no homeless people were harmed during this post
permalink | categories: citizens, city, crime, health, law enforcement, music, pinellas, service, tampaby Rachel* @ 7:06 am
Me and Mark and Lil Sis and Eddie went to Mastry’s on Saturday night for a warm-up before the insane throwdown that was DJ Mega and the Hornet at the Lobby.
Lil Sis and Eddie were staying at Dad’s condo on Davis Island and Dad and Eddie have hit it off extraordinarily well much to the jokingly veiled chagrin of Mark.
Mark’s exact words on the topic were, “Soooo, in with Eddie, out with Mark!”
Dad’s exact words were, “That f*cking clown. I’m gonna have to bury him to keep him away from ya!”
Eddie, meanwhile, had lots to say. Dad appreciates his no-bullsh*t style. Dad gave him all the security codes to the gate and the garage and the sauna. Dad likes his ideas on crabbing. Dad can see he’s a good guy, because he, too, likes the track.
Eddie also had an interesting story to tell about a homeless man, in Naples, who asked him for a dollar. Eddie told him no and got in his Caddy and the homeless guy started punching the glass, so Eddie got out of the Caddy and the homeless guy punched him in the jaw and Eddie left the homeless guy twitching in the street.
He told us this story at Mastry’s during the second round and when he was done, me and Lil Sis went up to the bar to order more. I was waiting for the bartender to come around when this scraggly-haired homeless guy comes up behind Lil Sis.
He had his claw extended at her and he was probably about to touch her hair, because she is startlingly platinum blond and the light at Mastry’s flickered an excellent, sexy pale blue onto her hair, like she was in a video game where she was, like, the leader of a gang of fierce cougar-girl mutants or something.
“Back up,” I said to the homeless guy in very low, dangerous tones.
He froze. Lil Sis, who is icy dope in situations like these, stayed facing me, didn’t move a muscle.
“Back up,” I said again, more slowly.
He shook a little, and he knew not to move any closer, but his claw started to wobble and extend.
“Hey. Back the f*ck up off my little sister now,” I said, and still no raising of the voice, no threatening physical gestures, but Eddie, perhaps still smarting from the touch of the violent homeless, picked up on what was happening, and he was up outta the chair in a minute, followed by Mark.
“Hey, what’s up? Didn’t I tell you to f*ck off before?” he said, much more forcefully than I had spoken. “I’ma do something now. I told you to get away from here.”
The homeless guy stepped off and Eddie lunged at him, “No, f*ck that. I told you -”
I put my hand on his chest and the homeless guy toddled out of Mastry’s and into the street. As it turned out, the bum had already been at the table indicating that Lil Sis was too much of a rapier blade for his taste and she should put on some weight and Eddie didn’t take the slight to his lady love very politely.
At the bar, a man with an eyepatch said to his friend, “Now, that was good. That whole thing. That was why you go out on a Saturday night,” which made me imagine lots of exciting reasons for why he had lost an eye.
At the table, Eddie was a little heated still and started to tell another story about how he had beaten up some other homeless guy.
We have decided that the homeless problem in St. Petersburg is becoming entirely out of control. Part of the problem is that a bunch of idiot liberal ‘Burgers will just stand there and let homeless people ramble on at them and then fumble for money or let themselves get yelled at when they don’t have any. I seriously know girls who are, like, afraid of downtown during certain times now, which is horrendous, because, for Christ’s sake, this is St. Petersburg, not Manhattan.
The truth is vagrants travel to cities where there is a structure to support them. How many homeless people are rolling up on couples on dates in, I don’t know, the downtown of a suburb of Indianapolis? How many girls in their twenties are afraid of walking alone in the well-lit areas of suburban Des Moines?
Vagrancy should not be enabled. When you see a f*cking bum stumbling drunk up on you, slurring about needing gas money or pleading with you that he is a good person, you just gotta ignore him and if he follows you, turn on him and sharply tell him, “F*ck off. Stop following me.”
Real alleviation of the homeless problem requires broad action - cops telling them to move along, shelters to get them off the sidewalks, feeding stations, mental health support, day labor programs. Your five bucks tells the homeless man that he can get by panhandling in St. Petersburg and, frankly, that is not OK with me.
We are thinking about proving this nuisance and need for civil action by making a short film called “Eddie Rolls on the Homeless,” whereby Mark secretly videotapes me and Lil Sis in a variety of situations to see how many homeless people approach us and, then, how many of these situations escalate into harrassment. Then, he’s gonna videotape Eddie in the same scenarios, only Eddie is going to beat up every homeless person who escalates the contact after being told that his panhandling is illegal and annoying.
The potential of social questions of class warfare, violence and self-defense and kindess toward our fellow man in this unmade film are astounding, but, oh, we’re all just animals on the inside, aren’t we?
And Mega and the Hornet threw it down at the Lobby so hard, you, like, want them to get married or something, except that there’d be no one to DJ at the wedding.
Cross-posted at Interbay Superstar
NOTE: This post is a blunt assessment of an ongoing issue in St. Pete and everywhere. Sticks of Fire does not condone violence on any member of our community, but certainly welcomes a discussion of the homeless, which should include the subject of aggressive panhandling.
