Cities Deal With Surge In Shantytowns

New York Times:

FRESNO, Calif. -- As the operations manager of a outreach center for the homeless here, Paul Stack is used to seeing people down on their luck. What he had never seen before was people living in tents and lean-tos on the railroad lot across from the center.

"They just popped up about 18 months ago," Mr. Stack said. "One day it was empty. The next day, there were people living there."

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[quantumspin]

This looks like India, an alleged democracy where the elite think its 'fate' for the poor to live in sewer pipes. Coming to America is the same thing folks. Notice the trillions literally handed to the banks, while these tent cities are allowed to exist.

[Melanie226]

Agreed! It's a straight up disgrace. How can the same country idolize people who purchase Birkin handbags for $60,000 each say they have a conscious when this exists. We really need to get our priorities straight in this country, or we'll all end up in Bushvilles.

[Midnightrain]

OT

Notice the sidebar?

There is a photo of Cindy Crawford with a caption honoring her "beauty" right above President Obama and his wife with a caption calling her "trash."

Then slightly below there is a photo of Rush Limbaugh with a caption about "Ogabe and his 'angry wife,'" followed by a photo of an unknown black man with the caption "sexual violence."

[dems08]

Yeah, what gives HP?

[wadenelson1]

My Hummer doesn't seem to fit through the eye of this needle.

[helonias]

You got it all wrong

The rich get to needle the poor while riding their wealth laden camels into the kingdom of heaven

[ssmack]

I'll say it again, this thought that liberals don't have money is ridiculous. If you demonize the "rich", you're demonizing yourselves.

“liberal families' incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2201513/posts

[Militant Leftist]

Oh come now!!! Everyone knows Jesus was a "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps"/ Social Darwinist / free market capitalist!!! These people are just lazy and don't work as hard as the real chosen people - the very rich. My Bible says "The privileged and powerful will inherit the Earth. The meek/poor are just too lazy to change their circumstances."

[ColoradoDan]

Then 'BushVilles' it shall be. And rightfully so ...

"CheneyShantys" might even be more appropriate.

Amazing the devastion done to this once great nation in just 8 short years,

[donttasemebro]

If you're amazed, you didn't pay very close attention.

[Badfickle]

It hasn't been just 8 years. This has been 28 years in coming.

[unite4change]

This should never be allowed in America. Let's get our the budget passed because it is the most important issue right now!

There is only one reason our politician don't want us to receive the same benefits we pay and provide for them, they are being paid by lobbyists to vote in the interest of business and not the American people. Check out the records using the link below. We must rid America of career politicians who are enriching themselves. Let the Budget Committee know ,we want our budget passed as outlined by President Obama:

Democrats

Kent Conrad Kent Conrad (Chairman) North Dakota

Patty Murray of Washington

Ron Wyden of Oregon

Russell D. Feingold of Wisconisn

Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia

Bill Nelson of Florida

Debbie Stabenow of Michigan

Robert Menendez of New Jersey

Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland

Bernie Sanders of Vermont

Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island

Mark R. Warner of Virginia

Jeff Merkley of Oregon

http://budget.senate.gov/democratic/democrats.html

Republicans

Judd Gregg (Ranking Member) of New Hampshire

Chuck Grassley of Iowa

Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming

Jeff Sessions of Alabama

Jim Bunning of Kentucky

Mike Crapo of Idaho

John Ensign of Nevada

John Cornyn of Texas

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina

Lamar Alexander of Tennessee

http://budget.senate.gov/democratic/republican.html

Check out their voting records here:

http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=53331

[ssmack]

So, you're in favor of bankrupting our country to help the poor. Hmm. I don't see how that is a long-term solution.

[BlackWidowPilot]

Considering the poor are now the overwhelming majority of We The People, and that we've been driven to the brink of bankruptcy in the first place by nearly 30 years of GOP-led "deregulation" to satisfy the boundless avarice of the hyper-wealthy corporatist few, your question is simply nonsensical.

You will recall that it was your Dear Leader and his Busheviks who launched the whole TARP bailout scheme of government giveaways to the imbeciles who have derailed our economy with their legalized ponzi schemes and irresponsible lending practices, all with the blessings of the self-anointed "party of conservative Christian family values).

BTW, I thought you self-proclaimed "conservatives" were also "conservative Christian family values" types, not Social Darwinists.

Guess the following passage has no meaning for you:

"Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."

- Matthew 25:31-46

My bad.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[helonias]

BUt there is that One Nation under god thingee

and you know what his kid said about the poor

[TimeToPunt]

There's really somebody in Idaho named "Mike Crapo?"

[TheKidd]

i never thought i'd see the day when the USA would become a third world country...this is really sad.

[k6007]

It isn't the first time, we WILL recover.

[YOUCANNOTHANDLETHETRUTH]

"when you look at the data, it turns out the conservatives give about 30 percent more." He adds, "And incidentally, conservative-headed families make slightly less money."

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2682730&page=1

The facts are there for all you liberals who want to rant.

[RickyPoo]

Since most income has been ridiculously redistributed to the top 10% via the most unfair, inequitable tax policy in American history, and since charitable contributions are a notorious tax shelter for the wealthy, and since most of those top 10% call themselves conservative or Repub, these stats are hardly surprising and prove absolutely nothing.

[Badfickle]

Actually if that is the same study that I have seen before they accounted for differences in income in the study.

[ssmack]

Did you read the part about "conservative-headed families make slightly less money"? I think that says it all. This thought that liberals don't have money is simply untrue. New York City is HIGHLY liberal, and they do quite well there (at least before the Wall Street meltdown).

