Mountain View homeless camp cleared out

[Oni]

Mountain View homeless camp cleared out
Citations issued as squatters have 20 minutes to gather belongings

By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com

Published: October 19th, 2009 10:29 PM
Last Modified: October 19th, 2009 10:34 PM

Four days after Anchorage police red-tagged homeless camps in Mountain View for shutdown, they returned Monday to find illegal campers still squatting on city land and gave them 20 minutes to clear out.

Read More Here

My Thoughts Below

Okay I have been reading about this all week. Better question is WHAT Do we do with them. No matter how many times we kick them out of there camp sites they are just going to find more. I heard on KWHL Bob and Mark joking about putting them in a fenced in Homless Area..... Some how I don't see building a slum tent village on the out skirts of Anchorage is a good idea. Every homeless person has there reason for it. Some like it, some just are down on there luck, and others are just lazy. Just cause your homeless don't mean you don't have a job. Some homeless people have jobs, hell they even have cell phones thanks to "Life Line." that's  how they are able to keep there jobs. They take the bus to work, they just don't make enough to pay for rent and bills so they live in the camp sites.

Why not create a social experiament then with them. Offer to them 50 archers of land, to do with as they want (out side of city limits of course). Think of it as a modern day indian tribe. Offer a bus transit like the one that goes out to palmer and eagle river. A bus 3-4 times daily goes from there land to town. That way the working ones can work and the rest can well... sit on there tail.

Just a thought. Never said it was a good thought. But it's better than setting up a fenced in camp with gards and cameras.

~Oni

So my question to you is. How would you deal with it if you had the power, and what do you think of other peoples thoughts, and what the City is doing?

[dom]

you know this is an  excellent thing to bring up. You will have a ton of differing opinions. but i have had that idea for a while just not quite the same. i think we should get the one that are worthless drugies and just dirt bags off the streets and away from kids and people and do just like your idea. i think it would work great.

[Crimson]

Ya know that getting the worthless ones off the streets can coincide with an idea i have had since high school...
i figured why do animal testing when the product could still hurt people or be useless... i figured we should test on people in jails on death row and life sentences. at least that would make them useful... we are paying their room and board till they die after all. we could use the junkies for it too

[dom]

that's a good idea

[Eternimus]

Why not create a social experiament then with them. Offer to them 50 archers of land, to do with as they want (out side of city limits of course). Think of it as a modern day indian tribe. Offer a bus transit like the one that goes out to palmer and eagle river. A bus 3-4 times daily goes from there land to town. That way the working ones can work and the rest can well... sit on there tail.

If you give them 50 archers of land, you're gonna have a bunch of people firing arrows into topsoil. So that's a bad idea.

[Oni]

"Why is it they always use our village"

Men in Tights

[SinisterWolfy]

the main problem i see with your idea Oni is that once a week some pore person has to go out and take a heard count and check tents to make sure there are no dead body's. because the homeless come from different tribes of Alaska and most don't get along. not to mention doing dead drunk checks. i was a security officer down at the transit centure down town. i have seen my fair share of drunk fights and almost dead drunks. did you know every winter they have to search the grass land by the native hospital to make sure there are no dead body's out there. its sad but true. the homeless deaths are just now getting to the public. its sad that people are just now trying to fix a problem that has bee around since the 80s. i guess the cops ran out of drug busts and people to beat the crap out of. the things we need to fix are being done half assed. if you want to help with the homeless problem its easy. the go to the shelter in the winter to stay warm. make it mandatory for them to do a work rehab program for them to stay. during the summer have them help build the Alaska housing that is going all over Mt.view give them something to do other than burden the rest of the community and beg for spare change at fredmyer or in traffic. >

[Taylor-MadeAK]

the things we need to fix are being done half assed.