Tags: citizens, city, crime, health, law enforcement, music, pinellas, service, tampa
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January 18th, 2007 at 9:54 am
What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us?
Mat 25:42-45 ASV
(42) for I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink;
(43) I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
(44) Then shall they also answer, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
(45) Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me.
If the Christian bit isn’t your speed, consider your Karma. Or consider the upcoming felony assault trial, after Eddie beats up some disabled veteran: The above post will support prosecution and sentencing under hate crime statutes.
You state: “Vagrancy should not be enabled.” I’m sure that other readers here at Sticks are wondering why Tommy would enable publication of your inhumane fantasies of filming the homeless getting beaten down.
January 18th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Must really be hurting for material to enable this sort of sewage.
January 18th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Looking forward to reading your posts.
January 18th, 2007 at 11:05 am
Rachelasterisk has her own blog. Why do we need to read this junk here too?
January 18th, 2007 at 11:12 am
I expected better writing than this.
January 18th, 2007 at 11:22 am
I am a daily sticks reader and I have to say that if this is what the content is going to be like I will take it off of my favorits list…
January 18th, 2007 at 11:27 am
i am not a pacifist by any stretch of the imagination but I generally find a simple “I don’t carry cash” as I walk by always accomplishes the desired effect.
The whole “fuck you pal” approach seems appropriate for…i dunno…teenagers.
To each his own I suppose but you friends seem like real winners there…hope we never have the displeasure of bumping into one another in the St. Pete watering holes.
January 18th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Maybe the problem here is the careless and apathetic people who think that homelessness and vagrancy are some sort of blight afflicting them, when instead it’s a symptom of larger social problems left to fester without heed. One of my favorite quotes:
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
32nd president of US (1882 - 1945)
Despite any beliefs that the homeless should simply “pull themselves up by the bootstraps”, our society is structured in a way that makes doing so nearly impossible. Economic mobility has decreased since the 1970’s, and we’re clearly no better for it. Try giving the homeless guy a buck or two. Who cares if he buys a sandwich or booze, he’s homeless, it sucks. He doesn’t get to sit back on his couch, tivo Desperate Housewives and then mosy on down to the local coffee shop to blog about how annoyed he is at snooty middle class people who treat him like shit because of his status in life.
January 18th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
http://www.lyricstop.com/u/underweargoesinsidethepants-lazyboy.html
“I walked behind this guy the other day.
A homeless guy asked him for money.
He looks right at the homeless guy and says why don’t you go get a job you bum.
People always say that to homeless guys like it is so easy.
This homeless guy was wearing his underwear outside his pants.
Outside his pants. I’m guessing his resume isn’t all up to date.”
January 18th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I like to boil homeless people in my sauna, then feed them to my rottweilers as I drive around in my hummer. That makes me man.
January 18th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Tell your intentions to the homeless man murdered in my parent’s backyard yesterday. Robbery? But why was he shot in the mouth and the head (not reported in the news)? That reeks of angry intentions.
http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/newswire/story/shooting-victim-found-in-st-pete-alley/
January 18th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
I have lived on the Southside near downtown for 30 some years. We have two homeless shelters near my Bartlett Park neighborhood and have had many squatting in vacant buildings and camping in vacant lots.
My observation is that most of the homeless are struggling to improve their condition and they try to keep a low profile. You would not know that they are homeless by looking at them.
A few stay out on street corners or in front of stores begging. These are the only ones that you see and identify as homeless. Most of this group seems to need cash to buy drugs or alcohol. I have offered them food when they say that they are hungry and they turn it down.
The city has aggressively demolished low cost and affordable homes. The half of Southside residents that rent are being displaced as taxes and insurance increases are passes on to them as higher rents.
The problem is getting worse.
We need to look beyond the obnoxious behavior of a few disturbed individuals and help our brothers and sisters in need.
January 18th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
As many of you know, I sing in a band. We play in Ybor City often, and there are plenty of homeless people that find their way to the neighborhood on a Friday or Saturday night. You will find a number of these folks shuffling along 7th Avenue or sitting on one of the public benches, talking to no one and bothering nobody. There’s another percentage that actively panhandle from the parking lots to the hot spots, asking all sorts of people for a buck or two. In 7 years of playing there on most weekends, I have never been threatened or harmed by any of them.
Unneccesary violence is repulsive. And Rachel, you and your mates seem awfully quick to want to resort to it. There are plenty of other solutions, such as walking away or ignoring their requests. Physical assault anywhere is certainly unwelcome, but I’m fairly certain the boys in your life can manage to get that point across without resorting to such harmful tactics.
All of us are trying to make our way through the world. All of us. You damn sure don’t have to help anyone you don’t want to help. But to make someone else’s life miserable when there is no need is not at all productive. It’s not nice, either.
PS: Creative Loafing has a great article today that offers a possible starting place to address homelessness. The city of Clearwater is miles ahead of both St. Pete and Tampa in this regard. I encourage you to check it out, and then let your local governments know there are great ideas out there. Please read this: http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A178465
January 18th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I second Tommy.
January 18th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
well, geez, rachel, i guess you woke up this blog on your first day! you got people to react, albeit negatively. congrats. but still…as they evidently used to go around saying back in revolutionary times: i may not agree with what you say, but i’ll defend to the death your right to say it….
