Homeless in Paradise

While visiting a beach in L.A., over ten years ago, I was shocked by the number of homeless people in the area. It was not the simple fact that they were homeless that made it a rough experience, but mostly how they behaved. Heckling, intoxicated, literally overrunning public restrooms. Not all homeless people were behaving this way, of course, but enough to make it a problem.In fact, with those folk present it was impossible to enjoy the area as a tourist destination. It is reason enough not to return to the area in the future.This translates into lost income for businesses that rely on tourism (and the people who work for them!). And there are whole communities that are supported almost entirely on tourism spending. These communities will suffer if our only goal is to care for the homeless and, hopefully, get them back into society with stable work and residences. As we know, such grandiose ideas for world harmony and brotherly love ultimately get nowhere; folks like us talk about the right thing to do and might even try to fight for it on some sociopolitical level or another. But these solutions, if they come at all, do not come fast enough for the businesses (and people!) who will lose out so long as the homeless population continues to be a deterrent for tourism.We have to consider a solution that looks to benefit both sides, because both sides ultimately have valid and sincere reasons for their view points: the homeless need to sleep somewhere; and tourism economies need to be able to keep tourists returning.I think what Hawaii is trying, according to the article, is a 'best for now' approach. It's a start! It sounds like from the article they are trying to do both: hide and help. A tax on tourism industries to help pay for housing and employment services for the homeless might be a great start.Jon

Think what you want. Fact is, I am not going back there.And that's lost money for them.

AmeriCorps

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Wikipedia on AmeriCorps:

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The program is often compared to the Peace Corps as its domestic counterpart.

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As I discussed in my earlier post, it wasn't seeing the homeless people that was bothersome. It was the fact of how many of them behaved: unpredictable, ill-tempered, rude, etc. It is hard to enjoy anything with such people aroundwhether they're homeless or not. And this is something the article specifically addresses; it isn't just that people don't like looking at the homeless (they probably don't) but that the homeless are harassing tourists, and most of them are quite frightening.This is a problem for tourism in any area where homeless people regularly come into contact with tourists, and damaging the tourism industry translates into damaged livelihoods for the people who rely on that industry to feed their families and clothe their children.So there are two problems and they are connected. And we can address both at the same time if we come up with good compromises. They could.Or they could do something totally crazy like Hawaii and try to hide their homeless people by housing them. Edited by Jon, : No reason given.

No. I'm saying I don't mind seeing elephants as long as they're not trying to step on me.

No, but it does keep me from getting stepped on.