Treating Those Who are Not Homeless with Compassion

Years ago, my husband simply stated, "Compassion kills", when we were discussing unaddressed and improperly managed homelessness in our city.

Yes. Compassion killed a woman in Atlanta.  She perished in a knife attack. Unprovoked, but provoked within the crazed mind of an individual who should never have been allowed to board the train; much less occupy the streets.

It is a fact that a segment of the homeless are not only addicts and drunks ("alcoholic" is the polite term), but they are also mentally ill. They have track marks on their arms,  pale soft palates with teeth as soft as cantaloupe ("Meth mouth") and additional signs of addiction. It can be chicken-egg, but  compassion kills.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15862039/atlanta-georgia-woman-stabbed-train-attack-police.html

There is a differentiation of course: the homeless who have lost employment, are functionally illiterate and who will need assistance-with-compliance for a season to get back on their feet.

But the discussion is regarding how those of us who are not homeless wish to see our neighborhoods. We want them clean, litter free, and safe for our families.

My city has stepped in with a few changes which seek to pull the welcome mat out from under the homeless who ride the Trinity Express in from Dallas to then hop off into our small Main Street. This area is three miles from our home. The homeless travel to the two nearest parks and hang out at our library.  At the library each morning, there are usually at least a dozen homeless awaiting the doors to be unlocked where they then rush the bathrooms. The facility has had to erect signs to inform them not to bathe in the bathroom, wash laundry in the sinks, and cook near the building.  Other understandable rules are directed against what are unwanted and unruly, and sometimes dangerous "guests". What is not understandable is how benches in one park have been removed to keep these individuals from lounging on them all day.  What about our elderly population who may require a seat?  Rumor is that benches will be added with a divider in the middle. Not a real solution.

The park adjacent to our library?  It has a covered pavilion where the taxpayers in the city can no longer take our children for a picnic, nor grab a Starbucks and find ourselves seated across a table from a friend.  The other day I contacted my city council representative.  The pavilion had approximately thirty-five to forty homeless holding a party: loud music, shopping carts loaded with the trash they own, and a good time had by all.  Does anybody give a rip?  I do.  I called it in.  The response I received from the Chief of Police was professional.  They all want me to feel safe - you know that "dog whistle" that brought us all to our knees and stripped us of liberty during COVID.  I hate that word.

One business owner with a small shop near Main street had to erect a locked barrier to his entry sidewalk.  At night, the homeless were urinating on his threshold and on the door of his shop.  Each morning he had to hose down the sidewalk for it to be pleasant enough for shoppers to consider entering his business.

Lack of properly dealing with the homeless in the two parks nearest the train stop have now brought the homeless to my park - at the end of my street.

This month alone, I have requested welfare checks on three homeless individuals in our small but beautiful park. One was sleeping near the edge of the pond.  Another, who looked inebriated was sleeping on a bench. The third, was wandering about in a white Hazmat suit rolled up at the knees.  I have made it very clear to our city.  The day a woman is attacked, injured or killed in one of our city parks, that woman (and those of us who happily join her lawsuit) will assure that the issue is finally addressed.  Those who took an oath will have failed us.  Perhaps only money talks?  But we all know that shit walks.

This distinct, present danger was brought home on Friday.  Our older son was at the gas station which is nearest our home.  He watched a woman pumping gas as a homeless woman ran down the sidewalk toward her to assault her with... drum roll...  a drumstick being waved in each hand. Drum sticks!?  Were they Kentucky fried? Nope.  Real drum sticks.  Our son stepped in between the perpetrator and her assailant and managed to wrestle one weapon out of the crazed individual's hand. She kept advancing on him with the other weapon. This is Texas. We just might be armed. 

He pulled a knife.  "You really do not want to do this.  Not with me."  End of story? Police swarmed the station and found her inside; bat shit crazy and waving her remaining drumstick.

My son?  He saved someone's mother.  It could have been me.  I thanked him.  But is it this bad in my city, that when pumping gas the citizens must have heightened situational awareness?  Could you lose your eye to a drumstick in the grip of a homeless person?  Yep.

Until we make it clear to our representatives that the homeless are unwelcome to prowl our communities,  make it clear this is a problem to be solved by law enforcement and our city leaders, we are not holding them to standards of accountability for "those of us who are not homeless." 

Ya' know, the ordinary Joe's who work hard, maintain our lawns and pay our damn property taxes.  It stops - when municipalities face a deluge of lawsuits by those physically harmed or who have sustained property damage due to callous disregard from our elected leaders.

Portland... Seattle... San Francisco... Austin... Oakland.... and toss in Calcutta... are badly managed.  Policies and enforcement of policies keep us safe.  From drum sticks to a stabbing death on a train - we deserve adequate consideration. May Atlanta face the lawsuit from Hell. And maybe the citizens will begin to eject from office those who refuse to listen to concerns; and to protect "those not homeless" from the homeless who would reach out to harm them.

Margaret Swan's family needs to seek out the best attorney in Atlanta.

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/victim-suspect-identified-deadly-atlanta-train-stabbing

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