January 18th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Yuck. Rachel had better hope that she never encounters some horrible bad luck or personal tragedy, because roles can be reversed in seconds.
January 18th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Ten tags, twenty comments, first day.
January 18th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I agree with # 16. ANY aggression I have ever seen from a ‘homeless’ person was when a group of them (organized and NOT homeless) descended on my boyfriend and I at Fortunato’s. They have a turf area there and it’s not the homeless; so grow up Rachel, we all know what it is and who it is. In fact, I’ve never been approached by a real homeless person. I have this insight because they do the same sh*t in my neighborhood, see? Then the crack-ho organized crime b*tch takes her skinny a*s back home and dumps off the kid she borrowed. What a nazi you are. Tommy? Are you serious?? With a cool blog like THIS, you wanna be having the INhuman in the house? That’s sad, cause she’s cute but beauty is only skin deep.
And she’s funny but the subject matter is not.
I’ve never had a homeless person approach me and ask for anything and I see them ALL THE FRICKIN TIME.
Are you Mayor Pam’s cousin and all tiffed at me for commenting on the lack of compassion down to city hall?
Go to Williams Park on your dates from now on if you get any more of them after they view the condition of your heart … I pass by there ten times a week and have never been approached by a bona fide homeless person.
Just some of the scum that’s trying to take over the world but they live in houses, like you and me. (assuming you do and all)
Tommy ?? Do something before she ruins your blog.
January 18th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
This posting may mark the day Sticks jumps the shark.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Look how Sticks has got the community talking now. You guys are being way hard on the new girl. We can’t all be Katie Couric…besides, my do-gooder posts never generate this much conversation.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
It’s one of the elephants in the room, and Rachel inelegantly pointed it out. Might as well air the issue and try to reach some consensus. Warm, pleasant climates are logical places for homeless to congregate. Hawaii has it worse; there are entire families living on the public beaches there. The kids go to school, the parent(s) go to work, and everyone comes home to the tent at night. They are priced out of living in proper fixed structures. They don’t panhandle, they don’t molest others, they are working for better days ahead.
What’s the solution? Is there one?
January 18th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Dawn grabbed the hammer and brought it firmly on the nail’s head. If Sticks jumping the shark means people start talking, I’ll bring the chum.
*end of bad metaphors*
I’m in no way defending the possibility of filming battery on the homeless, but damn how cool is it to see people getting worked up? I’m not even sure that this was Rachel*’s intention with this post, but it’s been a rather circuitous path to a positive thing.
I do hope that anyone offended cuts both Rachel* and Sticks some slack. Make your displeasure known please, but please don’t let this drive you away.
Maybe we can all choose our methods a little better, but I’d say starting the conversation is precisely what any of us here or any other blog can hope to do with our words.
January 18th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Yeah, people used to get worked up watching “Jerry Springer” too. It’s either pure sensationalism or the new contributor has a serious personality defect. Either way, it’s pretty pathetic. I’ll be finding my local blogging elsewhere.
January 18th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
Are people really serious when they say they’ve never had a homeless person bother them anywhere??
I really and truly do not want to appear insensitive, but I am a fairly insular person who can basically triangulate my whereabouts at any given time between Downtown, Tampa Heights and Ybor. I get approached all the time. Over and over.
Granted, it’s not always “hassle,” but more often than not it frankly is. I will say when the same guy knocks on my door at 1:30 am on a Wednesday for the fifteenth time looking for “bus fare” or telling me the same tired story about how his car broke down and he needs to get to work it’s gotten really ridiculous and I get angry about it.
I will get approached by the same guy in front of my tattoo parlor 5 times in one night, or ditto when the bar manager at New World or The Hub isn’t paying attention to who’s coming in and out.
It’s nothing more than middle-class guilt to give every one of these people a pass and make some sweeping apology for everyone who panhandles. I am a male, 6 foot 1 and about 210 lbs - I don’t have a problem taking care of myself, but I’ve repeatedly watched much smaller female friends of mine get totally bullied over a few bucks. And I know for a fact those panhandlers know what they’re doing.
By no means am I saying anybody who comes up and panhandles deserves a beatdown - but you do have to take Rachel’s point that in a lot of instances, and in a lot of locales where people like this have taken root - it’s become a real problem.
I donate personally to homeless charities. My wife is on the board of one and I’ve done a lot with my company to assist that same organization help raise awareness and resources. I don’t think need or worth is being debated. Nor is the need for real aid, education and reform.
I think she’s talking about the specific actions of what equates to harrassment and bullying - right?
Or am I missing something?
The homeless situation to me only appears to get worse the longer I live in Tampa Heights, work in Downtown and play in Ybor. I can’t go to Oceanic grocery store, sit in front of my theater in the evening or on my front porch at night without being approached over and over.
I could tell a lot of really specific examples of things we’ve done for people in the past year out of nothing but kindness and compassion - only to frankly feel like a real f*cking fool not too long afterwards. But I suppose those same people feeling all that middle-class guilt would only tell me those are just the bad examples.
Make no mistake - I am not advocating the beating or dehumanization in any capacity of the homeless or destitute, but I really think Rachel has brought up some very valid, very honest points.
