Midtown Homeless Situation

[bkjones98]

Midtown residents also what something done about the homeless. Has anyone driven down San Jacinto into downtown in the morning? There is a street to the left where about 30-40 vagrants wander around, congregate, and jaywalk in front of people who are on their way to work in the morning. The irony is not lost on me.

[MidtownCoog]

I think they performed Operation Bum Sweeep near Search. I drove by twice this week during lunch and things look much better.

[VicMan]

YAY! I hope they keep this up!

A homeless center should begin at the 5th floor of the building and have keycard access that prevents the interned bums from leaving.

If they cannot get the riddle on the wall (i.e. if they have dementia), they cannot leave.

The assisted living center that has my maternal grandmother has this setup.

[RedScare]

The irony is not lost on me.

Well, it sure is lost on me.

[Jax]

Operation Bum Sweep was in full force this evening. At about 6 pm I drove down San Jac and there were about 4 police cars surrounding the SEARCH place, and the police were talking to the 5 or 10 homless guys hanging around.

Then I turned left at Grey right by the bus station and two police officers on bikes stopped a guy who was pushing a shopping cart around. I'm not sure why, but it looked like the shopping cart dude was in trouble.

hobo - I'm hobophobic

So what AH AH AH

Scared of bums

Not just because they stink bad

Not just because they're crackers

From drinking too much lysol

Let them be

Just don't get ____in' near me

Scared of bums AH AH AH

Infested with microscopic bugs

And non-consystematic doo doo

Why don't they get a job

Let them be

Just don't get ____in' near me

Scared of bums AH AH AH

Edited September 8, 2007 by Jax

[VicMan]

Hopefully this is continued and the homeless who are on purpose panhandling to scam people will be forced to go to areas that will not immediately gentrify (or to places like apartment-land Southwest Houston).

[Jax]

It seems that Operation Bum Sweep was not a success. This morning I drove downtown at 8:30 am, and there were twice as many dudes sleeping by the SEARCH place as I've ever seen. No police in sight.

[VicMan]

So, Jax, are they the same people? Or are they different bums who replaced the others?

I wonder if bums from other areas "replace" bums institutionalized?

[Jax]

I couldn't tell, all I could tell is there were a whole lotta bums there this morning.

[Mr. Chenevert]

I saw a homeless guy sleeping at McGowen and Jackson this morning at 7:30am. Thats the farthest away from SEARCH I have seen them sleep. I wonder if its just pushing them further away.

[editor]

I've been hit up by the homeless a number of times in downtown Houston. The only one that stands out in my mind was this skanky woman carrying a broken fan belt who claimed her car broke down and she needed five dollars for a fan belt. I'm not stupid, so I told her no.

Recently I returned from a trip to the north woods of Minnesota. One of the interesting things about travelling that far north is that you occasionally end up with Canadian pennies in your change. I'm going to separate them out and give them to the cup-shakers.

Incidentally, I recently moved to a very high tourist-traffic area. Walking from my place to the Starbucks across the street usually means passing three to five assorted cup-shakers, sign-holders, and stolen postcard-sellers. But suddenly, once Labor Day passed, they all disappeared. I assume it's because the tourist trade dropped off 90% overnight, too. I'll enjoy a few weeks of quiet before the Thanksgiving and Christmas crowds return, and bring with them another round of "homeless."

[VicMan]

Here's a tactic; if a beggar is asking for X item, say "Follow me to the store if you want X item and I will buy it for you"

In Austin (I am in Austin right now) some guys with a lawnmower said they needed gas for a lawnmower to work. Instead of giving them one dollar on the spot, I asked them to go to the gas station. I spent one dollar (Not much) - at the cash register. The men had a gasoline container and a lawnmower. I'm not sure why anyone who didn't actually want gas for a lawnmower would put up with the hassle of going to the gas station and waiting for a guy to facilitate the opening of a pump.

Later some guy asked me for change for food - Again, I have him follow me to a restaurant. I didn't have much change left, and I didn't want to get an ATM fee - The lady at the counter gave me a free set of fries (that were not taken - I guess the restaurant didn't want to waste the food) - I just gave the beggar the free fries and moved on. As I moved on I noticed him talking to a lady (probably asking for change).

By the way, if someone asked for money for gas, I would ask "Where's Your Car?"

