas of My Expertise”, you can read about it in the chapter titled ” A Secret History of Hobos”.
Posted by Fayyad | August 20, 2008, 10:56 amWhy go back 90 years? Democrats were busing them around in ’06!
Posted by Anonymous | August 20, 2008, 11:07 amDenver’s Road Home, the community’s ten year plan to end homelessness, is issuing a clarification to some of the misinformation in the community as it relates to the Democratic National Convention and the homeless.
Denver’s Road Home has a comprehensive, long-term plan designed to put people into housing while addressing the underlying causes of homelessness. In the first three years since implementation, Denver’s Road Home has reduced chronic homelessness by 36%.
We are not hiding the homeless, we are helping the homeless find housing. Ensuring the homeless have short and long-term housing has always been the priority of Denver’s Road Home. This is not new for the DNC. Service delivery will be “business as usual” with a few extras during the convention to make sure everyone wanting shelter has a place to go.
Bus tokens are available, as they are every day of the year, for the homeless to access the services that they need to live life off of the streets.
Denver’s Road Home is not aware of any zoo passes, museum tickets or other cultural activities being distributed to the homeless during the Democratic National Convention. A clarification to this point was issued by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and can found on their website at http://www.coloradocoalition.org.
Denver’s Road Home is working to ensure that people are safe and treated well during the DNC. We’re treating the homeless as we have been for almost three years. We are, and have always been, committed to ensuring everyone has a safe place to be. During the DNC, DRH will expand outreach services to get the homeless connected with services and shelter. DRH is also working with providers to expand facility hours, both day and evening, and to provide special programs for homeless youth. DRH is also working closely with the Denver Police to ensure the safety and well being of people on the streets.
We see the DNC as an opportunity to engage the homeless in the political process. DRH is working with several providers to register the homeless to vote and to provide convention viewing opportunities for the homeless.
The DNC is a great opportunity to educate our community and the nation about the plight of the homeless. Denver’s Road Home will be working to raise awareness about homelessness among convention delegates and the general public, just as we have with other large-scale events that have come to Denver.
Denver’s Road Home was here before DNC and will be here long after the convention is gone. Denver’s Road Home has been in place for almost three years, long before Denver was chosen to host the DNC. It is a comprehensive, long-term plan designed to get people into housing and access to services while addressing the underlying causes of homelessness. Because it is a ten year plan, it will be in place for many years to come.
You can find more information about our community plan on http://www.denversroadhome.org.
Posted by Denver | August 20, 2008, 2:38 pmObama wants me to hope. I hope the Democrats in Denver do not think that managing the images of the city and the convention is a substitute for policies addressing actual problems. Man, do I feel naive!
Yes, you are naive. Fuck Obama… the government doesn’t do shit for the homeless, and it never will. The Government likes poor people, and especially homeless people, because it gives them an excuse to create more bureaucratic government agencies to supposedly provide social services that never seem to be delivered. Charitable organizations do far more for the homeless (and the poor) tahn the government ever will. You are Christian, right Will? You go to Church? I bet your Church has a group dedicated to being of service to the homeless. I bet they have a group dedicated to delivering “meals on wheels” to people who are housebound as well. And probably a group dedicated to being of service to seniors who are stuck in nursing homes. Seriously. Check it out. There are all kinds of things you can do to help people, and none of them have anything to do with Obama.
Posted by programmer craig | August 20, 2008, 2:44 pmDenver Road Home, eh?
Where I grew up, the government straight up told people when it was going to screw them, so let’s make sure we understand one another.
Denver will spent tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds – which will go into the pockets of well connected private developers to either construct new urban projects (i.e. ghettos) for the homeless, or purchase property and forcibly settle the homeless in said properties.
As PC said, dealing with homelessness is not a job for government bureaucrats, who get paid for pushing paper, with lucrative taxpayer paid health benefits, and get raises for pushing more paper. The fact is, there has never been a single government agency that failed, or I should say, there has never been a government agency that succeeded.
The way to make sure that homelessness becomes endemic, perpetual and hopeless, is to create a Department for the Homeless, whose faceless bureaucrats will spend their careers justifying their existence.
Read The Tragedy of American Compassion. Very cheap ($1-5) on Amazon.
Posted by Anonymous | August 20, 2008, 5:51 pmThere is a newer printing of that book. The Tragedy of American Compassion, 2008.
Posted by Anonymous | August 20, 2008, 5:54 pmIf everyone just stopped thinking of the country’s problems as partisan problems — for just one day — the solutions might be a little easier to imagine.
Both sides have valid gripes, but each side refuses to accept that for fear of acknowledging that maybe the world doesn’t work in the binaries their parties allow for.
I’m sure many Democrats on here who just read the Republican commenters’ points were a little bothered because some of what they read could be construed as true.
That certainly doesn’t mean Republicans are right to shape our world how they’d like to. Hell no. Much of the stuff they say is insane. But not all of it — so when they call you out on something, pay attention. If they’re wrong according to your party but they’re right according to YOU, feel free to seek an autonomous mind set — you’re much smarter than any old party establishment.
Same goes for the Republicans. When some Liberal says something that rings true to you, even as you’ve been taught that they’re totally and completely crazy, wonder, “Hey, how come it makes more sense to me to listen to myself instead of my party?”
Democrats, Republicans, stop checking that box that overdetermines your ideas and thoughts and start thinking a little more abstractly than party lines allow.
Trust me when I say it makes the world make a lot more sense than you thought it ever could.
Posted by Bonty | August 20, 2008, 6:18 pm