January 19th, 2007 at 9:11 am
They may have been valid points if they weren’t so general and extrapolated to the homeless population as a whole. I’m still going to contribute and read Sticks of Fire, but the amount of comments generated by a post does NOT equate to the quality of that post. It’s a nice ego boost, but that’s it. As far as starting a conversation, I could make generalized statements about black people, white people, french people or anybody else and get a “conversation” started, regardless of the fact that the only conversation to be had would be why I need to keep my mouth shut. It’s one thing to express your opinions, but when your opinions cross into stereotyping, extrapolating generalities and believing that your few experiences are somehow symptomatic of a larger problem, well, maybe it is jumping the shark. Does Sticks really need it’s very own Bill O’Reilly?
January 19th, 2007 at 9:24 am
there is nothing more fanatical than the tyranny of the politically correct…
January 19th, 2007 at 9:50 am
I hear that jumping the shark has jumped the shark.
January 19th, 2007 at 10:02 am
I’m pretty sure Fonzie jumped the shark. Pretty damned sure. I’m not being PC, I’m just not fond of hatemongers. If you are, that’s fine with me. Just state it clearly instead of disguising it with snark.
January 19th, 2007 at 11:11 am
(If y’all would indulge my rambling for a moment..)
I’m a Pasco girl, and it often seems like someone’s talking about a foreign country when they discuss St. Pete or Tampa affairs.
I’ve lived in the Bay area most of my life, I was born at Bayfront, but that area of the state might as well be in another continent because I’ve really never spent any time there. When we go out, we go to places around here. I’ve been to Ybor once in my life, and I’ve driven directly through downtown Tampa maybe three or four times. So basically I feel like I really don’t have any kind of authority on the matter (never mind the fact that I feel like a total outsider sometimes).
But here is what humble opinion I do have to offer: First, a goodly percentage of the real-for-true homeless out there are mentally ill and have no idea that they may be acting “socially inappropriately” when they reach out to touch a woman’s shiny white hair.
Second, aren’t some of the more “aggressive” homeless people maybe just trying to get arrested?
warm prison bed + 3 squares > sleeping on concrete + begging verbally abusive people for pennies
I’m not excusing the behavior, just asking if it’s a possibility. You bet your ass that if I was that destitute, I’d yell and poke someone in the shoulder if it got me a free meal. I’m just sayin.
That said, I’m a bleeding heart and will often give panhandlers a little something at stoplights, even if it’s a handful of nickels and pennies from my ashtray. It’s not much for me to part with, and if they’re genuinely hungry they can trot it on over to the McDonald’s and get something warm.
So what about having panhandlers apply for a license? There was talk about doing that in Orlando (can’t remember if it passed or not).. and it would at least help separate the genuinely needy from the lazy “fake” homeless who just don’t feel like working.
Plus those homeless would then be in the system in case - god forbid - something should happen to them and they or their remains need to be indentified.
t would at least be a start right? Or am I missing details about the process that make it infeasible (or even cruel)?
January 19th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Regardless of Rachel’s narrative, which no one has to like, the core of what she is talking about - aggressive panhandling - is a very real and very serious issue. I’m not real fond of being harrassed. I’m not fond of having female friends of mine punched in Downtown St. Pete, or followed through the streets of Ybor to where they parked because they refused someone money. I’m not fond of having to “hide out” in my own home.
I’ll admit, from Rachel’s description her friend Eddie sounds a bit of a prick, but this paragraph alone makes her point:
“Real alleviation of the homeless problem requires broad action - cops telling them to move along, shelters to get them off the sidewalks, feeding stations, mental health support, day labor programs. Your five bucks tells the homeless man that he can get by panhandling in St. Petersburg and, frankly, that is not OK with me.”
The two paras that come after I guess I read as a bit of satirical hyperbole. And perhaps that’s just because I know Rachel in passing and a few of her friends quite well and that’s just not an actual project I see them take on.
January 19th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Melissa mentioned the homeless having a license. I lived in Denmark for a year and there they have homeless people — about 50 of them. Being homeless in Denmark, like much of Scandinavia, is illegal. The state will provide anyone who asks a 1 bedroom apartment — furnished. The apartment will have a refrigerator, bed, table, 2 chairs, and a television. If you desire to be homeless you must have a license that resembles a passport. If you travel from town to town you have to first go to the police station and get the license stamped.
Granted, Denmark has only a population of 5 million — but they have a system that really protects everyone.
I’m not advocating we adopt such an approach just thought I’d share with you how one country deals with the issue.
January 19th, 2007 at 11:44 am
maybe counties should have public work progrms going on at all times for homeless to earn a days pay. there sure is enough litter to pick up, enough dirt to sweep up, enough dirty public restrooms to clean (mostly wreckd by homeless), etc…govt probly cd alleviate the homeless problem, but not just with handouts. why not get some work out of the bums at least?
January 19th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Maybe we could round up all the homeless and put them in camps and get them to do some useful work. After the homeless perhaps we could round up other miscreants who spoil the neighbourhood, like drunk drivers or whoever else you might not like today, and put them in the camps too. I mean, if people don’t object to the homeless being put in camps, they’re not about to stand up for other criminals.