Edited September 8, 2007 by VicMan

[Guest Marty]

I saw a homeless guy sleeping at McGowen and Jackson this morning at 7:30am. Thats the farthest away from SEARCH I have seen them sleep. I wonder if its just pushing them further away.

Don't run them up this way, we got enough bums panhandling at the 1960/I-45 intersection as it is.

Edited September 9, 2007 by Marty

[Vertigo58]

Trying different tactics is a good exercise/test. Once I walked out of Popeye's behind (then Foley's) had a bunch of fresh cooked fries and 2 pieces of chicken I didnt care for. I noticed the one guy outside the door hitting up everyone for $ that entered and left Popey's. I thought well, not throwing good food away and he must be starved? I offered it to him and he took it.

I walked across to Foley's and had to turn back to see what he did. He looked back & forth to see if I left, threw the whole box of food on the street. Went back to begging. So let's see, he didnt want food, hmmmm. Can you name that tune in 2 notes or 3?

Bottom line is, if people give them $ you are only fanning the flames. Thats why you see these people boozing at 6:30am. Old English 800 is the drink of the day!... hiccup!

[Jax]

A few weeks ago a friend and I went out to lunch at a Chinese restaurant on Almeda near OST. The restaurant is nothing special but the food is decent and really cheap. A homeless guy was asking people for money at the door so he could buy some food. My friend felt bad and offered for him to come in and eat with us. He seemed kind of uneasy about it, but he came in with us anyways. He got as far as the ordering line. When it was his turn he didn't know what to order, so we told him to get some kind of basic friend chicken type meal (something like General Tao I think). Then he asked us if we could just give him the money and he would walk down the street to a "Soul Food" restaurant and buy lunch. My friend kept trying to convince him to stay and eat with us and eventually he just sort of walked away. Luckily we were able to cancel the order. When we finished, he was no longer asking people for money in front of the Chinese place.

Either he really didn't like Chinese food, or he wanted the money for something else. We figured he wasn't really really that hungry, because if he was, he would not have been so picky.

[VicMan]

Jax, if a beggar is outside of an establishment, you can contact the owners of the establishment and they can get him shooed away.

I walked across to Foley's and had to turn back to see what he did. He looked back & forth to see if I left, threw the whole box of food on the street. Went back to begging. So let's see, he didnt want food, hmmmm. Can you name that tune in 2 notes or 3?

Next time, have your camera rolling when you give food to a beggar and he doesn't want it. Then post it on Youtube so the world can see how wasteful that man is.

Edited September 10, 2007 by VicMan

[Jax]

The people in this restaurant clearly saw the guy begging and they just didn't seem to care. It wasn't a very classy Chinese restaurant.

[VicMan]

The people in this restaurant clearly saw the guy begging and they just didn't seem to care. It wasn't a very classy Chinese restaurant.

I was meaning the staff - even if the customers do not care, the staff may care.

[MidtownCoog]

Don't confuse those "dudes" with Operation Bum Sweep's success at Search. These guys are fixtures. They have been there for at least five years. Between my trips to the near by auto dealership, Alpine Cleaners, Texaco and Southern Maid, donuts, I know this for a fact. Some I even recognize.

The Search bums were an entirely different crowd with a mix of women. It was like they were hanging out for their appointments at search.

I know my Midtown bums locales.

[Montrose1100]

What is everyone's quarrel with Rich's? Its actually a fun place to go.

[Vertigo58]

What is everyone's quarrel with Rich's? Its actually a fun place to go.

This topic has ZERO to do with Rich's. Way above (somewhere) when I mentioned Rich's area, I meant across the street is where tons of these mutants hang out. Just to reiterate this topic is about bums, male hustlers, etc that linger in the Midtown area.

We used to go to Rich's on occasion over 20 years ago and yes it had one of the best light shows ever for a city like Houston. Had a New Yorkish tone about it. Video screen was big time state-of-the-art.

Now back to whino topic!

[RedScare]

Now back to whino topic!

Whino?

Strangely apropos.

[Vertigo58]

Wasn't there a cable show that used to feature homeless guy's beating each other up for cash? From what I heard it was a smash success. Won Emmy's

Wonder if it would tour to different cities?

