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First of all the ACLU is not about civil liberties. It is about shutting people up and out. Then they find big interest issues like this, and make a stink as to make them look like they actually are performing their job. I know because they refused to help me after I was sent to jail for raising my hand to ask a question in the "Free Speech Area", where I was a student attending SFSU. I most likely would not have had my spells of joblessness and homelessness if the ACLU just returned my phone calls, emails or letters. I may have been permitted to take my midterms and continue my college education, had the ACLU of California intervened.

That did not happen, so I am now an expert on the homeless and jobless situation from the position of the bug under your shoe.

As a person who has been homeless for periods of time, I find this law a stroke of genius. I just hope that it is well publicized and posted so that passers through know the law. I hope that the state adopts it and that all panhandling ceases. To keep this law from becoming a cash cow for the county, the money should go towards shelters or homeless advocacies?. Clearing the streets and sidewalks from panhandlers is a necessity here in Portland, otherwise you would be tripped, cursed out, assaulted, and/or find yourself apologizing for not having change for every panhandler who got in your way.

There is a major difference between being temporarily homeless and being a career bum. I was a temporarily homeless young woman a few years ago. I was harassed out of my job and replaced by 3 white men, when I tried to use my old job as a reference, I found that I had been black-listed. I was severely depressed and did not have any friends or family to turn to. I never looked at panhandling as a way to support myself. I fought my way into social security with the help of a few homeless advocacy representatives and got the representation that I needed to get government support and eventually a room. Agencies such as HAP ? Homeless advocacy project are a goddess send when you are in need of help. The weeks that I spent there was worth more to my stability than any spare change that I may have gotten out of pity. The most important things during that time to me were my dignity and my safety. If I lost either one of those then I never would have made it.

Whenever I see a woman on the street, I look for a while to see if this is her career or if she is in need of help. Some of the women will shout nasty slurs at you, which to me means that this is their job or that they are beyond help. Some of these people are able bodied and sane, however the majority of the homeless in Portland are men who have decided that living on the street suits them. They could be running from the law, deadbeat dads, rapist or men with a strong sense of entitlement. Now that I am disabled and living in a government subsidized building, I see my neighbors on the streets rattling people for ?Sparechange?? (yes that is one word here). Some of neighbors look homeless, and panhandle but are actually living in pretty decent conditions. There is no shortage of food here and I know that many of them are hard drug users. Try asking a panhandler if you could offer them some food instead of change and you will get an earful.

The problem in Portland is that there is a lot of white, rich guilt visiting here. These tourist or California transplants believe that they are gaining karma points in their handouts. These change givers are a major part of the problem. They do not seem to know or care that many men have come to Portland to be homeless. The tourist and transplants don?t hear the men?s slurs because they are safe in their SUV?s. The tourist also don?t wake up to rattling cans in shopping carts with some jerk who feels he has to share what?s on his mind at any given hour of the day. These men are lawless, shiftless and frequently verbally assault women passing by. As a veteran who has PTSD, hearing a man shouting verbal assaults will trigger me into a panic. I use public transit and frequently share the bus and sidewalks with these men. I try to ignore them and pretend to not see them so that they will not get agitated, sometimes this works and other times; I will get some bum yelling what he wants to do to me. Career bums make it hard for me to enjoy my beautiful city. Portland is a beautiful city; however you will not find many women jogging by the waterfront because the benches are full of career bums waiting to verbally assault women. The bums feel that they own the benches, the streets, the Library, the storage units a trash can on a corner and whatever they can get away from you. This makes it hard for me to go outside and enjoy my city. In downtown Portland you are almost guaranteed to pass a career bum about every block. These men have staked out their territories and have a system worked out for taking up that space.

You would think that by the way that these men smell and dress that there is a water shortage here or that they can not get used clothes. That is not true. Portland has shelters for men and very limited space for women. For instance, I was turned away when I was seeking emergency shelter for a night because a reservation was required. After spending a day on the phone to a list of shelters in the Portland area, I had a melt down and ended up in the emergency room. There simply were no available beds for a drug-free woman. My friend tells me stories of when she was homeless; she relates how she was turned away for shelter because she was not abusing any substances. I know of another woman who was sexually assaulted in the military, she went to Vancouver to stay in the VA?s transitional housing. She states that the men all leered at her and that there was no separation between the men?s and women?s rooms.

Portland needs people to stop giving ?sparechange? to bums. A fine should be imposed on the person handing out change that way people will not have to feel guilty or say, ?Sorry I don?t have any change?. This should not be a sneaky fine; it should be well posted for tourist. Our corrupt shelters need to stop paying their CEO?s 6 figures, and stop sheltering junkies. There are people out there that just need a place to sleep, and a little help getting their life together. If you cram these shelters full of junkies, where are the people who really want and need help supposed to go? The shelters seem to advocate use of dangerous drugs and discriminate against Medical marijuana. Many of the career bums are getting away with substance abuse, assault, vandalism and harassment. These guys should be in jail, not out harassing and intimidating pedestrians. The police need to do a better job of keeping these men in check. It appears that the police department would much rather arrest someone who has money than a law breaking career bum. A major issue is that our jails are being misused as places to make a few people money, if they were being used to keep dangerous people off of the street, we would not have the influx of panhandlers/career bums.

posted 5 years, 2 months ago
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