January 19th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Wow … speaking of hyperbole …
January 19th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I guess my main objection/rejection of this post is the fact that, beyond the realm of the fantastic (beating the homeless), the entire focus is “how can we keep homeless people off my back”. What about “How do we help the homeless” or even better “How does a just and prosperous society such as ours create solutions to prevent homelessness in the first place. I’ve lived in a city where homelessness is a serious problem and it’s only getting worse. Much of the problem lies not with the homeless themselves, it lies with the local, state and federal governments, lack of treatment,training programs, mental health facilities and overall disregard for the people of the streets. Recommended reading: This, this and this.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Lemme add a little more fuel to the fire:
Eddie is the only one in this post who actually touched another person, he only did it after *he was punched first*, AND he was homeless for years. He’s also my brother-in-law!
Middle-class angst, a terrible thing, I know. Shoulda read your Jonathan Swift, people. Jumpin’ the shark, indeed.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I eat the homeless.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Lets face it, everyone comes off like a big wanker.
You’ve written better.
I still eat them, in a box or with a fox.
January 19th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
You say this is “a blunt assessment of an ongoing issue in St. Pete and everwhere.” I assume that issue is “physical assault by friends of Rachel Moran.”
Also, it’s only ok to pull out the Swift references if you dropped out of tenth grade. If not, you officially know at least more than one canonical work of satire.
January 19th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Rachel: I give you Dennis Leary.
January 19th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
C’Mon, Rachel. Give us the Ayn Rand money-shot!
January 19th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
–Eddie also had an interesting story to tell about a homeless man, in Naples, who asked him for a dollar. Eddie told him no and got in his Caddy and the homeless guy started punching the glass, so Eddie got out of the Caddy and the homeless guy punched him in the jaw and Eddie left the homeless guy twitching in the street.–
Did you ever take a grammar class? I know what you meant, but you’re a goddamned illiterate it seems.
Cheers,
Phantom
January 19th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
As the first commenter on this thread, I note that Rachel must not have clicked through to my blog; else she would have noticed the prominent tagline, which I’ve used for years, an obscure quotation from one of Swift’s less popular works.
I confess to having read a few more of Swift’s works than are required to pass tenth grade English. I’m odd that way.
But since Rachel chides us to read Swift, she must have made a careful study of the famous satirist. I’ll admit that the last time I read A Modest Proposal in it’s entirety, Rachel was but a gleam in her daddy’s eye, but I recall the gist of it.
As I recall, Swift suggested that the problem of Irish poverty would be completely cured, were the English to eat Irish babies.
Rachel seems to draw a parallel between this work of satire and her proposal to film the homeless being beaten down. There is a major problem with this analogue: I don’t recall that Swift ever actually dined on Irish babies. Members of Rachel’s group actually have beaten the homeless.
Am I missing something? Or is Rachel alluding to another work of Swift’s?
I’ll leave that and move on to another question: What makes Rachel so sure that her detractors are motivated by “middle-class angst”?
I believe that my first comment clearly shows that my religious beliefs require that I aid the poor. I must answer for my actions to my Lord and Savior. I don’t require that anyone respect that, but an honest person would acknowledge that my motivations cannot be summed up by the phrase “middle-class angst”.
For that matter, another commenter tossed out the tired phrase “political correctness”. I wonder if either of these people are aware of how much these “ready-made phrases” have eclipsed any capability they have for actual cognition.
And since Rachel is the resident expert on Swift, I will leave it to her to tell you the source I used as my blog’s tagline:
January 20th, 2007 at 12:17 am
Hey Rach,
Some friends of yours?? This should REALLY cheer you up as you go about your fru fru day ….
« Jury finds Schweickert guilty of conspiracy | Main
January 19, 2007
City raids two homeless camps
ST. PETERSBURG — City officials raided two homeless camps Friday afternoon, seizing more than 20 tents and further rattling a community still shaken from the murders of two of its own.
Those who refused to get out of their tents or remove their belongings watched as two dozen police and fire officials sliced the tops of the tents away from their base, tossed them into a truck and drove off. Some said they didn’t have enough time to get out before the officials, using scissors, box cutters and other blades, began to cut.
“I was in the tent when they started cutting,†said Ken Argo, 54, who said he was asleep when the police arrived. “It was very reckless of them.â€
The whole operation took less than 10 minutes.
The raid was the city’s latest attempt to deal with the highly visible tent camps that have sprung up in recent weeks and a homeless population that is becoming increasingly organized and close knit.
Last week the city shut down a tent city on Fourth Avenue N after it said it helped about 100 of its residents get social services, including rent vouchers and bus tickets to cities where relatives or friends could help.
Those who didn’t get or refused services soon set up their tents at one of two locations, Fifth Avenue N at 15th Street or Fifth Avenue N at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street.
But fire department officials soon observed a host of fire code violations at the two satellite tent cities, said Lt. Rick Feinberg, a spokesman for the city fire and rescue department. People were smoking and cooking in their tents, he said. The tents were too close together, too close to public thoroughfares, and they didn’t have fire extinguishers, he said.
Feinberg said the homeless also failed to get the required permits for their tents, which were set up on the public right of way.