[Midnightrain]

You get aneffing tax break for giving to "charity."

Your motives for giving are not altruistic, plus you love to see people begging. It makes you all feel important and "blessed."

What a bunch of craaaap.

[BlackWidowPilot]

OK, I'll bite, the "facts" were compiled by a corporate media entity with a documented-to-death corporate bias. First rue in research: consider the source.

Speaking of "family values conservatives," let's review the actual track record of the self-anointed "party of conservative Christian family values:

http://www.armchairsubversive.org

Hypocrisy, thy name *remains* GOP.

Yeeeach.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Zenith1959]

I was at a concert once with the #2 micro-softie, so the average wealth of everyone there was about $2,000,000.00.

[wadenelson1]

Percentage wise the poor have ALWAYS given more of their income than the rich. They just don't deduct all of it off their taxes and keep as good a record.

I've seen the soiled mattresses, broken furniture and other crap the wealthy drop off at the thrift store and request a $500 receipt for. Frankly their "false charity" makes me want to throw up.

The only thing worse is the attitude, "Well THEY always seem to have money for booze/cigarettes."

Try living on the street awhile and see if you don't need a drink or a smoke to make it through the day. And yes, many of these people have addiction problems, along with mental illness and other issues.

The rich in this country had better be praying God is imaginary and all those warnings in the Bible just fables.

[BlackWidowPilot]

You mean warnings like these:

"Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me."

- Matthew 25:31-46

"Woe unto the rich, woe unto the rich, for I say unto you, they have their reward!"

- Jesus

"It is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle, than it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven!"

- Jesus

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[jalowe1957]

Welcome to the New Hoovervilles...

[Balancement]

"Bushvilles." Let's use the correct term.

[invisihand]

Question for all, especially conservative Christian Repubs: WWJD?

[Midnightrain]

Oh come on.

In their minds, jeezus looks like them, so he'd do exactly what they're doing.

[jdmccl]

If you read the bible, you would know. This is the same old story. These Obamavilles are embarrassing for our country. Where are the 3 million jobs?

[Midnightrain]

LOL!!

Anyone who has to refer to a man made artifice to guide his existence is not fully human and has an under developed conscience.

[k6007]

Vanity, and impatience? Maybe, you should read it, again..

[invisihand]

Oh, I have read the Bible, and know that Jesus was not a right wing conservative. Infuriating that you already blame Obama for the 8 year Bush regime results and no blame or accountability for them. Keep on trollin.

[Melanie226]

These are NOT Obama's doing, most of the people in these shanty towns are there due to the mortgage crisis and loss of manufacturing and construction jobs, which is all the result of the Bush/Cheney policies. These are Bushvilles without question!

[somsoc]

These aren't 'shantytowns' they are 'Bushvilles'. The need for food, tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear, etc. is enormous, do what you can, it is heart breaking.

[Balancement]

Agreed. These are not "Tent Cities"--they should be called by their proper name: "Bushvilles." Over and over again, people need to be reminded there are people out work and homeless on the streets and in the parks, and under the bridges in the United States--and they are there because of Bush.

"Bushvilles" are W.'s legacy.

[drvck70]

How long before tents that sleep say 10 instead of 4 become luxeries and are subject to a 90% tax to even things out?

[RickyPoo]

OK, it's time to set the record straight yet again.

Every time we get these horrifying stories of how Repub economic policies have devastated families across the country, we also get a bunch of smug, self-righteous, finger-wagging trolls telling us that it's because we evil liberals don't give enough to private charity. It's also their utterly transparent method of trying to change the subject and avoid accountability for Their Heroes, the architects of this mess.

Per page 177 of Joe Conason's book, "Big Lies: The Right Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth":

"A simple statistic demonstrates how ridiculous it is to think that private charity can replace the public sector in maintaining the social contract. According to a study prepared several years ago by The Century Foundation, the total ASSETS of America's 34,000 foundations (not the annual income from their endowments) add up to around 10 percent of current government expenditures for social welfare and related domestic programs. There's no reason to believe that ratio has changed much, particularly after plunging equity values decimated the foundation portfolios. Charitable groups lack the resources to sustain the nation's poor at even the most minimal level of survival--let alone to help them escape poverty."

Based on the above, I've got a finger to wag in the faces of these trolls myself. And it's not my index finger......

[jdmccl]

Bushes fault just like 9-11 was? Didn't Bush bankrpt Social Security and cause the 100's of Billions in Medicare fraud?

boy king just hamstrung the charities and now they will become a shadow of the effective force as they were under Bush. Thats the change?

[RickyPoo]

"Effective force"?

Did you even bother to read my post? Since when is less than 10% of what government is inadequately doing now an "effective force"? WTF?!

And President Obama closing tax loopholes on the rich is a good thing, not a bad thing, when it comes to getting the government the resources it needs to deal with these problems.

[k6007]

A surge in homelessness + A surge in abandoned homes.
Some cities are advising those foreclosed upon to STAY PUT. Good for them!
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/3/rep_marcy_kaptur_d_oh_urges

[gladys46]

For all you so-called repub "christians" ... sing along with the children:


http://www.blackbottom.com/watch.php?v=qUA3Lk9XXmP

Say your amens or continue that feeble attempt at justifying homelessness in America !

[Midnightrain]

Christianity creates another form of dependency. It's called spiritual enslavement.

[BlueStateMan]

Opium for the masses.

[gladys46]

True for most extremists !

[jdmccl]

Ask Al Gore the prophet hisself.

[ssmack]

True. But, all are "slaves" to something.

[Beelzebul]

Pathetic.