Not APD's job to "fix" it.  Just because they had the shitty job of evicting a bunch of illegal squatters from city land doesn't mean its their job to make the problem go away entirely.  As long as there are people who are willing to give money, goods, and shelter to people who aren't willing to work for it (I'm looking at you, CIRI and other "native corporations," as well as the state-funded Alaska Native Medical Center and "non-profit organizations" like Bean's and Brother Francis...not to mention you idiots who feed the panhandlers), the "homeless" will be an existing problem.

Do you know why those natives are living homelessly here in Anchorage and not out in whatever village they came from?  Because subsistence fishing and hunting is work!  If you take nothing else away from this thread, at least wrap your head around the concept that these panhandlers and squatters live the way they do because they're allergic to work.

[SinisterWolfy]

that's completely true Taylor. the only problem is that the homeless people in anchorage are mostly native and old white guys that are "vets" mostly the guys that hang out with the natives. not to mention the stupid kids that cry about their mommy taking their ipods and putting them in AMYA. its a process to get this taken care of and most rich people dont care how its done that just don't want to look at it anymore. hence APD cleaning up the mess. and private security ferms. again I say create and force programs to get them jobs and places to live cut off their founding till they can walk straight!

[Oni]

So make them earn that Bottle of R&R at the end of the day?

Why Earn it when you can stick out your paw and people will put money in it?

[Crimson]

the things we need to fix are being done half assed.

Not APD's job to "fix" it.  Just because they had the shitty job of evicting a bunch of illegal squatters from city land doesn't mean its their job to make the problem go away entirely.  As long as there are people who are willing to give money, goods, and shelter to people who aren't willing to work for it (I'm looking at you, CIRI and other "native corporations," as well as the state-funded Alaska Native Medical Center and "non-profit organizations" like Bean's and Brother Francis...not to mention you idiots who feed the panhandlers), the "homeless" will be an existing problem.

Do you know why those natives are living homelessly here in Anchorage and not out in whatever village they came from?  Because subsistence fishing and hunting is work!  If you take nothing else away from this thread, at least wrap your head around the concept that these panhandlers and squatters live the way they do because they're allergic to work.

For the most part i agree with this. I am also of the belief that if the non-profits used their time and resources to help those like the woman I was talking about (here: http://www.akcommunity.com/index.php/topic,2326.msg13202/topicseen.html#new )  to get a place or a caregiver or something rather than trying to help those that choose to be homeless and choose to spend all their money on booze and choose to lose whatever they are helped to gain and such there'd be less of a problem as a whole. It'd be a more worth while and fruitful endeavor.  But then the key word used in that sentence is choose.

Admittedly I am willing to feed some of them though... not all of them, just some of them... I'm very selective in who I help.
And before anyone jumps in and says its a race thing or a gender thing: it is not .
I have been by technical standards (i.e. no home of my own, staying with a friend or in a hotel) been homeless. It's hard. But there's a difference. I was evicted from my apartment. I worked hard to solve the problem. I didn't spend all my money on booze or drugs. Etc etc etc...
I feed the ones that are struggling, who are hungry, who don't reek of booze so bad I get a buzz when they breathe on me (seriously this happened on the bus a few times... its sad when someones pore emit so much sweat out booze you get a buzz off smelling it. no matter how slight a buzz its sad- and disgusting-)... all in all the ones i think are trying to get out of the hole they're in and better themselves, ya know what I mean? It helps em save up just a few more dollars.

[Crimson]

that's completely true Taylor. the only problem is that the homeless people in anchorage are mostly native and old white guys that are "vets" mostly the guys that hang out with the natives. not to mention the stupid kids that cry about their mommy taking their ipods and putting them in AMYA. its a process to get this taken care of and most rich people dont care how its done that just don't want to look at it anymore. hence APD cleaning up the mess. and private security ferms. again I say create and force programs to get them jobs and places to live cut off their founding till they can walk straight!

I disagree with part of your sentiment for this reason: http://www1.va.gov/domiciliary/

Vets who are homeless and drunks CHOOSE to be. They CHOOSE not to fix it.