“They were all in violation of codes,†Feinberg said. “No one submitted plans for preparations for these two tent cities.â€
It’s not clear if all the fire codes the city cited indeed apply to the situation. The code requiring a permit specifies tents greater than 120 square feet, which is larger than the tents used by most of the homeless. And a state fire statute initially cited by the city doesn’t deal with tents, said a spokeswoman for the state Fire Marshal.
Still, city officials said their job is to protect and that there were significant safety concerns at the two locations, including danger from heavy traffic. City officials also said the homeless were given the chance to remove their belongings from the tents and were offered a mat at a nearby shelter.
Rather than arrest or get in a physical altercation with those who refused, the officers cut the tents, said Deputy Mayor Dave Metz.
“The tents were retained for evidence,†Metz said.
The city’s action outraged the homeless community, which said the police officers should have been searching for the people who killed two homeless men early Wednesday morning instead of taking away tents.
“And now they’re putting all these people in jeopardy again,†said Rev. Bruce Wright of Refuge Ministries. The reason the homeless cluster in tents is for safety, Wright said.
Metz acknowledged the criticism but said the city did what it had to do. “I think you always have those implications, but our primary concern was safety.â€
Wright said that advocates for the homeless, who met Friday with the city to discuss things like getting fire extinguishers, plan to sue the city over the destruction of the tents and will seek an injunction to prevent another raid.
“We’re getting more tents,†Wright said.
“We’re bringing down the big guns now. We’re gonna sue ‘em.â€
– Abhi Raghunathan and Alisa Ulferts, Times staff writers
January 19, 2007 in Pinellas | Permalink
January 20th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Oh give me a break. I get so tired of people bitching and moaning about how they were “aggressively” panhandled by the homeless. Have you looked at these people lately? You’re worried about getting taken down by a guy with holes in his shoes, who hasn’t eaten yet today, who might be high, or drunk, or stoned, and probably doesn’t have the energy to follow you for more than about 25 feet? “That homeless guy looked at me too long! He spoke to me too aggressively! God only knows what he could’ve done on this crowded street with people everywhere!” Spare us.
I mean seriously, who the hell crows about “p3wning” a homeless guy? “Yeah I showed that malnourished and understrengthed bozo! He’ll never panhandle from my well-fed ass again!”
Sad to say but “idiot liberals” really aren’t that content to let homeless people wander streets and beg to get by. We’d really like to have them in places where they’re taken care of and provided for, but idiot conservatives don’t want to pay for that, so we’re constantly trying to figure out what to do about it while lazy city leaders have them moved to different parts of town where they won’t impose upon people who are both better off and and yet also more scared of the world then they are.
Seriously, grow up. The adult solution to panhandling is not delivering an ass-whipping to panhandlers. Forgive the homeless for intruding upon your nice little world-view, but maybe if you had something more to contribute than this sorry post, we could get something done about the problem.
January 20th, 2007 at 1:51 am
Perhaps, when Rachel urged us to read our Swift, she was alluding to A Digression in the Modern Kind.
Maybe we should consider Swift’s admonition to prefer diversion over instruction. By this standard, Rachel is prototypic of the modern author.
And, as mankind is now disposed, this quote will inspire much oscitation in those who read it.
January 20th, 2007 at 6:57 am
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Use to live in Milwaukee, Wis. and I never was jumped by a homeless person.
But stupid shits like you and your crew would do stuff like this, then cry when someone would get some pay back.
Who Cares Wins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rojD7fh99w
I stay away from people like you.
Have fun in your most important life.
Wisconsin, out.
January 20th, 2007 at 8:46 am
[...] Case in point: Majikthise pointed to a blogpost by one Rachel Moran, who wrote with some pride of how to deal with homeless people: [...]
January 20th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
floriduh, it’s not the humidity it’s the stupidity !!!!!
January 20th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
If you blow around Ybor, Downtown “hotspots,” clubs, reastaurants, and bars, imbibing overpriced liquor while listening to mediocre music, or otherwise participate in the modern “leisure,” lifestyle featuring your designer clothes and elaborate “face,” then perhaps your disposable income, which ends up in the hands of corrupt promoters of addiction, should be forcibly taken from you by a homeless rapist. I mean, bum. I mean, that’s satire. Right?
January 20th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Dave (#43) - Yes, that’s what I was thinking of.
And, to the general public, don’t bother trying to act like I’m not well read. Ad hominem does not win arguments - I sure do say that a lot. Swift’s a great one to use here, because a lot of people know a lot of the work.
January 20th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
It’s one thing to be well read, it’s another thing entirely to miss the point and as Dave indicated, you certainly missed the point.
Swift was a satirist; you’re not.
January 20th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
ad hominem?
That’s a good one.
What’s to attack?
Another person who ain’t got ideer one what an ethic R.
January 20th, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Amen to BrotherFire.
January 20th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Forgive me, but were I to see any connection between Rachel’s writing and Swift’s, I would be suffering from apophenia.
January 21st, 2007 at 12:18 am
the 13th juror - Watch the video St. Pete police slash open tents to roust the homeless
January 21st, 2007 at 12:47 am
Oh lord. Hey Rach - come up to Manhattan. I’ll show you some aggressive panhandling (like say tonight, when its 14 degrees out). And then your meathead buddy can find out what happens in New York when he tries to beatdown a homeless person.