[MetroMogul]

Speaking of downtown scammers; there was a black man who came up to me once and said he had $1500 on him. He pulled out a thick stack of bills, at least 6 inches thick. He wanted me to hold on to it while he went to fornicate with some "white girls" he didn't trust at the San Jacinto Hotel. He said to wait an hour, then bring him the money. If I did this; I'd get $600. I declined of course because who in their right mind would entrust a total stranger with $1500? I'm sure if I agreed, he'd have gone into the second level of the scheme where reality would have come crashing in. Funny thing; a few years later, same guy came up to me and tried to repeat the same scam. I declined again and went on my way. Never seen him since. Hope he enjoyed those young ladies of little to no virtue.

[midtownsteve]

Search has gone down hill since its founder left a few years ago. The new person in charge is overwhelmed and generally clueless on what to do.

The increase on homelessness in Midtown in the past 2 years can be attributed to 3 specific "changes"

Root Memorial Park -

Root Memorial park was renovated several years ago and changed dramatically from its reputation as a homeless gathering space. Homeless are no longer allowed. So how is this enforced? Security guards. So who pays for the security guards you ask. The Harris County Sports Authority. They wanted the Rockets new home to be a place where suburban commuters were not afraid to visit, so they barred and prevented the homeless from return by means of security guards. A good portion of the homeless now live in Midtown. Here is the real kicker. When Root Memorial Park was deeded/given to the city it was under the specific condition that the park would always be available to homeless persons. I'm no lawyer, but I believe that guards preventing homeless folks from using that park may constitute a violation. I think someone needs to ask for their park back.

Pierce Elevated -

The Pierce in many sections is fenced off. The homeless move further south. Duh.

The Veterans Initiative / Cloudbreak Motel/Halfway House -

The VI rode into Houston spouting how their facility would help develop the area by providing sober veterans a place to stay. They lobbied certain city council members with a free flight to Southern California so that this District D representative could "visit" their SoCal facility. Subsequently the Houston city council voted to give the VI a few million bucks of our money to "develop" their program for homeless vets. Not soon afterward the scope of their operation changed. (They swore it would not) They now accept a large variety of non-vets in their "not a halfway house" halfway house. At one point this for profit entity owed several thousand in back taxes to the same city that gave it a few million. Drive by the VI Hotel now and you will find all the squalor, panhandling and chronic homelessness they claimed would never occur.

These three changes are just icing on the cake of an issue that has been the bane of Midtowns redevelopment for years.

The true homeless are those who have "recently" owned or rented a home or apartment. I think it's a misnomer to universally apply the homeless moniker to those who beg for a beer not a bed. Most true homeless are invisible, by choice. Having been their myself, we want to quietly get back on our feet with little if any drama. At night we are asleep somewhere secluded as possible, not in the middle of pedestrian areas trying to panhandle. You see many of do have jobs that we return from so that we can make the next step back into a permanent residence. That was my story back in the early 90's. It boils by blood when these businesses masquerading as non-profit social organizations spread their peace and love bs about the homeless. These homeless that they deify as saints are the people stealing all the copper and brass throughout the city. They are digging through your trashing and selling your identity to professionals. The collecting cans thing is just a cover. It is amazing how far down the road of naivety that white guilt will carry you. The only White guilt I have is feeling guilty for electing Bill White.

[Jax]

The Pierce in many sections is fenced off. The homeless move further south. Duh.

Actually the fence has gates where they can just walk in and out.

[Jax]

For the last two Saturdays I had to drive downtown along San Jacinto at 8:30 am, and both times I didn't see a single homeless person sleeping on San Jacinto by the Search place. Not a single person! A few months ago when this thread started, there must have been 20-50 people each time I drove by (mornings mostly). I wonder where they have all gone.

[barracuda]

Maybe some of them went downtown. I sat outside at Mia Bella last night and saw at least 6-8 homeless trudge by. Downtown was kind of dead last night, so at times, the homless seemed to outnumbered the non-homeless.

[Daniepwils]

They shouldn't be downtown at night, well at least they can't be loitering or sitting down anywhere -- they are breaking law if they do.

Well Monday's downtown is pretty much dead all the time.

[musicman]

They shouldn't be downtown at night, well at least they can't be loitering or sitting down anywhere -- they are breaking law if they do.

the law was expanded to appease the vocal in midtown but all remains the same. it isn't enforced.