I have decided to write a rebuttal to Ms. Karla Cariaga and
her commentary “Homeless left to
Starve.” I feel that Ms. Cariaga might have misinterpreted what is being
stated in this article. I would like to
state that I agree with Ms. Cariaga personal feelings and applaud her
compassion for those individuals in need. However, I believe that her personal
feelings and passion on this topic, like many of us share, often closes our minds
to what is really being stated. I ran into this same scenario when I surveyed
opinions on the participation #4 issue.
In her first paragraph, Ms. Cariaga quotes from the article As Homeless Line Up for Food, Los Angeles
Weighs Restrictions written by Adam Nagourney and published in The New York Times. Ms. Cariaga
paraphrases part of the article and states the following “Somehow Its decided
its not right because of the two calls from two Los Angeles City Council
members to banned them from giving food to the homeless.” Nowhere in the
article is this stated. What they are
saying is the Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition,
who provides this service, may have to relocate to continue providing this
service. And, this would not be the first time they have had to do this. They
were forced out of a prior location in 1990.
Paragraph 2, Ms. Cariaga quotes the comments
made by an “actor” and then criticizes his comments. I do not believe that Alexander Polinsky meant that
the homeless themselves were mentally challenged but that their behavior of
walking around aimlessly, congregating for their next meal is much like a
“mental ward.” He talks about the “collateral damage,” but not in reference to
the people. The collateral damage is the trash left behind. The paper plates,
plastic forks, spoons and knives, Styrofoam cups, napkins and even food scrapes
not eaten. And, when people eat they
soon are in need of restrooms. If there are none around guess what your hedges
and trees become. In this regard, I will
tell you first hand, he is not incorrect in his assessment and they are not
just because he has money and is in power as stated by Ms. Cariaga.
My experience. I live
in proximity of the Braker-Lamar, Braker-35 neighborhood. Several years ago we
tried an outreach program for the few local homeless in this area. Food and
other services in conjunction with the neighborhood church, which is also a
listed homeless shelter under extreme weather conditions, were offered. The problems that we encountered and are
still dealing with years after stopping the program are unbelievable. First, the number of homeless multiplied
within days and they did just as stated in this article. They stayed. All day,
all night, laying wherever they wanted. Petty theft within the neighborhood soon
followed. Trash, as in beer cans, wine
bottles and even some of the personal hygiene supplies (our donated dollars) and
garments given were discarded everywhere.
We soon had to organize additional clean-up parties to deal with the
trash. Drugs moved in and hypodermic needles were found by the neighborhood
children walking home from the school bus stops. We had to petition the city and
local businesses to have pay phones removed as they were now being used to make
drug deals and bring unwanted characters in our neighborhood. We then lost a hundred year old oak tree,
which according to the arborist, had been urinated on so much that it killed
the tree. I did not even know that was possible.
One volunteer was followed home and two of the homeless that we tried to
help, moved in under this elderly woman’s home, sleeping there at night. After
defecating for weeks they were discovered. Property values dropped. A local cemetery of
African Americans dating back to early 1900’s was almost destroyed. We are
still dealing with a large number of these problems and have even videotaped
homeless individual’s drunk and shooting drugs in their arms (real footage shot in broad daylight) and
yet, the Austin Police department can do very little in helping us. In one month, we had over one thousand 911
calls made in regards to the activities of our once invited now regretted
visitors.
Again, I agree with Ms. Cariaga that we must continue to
show compassion to those less fortunate. And let me clearly state that not all homeless individuals are
responsible for the disregard that some homeless choose to repay the kindness
shown them. But this article highlights the need of a central location for the
provisions of taking care of those less fortunate without interfering or infringing on those
who are often the one’s helping and providing for.
Greater West Hollywood Food Coalition is providing a great
service for a great cause, please follow the link to donate if you can. However, at the end of the day, they pack up and leave
and the problem shifts to the businesses and home owners of that area. I
understand their needs to have this program relocated but no one in this
article is suggesting the program be banned or the homeless starved.