And while I’m at it, I can introduce you to a few writers groups in Brooklyn where an overwrought writing style that lacks even a shred of self-awareness or irony (and, oh, talent) will fit right in.
Most homeless people, if not all, are in extremely poor physical and mental health, and in desperate need of medical assistance. Your lack of decency and understanding is disturbing. As is the fact that you created your own Wikipedia page (who DOES that???)
January 21st, 2007 at 11:05 am
this guy above said it all. obviously this suburban girl hasn’t left the confines of her palace for a long time. but in all honesty, i thank her: we all need to know people this f**ked up still live among us.
January 21st, 2007 at 4:40 pm
[...] Rachel Moran has the less-than-brilliant brainstorm of filming homeless people getting assaulted by her friends. We are thinking about proving this nuisance and need for civil action by making a short film called “Eddie Rolls on the Homeless,†whereby Mark secretly videotapes me and Lil Sis in a variety of situations to see how many homeless people approach us and, then, how many of these situations escalate into harrassment. Then, he’s gonna videotape Eddie in the same scenarios, only Eddie is going to beat up every homeless person who escalates the contact after being told that his panhandling is illegal and annoying. [...]
January 21st, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Rachel, you come across as arrogant, self satisfied, self righteous, and downright mean. Was that your intent?
January 21st, 2007 at 5:31 pm
I bet you thought there was no such thing as bad publicity? WRONG.
January 21st, 2007 at 7:09 pm
[...] Don’t waste your time contacting the Jobsite Theatre. David Jenkins of Jobsite is a friend and supporter of Rachel. // Used for showing and hiding user information in the comment form function ShowUtils() { document.getElementById(”authorinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(”showinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(”hideinfo”).style.display = “”; } function HideUtils() { document.getElementById(”authorinfo”).style.display = “none”; document.getElementById(”showinfo”).style.display = “”; document.getElementById(”hideinfo”).style.display = “none”; } [...]
January 21st, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Just give the poor guy five bucks already. It doesn’t mean a lot to you, but it means a lot to him.
January 21st, 2007 at 9:23 pm
At a certain point this post became a positive thing for me. To see so many folks presenting relatively rational and well worded arguments against the original poster is something I found encouraging. Not only does it indicate the general level of discussion to be found here is typically better that the simple “you suck” back and forth of other forums but it also indicates that the vast majority of our population has no problem identifying right from wrong as the poster herself seems incapable of. Hussey is choosing to complain directly to the SoF advertisers regarding the post which I understand but I think we all should take a second to understand that the general consensus in this post (and on a blog the post includes all comments) is that humans should not be treated in the manner the poster fantasizes about. That the problem of homelessness is larger than any one explanation or solution. We also seem to agree that the poster herself may be a waste of gravity with the moral compass of Anna Nicole Smith at a nursing home.
January 21st, 2007 at 11:45 pm
An astute observer I shared this with noted that–
“This Eddie sounds like an aggro dick, but she’s right that women shouldn’t have to tolerate being accosted by homeless people just to appear PC. Also, she’s correct in saying that giving them a few bucks is just enabling them and not helping the individual in the long run. “-And she’s right…but….
I don’t think anybody is tolerating being accosted just to appear PC,(Are you?) much less this woman…who with her words–”fuxxing bums” and fantasies of violence…reveals the insular, selfish disdain that results in….well, stagnant wages, increasing disparity between rich and poor, exhorbitant CEO compensation, loss of class mobility, and the crushing of the American Dream …oh..and somebody just murdered couple of these HUMAN BEINGS who are already bad off…
The utterly clueless way she describes it…
“When you see a f*cking bum stumbling drunk up on you, slurring about needing gas money or pleading with you that he is a good person, you just gotta ignore him and if he follows you, turn on him and sharply tell him, “F*ck off. Stop following me.â€
Ignoring people pisses them off, as it would anyone, and might make someone think you just didn’t hear them! A firm NO is all that is required. Or a firm, “Sorry.” Or a firm, “I have nothing for you.” Or anything besides her stupid, stupid, misplaced anger.
She admits we have holes in our mental health system, but doesn’t think that maybe the guys not drunk, but impaired?? Ugh…Oh wait, she tries to pull the “satire” card while maintaining her “aggressive panhandlers deserve aggression” stance…It isn’t satire to satisfy dangerous, ugly conservative prejudices…It would be satire to reveal their prejudices subtly…
So the defense is drivel. Generous liberal hippies are the not the REASON for the homeless, much less the homeless hassling Rachel Moran.
For the record, I NEVER reward beggars…unless they sing, or get to talking intelligently with me or something…
And I’ve worked amidst them quite a bit….
This girl gets hassled because she’s a conspicuous consumer…and then she’s not confident enough to defend her right to the money she has…she just wants to pretend these HUMANS don’t exist and that they are where they are because they are BAD…not because of chance…surely that’s threatening to the fortunate child! (Their CLAWS!)
I have no problem telling anyone they can’t have the money I’ve earned…it’s actually pretty easy…
I started carrying a bus pass and a calling card when I worked at the Residence Inn in Downtown Tampa, only two guys ever took them (in their very human HANDS)…but I got approached dozens of times….and shared cigarettes with more than a few….
