Posts Tagged ‘homelessness’
Tent City: People first, property second
Any changes to the tent city that many of Nashville’s homeless residents call home should focus on helping those in need first and worrying about the future of the property second. I agree that allowing this situation to continue indefinitely is dangerous for its inhabitants, but trying to wipe tent city away immediately is likely to cause unneeded suffering and harm.
I imagine that few, if any, of the tent city residents chose to call it home out of preference, but rather out of necessity. It may be a harsh and unsafe way to live, but it may have been the best option for staying alive for many residents at the time they moved in. I’m glad to see the emergence of a more compassionate approach to this problem than what was suggested earlier this month.
Tags: homelessness, nashville, tennessee, tent city, the tennessean
Was compassion lost in translation?
I think it’s wonderful that Trevecca Nazarene University is developing a social justice program. Not everyone agrees that this is a good thing:
Commenter TN Rebuttal: Social Justice? Sorry, but it sounds like yet another program from the far left – such a shame that is what has become of our educational institutions. Once you get that degree in “Social Justice”, good luck finding some place to use it outside of organizations like moveon.org and Code Pink.
Commenter mandolin: Not “far left. ” Christian.
Feed the poor, house the homeless. Love thy neighbor.
Good work, Trevecca!
How did “do unto others as if they were you” get forgotten along the way? Since when is it solely a radical, liberal idea to help people in need?
Tags: activism, christianity, compassion, homelessness, nashville, poverty, social justice, spirituality, the tennessean, trevecca nazarene university
Two approaches to homelessness
Why does hostility come so easily and compassion only with effort? Here are two local approaches to addressing homelessness mentioned recently. Here’s the first from several City Paper commenters:
Big Papa: The first thing they need to do is move the shelter far off away from down town. It’s the pile of $hit the that attracts the flies.
frank brown: Big Papa, You are right on the money!!
misskity: The first thing the homeless needs to do is help themselfs put the bottles down and go to work at anything that is honest work.
Kevin Barbieux shares an example of a different approach:
From that point on, Cotton lived on the streets, sitting on bus and park benches, ruining his already fragile circulation system. In the series of videos I shot of him, you see a metro health department nurse trying to treat one of his legs that had swollen so much that the skin began to tear and become infected. Again, shortly after this development, a church group reached out to him, and gave him the care and shelter he needed. He did not die homeless, and I’m very grateful for that.
Yes, gainfully employed Web commenters with full bellies and warm places to sleep, you have homelessness all figured out. In the meantime, initiatives like yesterday’s Homeless Connect at Municipal Auditorium helped more than 1,000 Nashvillians without homes with much-needed support. Thank goodness not everyone responds to life’s hardships by saying, “Get a job!“
Tags: community, homeless, homeless connect, homelessness, nashville, nashville city paper, wpln-fm
Who really needs just one beer?
I agree with Metro Council Member Erica Gilmore that a ban on single-beer sales in Nashville’s “urban core” is probably a good idea:
“I think we have a better grasp of how to deal with it,” Gilmore said. “Just traveling to Denver, it was really clean. It was really amazing actually. You think, ‘When I walk downtown, I wish our downtown could be like this.’” Gilmore believes single item beer sales contribute to vagrants loitering around downtown and leads to littering. “You have people loitering round, hanging around with bottles, it does not look attractive,” Gilmore said.
I don’t believe, however, that this is a comprehensive solution for vagrancy, littering or homelessness. Did Gilmore talk to anyone in Denver government, or did she just witness the cleanliness of a city hosting one of the most significant events in its entire history? I’m sure that downtown Denver was practically spotless, and downtown Nashville likely will be when it hosts a presidential debate next month. I’d like to know what Denver public officials have done to make their downtown area cleaner. I’d also like to know whether it is typically clean or whether it was merely especially tidy because of the Democratic Convention.
Reduced access for people who are abusing alcohol, including people who are homeless, can’t hurt. It won’t stop everyone, but it is one more layer of deterrent. Does anyone who does not have a substance-abuse problem urgently need to buy only one beer while they are downtown? If they need one single beer that badly, couldn’t they plan ahead or head to the suburbs? I think this legislation can be effective, if approached reasonably, but it won’t do what would help people who are homeless: Help them secure housing and learn the life and career skills needed to hold jobs and earn better wages.
Tags: alcohol, alcohol abuse, beer, democratic convention, denver, erica gilmore, homelessness, littering, nashville, politics, substance abuse, vagrancy
