Are you lucky enough to live in one of America's top twenty cities?

[Dark]

Top twenty meanest toward the homeless, at least.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/crimreport/pressrelease.html

20 Meanest Cities
1. Little Rock, Arkansas
2. Atlanta, Georgia
3. Cincinnati, Ohio
4. Las Vegas, Nevada
5. Gainesville, Florida
6. New York City, New York
7. Los Angeles, California
8. San Francisco, California
9. Honolulu, Hawaii
10. Austin, Texas
11. Sarasota, Florida
12. Key West, Florida
13. Nashville, Tennessee
14. Berkeley, California
15. Dallas, Texas
16. Fresno, California
17. San Antonio, Texas
18. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
19. St. Paul, Minnesota
20. Manchester, New Hampshire

Wohoo! Go Cincinnati! Oh, wait. . .

What about the states?

Meanest States
1. California
2. Florida
3. Hawaii
4. Texas

Well, at least Ohio isn't on there. We have enough problems as it is.

[arcane1]

1. sadly, yes

:evilfrown:

[Connie_Corleone]

2. Yes, Cincinnati

That's about right.

[Dark]

4. The only thing that surprises me is that California is on there more than

Texas.

But Cincinnati, nope, thats usual

[SemperEadem]

16. it's no surprise to those who either live in or have lived there

my motto for LA:
Welcome to LA... where someone's always in your way.

too many people crammed into too little space and not enough time to do what you need to do because there are always people in your way.

I just moved to Missouri and had to change over my drivers license. In LA, you have to endure the nightmare of the DMV--at the very least, a 2-3 hour ordeal with bitter, angry, mean people. With an appointment, it's about 45 minutes to and hour, and they mail it to you from Sacto.

I just went and got my driver license in less than 30 minutes, and that includes correcting an error I noticed after getting the first card. They handed me the new one before I left the building. And the people were really nice.

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. Wow. Austin above Dallas?

That's interesting.

Yep. Dallas, Texas. Home of meanness. I fucking hate this place.

FSC

[Dark]

5. I actually read a report on Dallas that suggested they were losing out

on 31 million tax dollars each year because they were just letting the homeless sit and rot, ruining property values.

[fudge stripe cookays]

8. Hmmmm....

Well they're ruining the property values of our downtown library, if so. That's where a good deal of them sleep.

It's a little unnerving to run the gamut if you're out of change. And especially scary at night. Some of them are pretty aggressive. I try to give what I can, but I can't get everybody, you know?

[Dark]

10. That's not all. Here's the study:

http://www.unt.edu/cedr/homelessreport.pdf

It's PDF so I don't know how to quote, but it says what I said. 31 million TAX dollars and 5,500 jobs are lost by ignoring the homeless problem.

[tridim]

6. I stayed in Dallas one night (on my way to Austin)

and have never before experienced more rude people in one day than in that crap city. Southern hospitality is a myth, at least in TX.

[fudge stripe cookays]

7. Just depends on where you are.

Not everyone is like that. Where did you stay?

[tridim]

9. A random hotel on the southern outskirts of the city center.

I talked to about 5 people and they were all extremely rude, probably because I didn't have a southern droll. One guy refused to give me directions and instead told me to buy a map if I was lost.

[fudge stripe cookays]

11. Yuck.

Sorry about that.

On behalf of this disgustingly nasty, fish-sporting SUV hell, I apologize on behalf of the cretins who share the living space here.

I just got back from Chicago on Tuesday. And I so want to hop a plane back.

FSC

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

12. Berkeley?

San Francisco? What are these people smoking?

[da_chimperor]

15. You know what they're smoking

:smoke:

Edit: Crap, just saw the title. SF? Last I heard, the city gave something like $400 a month to all the homeless people in the city, and that was more any anywhere else in the state. I don't know what that's been changed too, but surely, not SF . . . ? :( I'm upset about berkeley too :( Fresno doesn't suprise me, as it is freep central . . .

[La Lioness Priyanka]

13. yes, nyc

[SoCalDem]

14. Find our about YOUR city here

http://www.ersys.com/index.htm

[UdoKier]

17. I'm in one of the meanest - BUT!!!

You have to judge San Francisco fairly. Most of us here are struggling just to pay rent and can't afford to give handouts to beggars all the time. Also, we have more homeless per capita by far than ANY other city in the US. Also, our city,, until recently, gave the homeless a $400 a month stipend (now they are provided housing vouchers)_ which I would say is more generous than most cities.

I wonder what criteria these rankings are based on?

And if SF is so damn mean to homeless, why do they all congregate here?

[Dark]

18. Here are the criteria, I think:

Criteria for Selection of the Meanest Cities

1. Number of anti-homeless laws in that city. (See Prohibited Conduct Chart.)

2. Enforcement and severity of penalties.

3. General political climate toward homeless people in that city.

4. Local activist(s) or organization(s) supported the "meanest" designation

5. The city was surveyed or studied in this report and has a history of criminalization.

6. Criminalizing legislation is pending or enacted in that city.

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/crimreport/meanest.html

(edited for correction.)

