Berkeley's new cause: make homeless behave

more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-homeless29nov29,0,1339539.story?coll=la-home-center

Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times

A man enjoys a free meal at People's Park in Berkeley, California. People's Park, made famous during the 1960's as a haven for student protesters, has become a haven for street people.
City, usually a supporter of the downtrodden, will hire monitors to report inappropriate behavior to police and social agencies.

Berkeley's new cause: make homeless behave
By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 29, 2007
BERKELEY -- Even this college town, traditionally the defender of the downtrodden, protector of the left and arbiter of political correctness, has had enough -- enough of the homeless.

After months of hand-wringing, the Berkeley City Council this week passed a law to hire monitors to patrol city streets and parks and report inappropriate behavior by the homeless and others to police and social service agencies.

The plan makes it easier for police to enforce a law against camping in public places. It bans lying down on commercial streets during the day and bars smoking on sidewalks on main commercial corridors.

It was a heart-wrenching decision for leaders of a city that was home to the Free Speech Movement, the hippies and an assortment of other anti-establishment causes.

"A lot of the council had a hard time with it," said Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, a city spokeswoman. "It is nothing that anyone really wants to do."

even in very cold weather... It is always a dilemma for me because sometimes it isn't clear that they are "just sleeping." Since I dog-walk all the time in the area, I often help Denver Police with their attempts to round up homeless to shelters when it is extremely cold, but on an otherwise sunny morning or afternoon they certainly have the right to sleep where they wish. But, do I go wake them up to make sure they aren't dead? I know this sounds very naive, but we bleeding hearts DO want to help if needed....LOL

'Are there no prisons?"

'Plenty of prisons,' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

'And the Union workhouses.' demanded Scrooge. 'Are they still in operation?'

'Both very busy, sir.'

'Oh. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,' said Scrooge. 'I'm very glad to hear it.'

...

'I help to support the establishments I have mentioned-they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.'

'Many can't go there; and many would rather die.'

'If they would rather die,' said Scrooge, 'they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

---from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens :cry:

system. There has never been a solution to this "problem".