My dad was in Vietnam, and there but for the placement of a stray artillery shell or AK round go I.
-BF
January 21st, 2007 at 11:59 pm
“Homeless hassling Rachel Moran”? ludicrous.
It blows my mind how many people here have completely missed the point. *sigh*.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:25 am
Tim, what is the point?
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:14 am
mmmm… homeless.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
I’ve posted more of my thoughts on this to my blog: http://maladrin.blogspot.com/2007/01/aggressive-panhandling-again.html
I really hope that people can cut through the personal attacks, hyperbole and polarity in order to keep this important discussion going.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:20 pm
the riots
I’ve watched this city burn twice
in my lifetime
and the most notable thing
was the arrival of the
politicians in the
aftermath
proclaiming the wrongs of
the system
and demanding new
policies toward and for the
poor.
nothing was corrected last
time.
nothing will be corrected this
time.
the poor will remain poor.
the unemployed will remain
so.
the homeless will remain
homeless
and the politicians,
fat upon the land, will live
very well.
Charles Bukowski
5/5/1992
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:22 pm
“Did you ever take a grammar class? I know what you meant, but you’re a goddamned illiterate it seems.
Cheers,
Phantom”
You made it that far, Phantom? I couldn’t get past the very first line (”Me and Mark and Lil Sis and Eddie went to Mastry’s on Saturday…”) without going into grammatical convulsions. I must admit though, it set the tone good…I mean well.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:46 pm
[...] Read the Miami Herald article here. [...]
January 26th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
are we still talking about this? how about we check it out from the source:
http://www.wideyedfilms.com
a documentary on the homeless situation in st pete.
January 26th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
I love how any human compassion is written off by self-centered jackasses as “PC” or “middle-class guilt” or “white guilt” or “liberal guilt” or whatever.
Isn’t possible, just possible, that you’re wrong? Isn’t possible that it’s not everyone else who has the disorder, but you who are the freak? Your attempts to hide how pathetically sheltered and selfish you are has turned into a form of projection. Stop it.
January 26th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Oh yeah, your wikipedia page…also monumentally pathetic. Seriously kid, get a clue or stop sharing your thoughts.
January 26th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Hey, maybe next time the homeless guy will be your dad:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/26/amnesia.victim.ap/index.html
I promise I’ll kick his ass good for you if he asks me for help.
January 27th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
The inhumanity of idiots like Rachel completely disgusts me. However, it is some consolation to know that karma will deal harshly with those of her ilk.
When I was young, I left Louisiana to study biology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It was my first time living away from home. That year, I spent long hours studying at the public library a few blocks away from the dormitory. This meant that I had to walk in the very dark streets of a city where I knew no more than thirty people total.
During that time I met a homeless man who taught me all about what it means to live on your own. He was the first person that made me feel welcome up there. He told me all about what places I just had to visit while I was there and he escorted me to my dorm whenever he saw me coming down the street late at night by myself. I was glad to be able to shoot him a few bucks whenever I had cash on me.
Judging from where I went to school and how I dressed, I’m sure he knew that I wasn’t exactly poor. If he had wanted to, on any given night he could have hit me over the head and robbed me of enough cash to keep him comfortable for a few months or so, at least. Yet, he NEVER did so.
Personally, I’d rather walk down the street with most of the homeless people I’ve encountered than to spend even a moment with shallow, pathetic people like Rachel and her friends.
January 28th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
According to folks who serve the homeless at the Sophie Sampson center inb downtown St. Pete, about half of the homeless men they serve there are veterans. Now applying that statistic to your boy Eddie’s antics of beating on two homeless men means odds are he’s beaten up a vet. Way to support the troops, *sshole. Who needs hippies spitting on returning troops in airports when they can have yuppies cleaning their clocks as soon as Uncle Sam’s done with them?
February 5th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
for what it’s worth, Tommy’s band JGLB gave $500 to Metropolitan Minstries this past Christmas. JGLB also $1,157 to Red Cross immediately after Hurricane Katrina. see http://static.flickr.com/25/41076152_95381fb373.jpg and http://static.flickr.com/33/41076151_92430abdb6.jpg
http://jglb.net/db3/00286/jglb.net/_uimages/metmin6e.Jpg
and http://jglb.net/db3/00286/jglb.net/_uimages/metmin6d.Jpg
http://jglb.blogspot.com/2007/01/what-your-support-of-jglb-means.html
http://jglb.blogspot.com/2005/09/update-9-9-05.html
thanks to Tommy for being a great guy.
February 7th, 2007 at 11:08 am
[...] her and her sis during a recent soiree out for cocktails. I’ll let you absorb it for yourself here, but suffice it to say the attitude was 1) how grody 2) why can’t the cops do something about [...]
March 8th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
I have to do a paragraph
March 10th, 2007 at 11:49 am
I really can’t stand little snob bitches like this that they should never give a homeless person a damn quarter for a hamburger or something.. it’s too bad they don’t allow us homeless to shoot morons like you.. I for one would love to take up arms against yuppie skum of the earth little rich bitches like this.. they all should get raped in alley ways!! MANSON FAMILY VALUES!
September 12th, 2007 at 4:36 pm
what the heck was he in there for if he were homeless shouldnt he be bying other than the stuff he was bying….