[UdoKier]

21. SO in other words - meanest = enforcing standards of behavior?

I realize that some places go a bit overboard, but I fully support our mayor's crackdown on aggressive panhandling and panhandling on medians. The former is a nuisance and drives away tourist business big-time, and the latter is just plain dangerous.

I just assumed the article was talking about generosity in helping the homeless get back on their feet (at least those who want to get back on their feet).

I don't think SF is a model, but we are definitely not in the top 10 meanest. If we were, we wouldn't be the mecca for the homeless that we are. They sure don't come here for the chilly, damp weather.

[Dark]

22. I think they mean rushing people out of parks while sleeping. I saw that

somewhere. I think that's illegal. But panhandling can also be considered simply sitting on a corner with a sign.

[Dark]

24. Sorry, it took a little bit of searching, but here are ALL the criteria

they used:

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/crimreport/meanest.html

Criteria for Selection of the Meanest Cities

1. Number of anti-homeless laws in that city. (See Prohibited Conduct Chart.)

2. Enforcement and severity of penalties.

3. General political climate toward homeless people in that city.

4. Local activist(s) or organization(s) supported the "meanest" designation

5. The city was surveyed or studied in this report and has a history of criminalization.

6. Criminalizing legislation is pending or enacted in that city.

[UdoKier]

27. By its very nature this survey is biased.

The cities with the biggest homeless populations are the ones most likely to have more laws to deal with the problems brought on by the sheer numbers of homeless.

Sorry, but San Francisco is even more dependent on tourism than Manhattan, and New York has pretty much swept the streets clean in all the tourist areas. It's important that the rights of the homeless be respected, but those rights do not include standing in the median with a sign while traffic is roaring by, or shooting heroin on a bustling street.

I think this city has long had a very tolerant attitude toward the homeless, and that tolerance was abused to the point where it's like running a gauntlet in some areas for working people.

I have been on city buses where an unusually foul-smelling person got on (yelling at the passengers who covered their noses "I know I stink! Mind your business!"), and half of the passengers got off at the next stop. Respect is a two way street, and if you plan to get on a city bus, please, keep some standard of hygiene!

There are numerous shelters around town where one can get a hot meal, a shower and a change of clothes. There are bathrooms all around town where you can at least rinse out your clothes and take a "hobo shower" if you hate the shelters.

[mark414]

19. i was expecting milwaukee to be even higher

we treat our homeless pretty bad here, it's disgusting

the worst i've seen is by the marquette campus; spoiled right wing suburban chicago kids invading milwaukee on daddy's money...and we all know what people like that think of the homeless

[JVS]

20. Way to go Berkeley!

[Must_B_Free]

23. Hawaii?

Honolulu has many people that live from shopping carts, and this is feasible there due to the weather. Many people live under the trees in Alamoana park. Not sure about the criteria for this judgement...

[taught_me_patience]

25. the meanest states are all in warm weather...

they have the worst problems because homeless actually have a choice to live outside. Spoken from a guy from hawaii and living in california. B-)


taught.

[ikojo]

26. Surprised St Louis didn't make it on the list

Almost anytime they expect a lot of white people from the western suburbs (especially white folks from REPUBLICAN St Charles County) the powers that be in city hall get tough with the homeless folks downtown. Here is what was written about St Louis...

The "fair" that is mentioned in this piece is the annual July 4th celebration that takes place on the Riverfront under the Arch. It was once called the VP Faire but since the Veiled Prophet is ripe with a very racist past, the VP Faire people changed the name to Fair St Louis. Same tiger different stripes.


http://www.nationalhomeless.org/crimreport/allcities.html

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis receives a "B+ rating for being fair" according to Gregory Vogelweid of the St. Patrick Center. Aggressive enforcement of nuisance crimes often occurs on holidays, most recently on the 4th of July, when approximately 100 people were arrested, both people experiencing homelessness and unruly visitors. An active legal aid organization in St. Louis and a cooperative relationship with social service providers keeps the police in check. In Business Improvement Districts, people experiencing homelessness are treated with respect and are often hired in paid positions to work for the city. The current city administration places an emphasis on housing and employment instead of ignoring homeless issues.

In late September 2004, a municipal judge should not have prescribed community service work for people accused, but not convicted, of nuisance crimes. Jeff Rainford, chief of staff to Mayor Francis, pledged that the tactic will be not repeated.

Rainford also said the city will stop accepting private funds from a downtown organization to support the court that deals with such crimes. Critics have suggested the money might unfairly influence rulings.

There are two pending lawsuits that target the practices. Those suits generally claim that the city is trying to drive homeless people out of downtown by violating constitutional rights. Initial hearings were held in late September on the alleged mistreatment.

Rainford insisted the city does not target homeless people. "There is no plan to sweep the homeless from downtown or use them to clean up after the fair," Rainford said. "Those charges are false, and we are not going to settle that lawsuit."

John Ammann, director of the St. Louis University Legal Clinic, said the city has yet to rebut the lawsuit’s claim police officers threw firecrackers at homeless people at Lucas Park, just north of main downtown library, during the fair.

Police Chief Joe Mokwa has pledged to make an inquiry.

In mid-October, a federal judge ordered the St. Louis police cannot remove homeless people from public places if they have a lawful right to be there.

Despite the temporary restraining order, the St. Louis police do not plan to change how it interacts with homeless people.