"Please don't feed our homeless" Bumper Sticker Draws Strong Reactions

[The Straight Story]

"Please don't feed our homeless" Bumper Sticker Draws Strong Reactions

OCEAN BEACH -- A bumper sticker that reads "Welcome to Ocean Beach/ Please don't feed our homeless" is drawing mixed reactions.

The sticker targets aggressive panhandlers, according to Ken Anderson, 42, who works at The Black, where the stickers are sold for $2.50 each.

The stickers are a play on the National Park Service's "Please don't feed the bears" sticker.

Anderson says he had the stickers printed a few weeks ago because people are tired of rude, young transients demanding spare change rather than asking for it. Anderson hopes the stickers will make the community realize the homeless population there is out of control.

He's also had T-shirts and hats printed with the same message on them.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-homeless-bumper-sticker,0,5982657.story

Maybe we need laws that forbid, or tax (so that we can control behavior), it all so that only allow people who are homeless to eat certain foods and only allow us to give them certain foods (to protect them, their health, and your money so that you don't have to pay more health costs for their poor choices).

Don't feed the homeless things not on the approved list (and only those who can afford it can have things on the societal approved list).

There, all better now. Your money is protected, those idiots who eat things we see as bad for them is fixed, and the rich don't have to worry about things.

[Ken Burch]

1. Please don't eat at "The Black".

If any place deserves a boycott(and pickets outside nailing the owner for a complete lack of humanity)it's that place.


Good people of Ocean City, I beg you...eat somewhere else. Don't Feed Your Soulless.

[demosincebirth]

2. Believe it or not, many support his philosophy

[Ken Burch]

5. I do believe that to be the case.

Which is another reason to challenge it!

[haele]

6. That's Ocean Beach, which is one of the little communities that makes up San Diego -

And it doesn't really surprise me that The Black is printing up those stickers - for an old established head shop, they've become pretty damn Libertarian, and probably think it's cute and edgy.
They were the ones that used to have "The Spaceman of Ocean Beach" tee-shirts, after one of our more "colorful" homeless denizens of San Diego.

Ocean Beach has a reputation for being a laid-back established beach atmosphere - "The People's Republic of O.B." where every day is a party at the beach. The locals tend to be small businesspersons, educators, grad students, and seasonal rental residents. Several small communes and "extended families" based on associations (generally bikers, new age-type groups, wicca covens, polyamourous groupings with common artistic or business interests) have common residences there.

The panhandlers here are generally not homeless; they fall into pretty much three categories; Travelers (or Gypsies, depending on the season) who live in their RVs, residents who are self-medicating, or residents who should be in some sort of therapy or on medication. The transient groups are very good about not being aggressive when they panhandle, and the residents usually take care of their own and insure that there's no problems.
What has been happening over the past couple years is that OB has been seeing an influx of younger panhandlers who have tuned out of society - not just because of the lack of jobs, or affordable housing, but are just hanging out asking for money. The average newbie OB panhandler that I've observed is mid to late twentish, white, fairly well fed, fairly clean, and in your face - and he or she is usually hanging out with three to five friends.
I commute sixteen miles via scooter throughout the city; I see a lot of actual homeless, transients, and panhandlers. What is happening in OB, and to some degree in Pt. Loma, is a different issue than the average homeless in San Diego; where the average homeless in SD crosses age, race, and gender spectrum, most of the aggressive panhandlers I've seen are in OB and are starting to pull crap on locals(who are not rich) and tourists alike that they would not be pulling in other less "party oriented" communities like La Jolla or even Pacific Beach.

I know that economic issues that cause homelessness are more of two primary issues of lack of full-time living wage jobs (if they want them) which are pretty much non-existent in San Diego unless you "know someone" or are over-qualified and lack of affordable housing and resources for those who want to work, let alone those who can't find a full-time job. (A full-time waitress or retail job will barely get you enough to rent a shared room in San Diego, no matter what your transportation situation is.)

But that doesn't excuse a fairly healthy, well-dressed and clean-looking twenty-something panhandler to come walking up to me on my scooter while I'm waiting for the light to change and start yelling at me because I didn't start going through my pockets to drop change in his hand as soon as I saw him with his sign out at the intersection. This is the new situation that has been happening in OB. Whether it's the summer and bored young people "kicking it" until they get back to school, or if it's an increase in drug culture damage, or a lack of resources and more desperate locals, it's starting to get pretty scary for those who don't know how to handle that sort of aggression, which is dragging down that community.

I definitely think The People's Republic can be handling this new breed of panhandler differently than sneering, bumper-stickers and sloganeering, though. Unfortunately, with Faulconer in charge of that district, they're not going to be getting any support from the city unless they let his buddy developers bring a new "Liberty Station" type complex to OB.

Just my experience with the matter.

Haele

[Ken Burch]

7. Thanks for the correction on the locale, and the other background.

I'd be a hell of a lot less offended with what this restaurant did if they'd made some distinctions. Instead, they just come off as the haves pulling the drawbridge up after them. Nothing uglier-spirited than old hippies who've "made it". More often than not, they check their souls at the door.

[eilen]

11. Interesting, back in the early 1990's

I saw this phenomena in San Diego whilst I was working at a sandwich shop and sharing a 1 bedroom apt with 3 people in the barrio. This didn't happen in the barrio but on the city streets when I was taking out the garbage for work. A young man in his early to mid twenties accosted me demanding a quarter. I told him I didn't (I really did not-- I was not a waitress but worked the counter and did not receive tips). He got really up into my faced and said "Come on! You really have a quarter!". I was pretty frightened-- at the time I was about 19 years old. I said, "No I don't, threw the garbage in the bin and ran back to work. After that I asked the owner if someone would walk with me when I took the trash out. Interestingly, the only begging/panhandling that happened in the barrio was the occasional bridge dweller knocking on the door for a blanket.

I am not supportive of bumper stickers that say this. I loved Ocean beach and can see how aggressive confrontations could affect the business climate there. No one could pull that off in LaJolla, the cops would drive them out--- and it would ruin the ambience/geist of Ocean Beach. Dropping out is not terrorizing and demanding a living from the populace, it's about living off the excess that is thrown out or wasted.

Have to say, being from the North East coast, I was very surprised at the number of homeless/vagabond in Southern California. I can only surmise the numbers have increased in this economy. I figured the weather factored high as well as the proximity to the Mexican border where a living could be had more cheaply.

[haele]

8. The Black is a "Head Shop". Smokes, trinkets, and paraphanlia -

Bumperstickers, tees, etc... not a resturant. Used to be on the Navy's "No Go" list for recruits when Recruit Training Center used to be located here. Lots of Resturants and Antique shoppes around though.

Haele

[Ken Burch]

9. OK...then don't, er "partake" at The Black

They probably don't know anyone who sells decent shit, anyway.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. The homeless population is out of control??

Well, duh.

[LeftyMom]

4. I think it's unfortunate that you twist everything you post back to your quasi-libertarian nonsense.

[Swamp Rat]

10. Qu'ils mangent de la brioche.