Tulsa to try to "eliminate" homelessness

[mr.jaynes]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

quote:Originally posted by Renaissance

I saw a video on the homeless problem in tulsa on YouTube- "Children having children, Down by the river". Never realized how bad crime and homeless people are in tulsa. My friend and I recently took a drive downtown and it is scary at night. When we go to OKC we can walk all around downtown, bricktown, midtown, chinatown...basically all the urbanized parts. We have major problems here in tulsa. The 2025 vision is really designed to keep companies like AAirlines and not towards tourism and exciting projects like OKC. OKC has pumped a Billion into their school system, so we are even falling behind OKC in education. I think OKC has shadowed my town. Everyone is moving to Jenks and surrounding subs. I cant believe we like to poke fun of OKC. Our population is even decreasing.

I will start the onslaught. What is keeping you here? What keeps all of us from moving to OKC where we can roam the streets at night and party fearlessly? You can't answer with "a job" because obviously OKC has them too. Family is no excuse, its only 1hr 45 min away. Schooling? Go to OU, OCU, or a host of others.

What then? I suspect that like most of us, you stay because there is some difference in the people, the geography, the general ambiance of the place that feels better. The same reason people stay in Boston even though the roads are bad and the Big Dig is a fiasco. Or Minneapolis in spite of the high taxes and horrid winters.

We are not on the same path as OKC. We are optimistic that the money invested in 2025, the river and downtown will yield a better city that won't forever be compared with the flat, windy state capitol. In my mind it is this choice: lead, follow or move out of the way. All three of the choices are personal and no one would blame me if I packed up and left for OKC.

Here's the thing. Tulsa-and not just for me, but with others too- seems to be the kind of city that one leaves after a while of being there for a great length of time, that it's a city one actually has to want to visit or live there.

[TURobY]

Another city has an interesting approach to homelessness: Provide them with an area away from the public.

http://www.sbsun.com/ci_6337292

quote:
City opens a new area for homeless
Will Bigham, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 07/10/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT


ONTARIO - An outdoor living space for the city's homeless population opened last week in an isolated, untraveled area of vacant lots more than 500 feet from any other structure.
It was set up by the city at minimal cost to address the growing encampment of homeless people near the city's Amtrak station at Euclid Avenue and Holt Boulevard, said Bob Heitzman, the city's assistant city manager.

"We could have just said, `Move on to somewhere else,"' Heitzman said. "In this case, we said move on and gave them another location to go to."

The new site, with a city-provided portable toilet and running water, has become the new home for about 20 homeless people since opening on Friday.

"It's not illegal to be homeless, and it's not illegal to be in town," Mayor Paul Leon said. "They have expressed a desire for some kind of accommodations that would fit their wishes to have a place where they can be and not be imposed upon.

"We don't have any other place that we could set up and say, `Here's a spot.' But that's a spot that we could do that with at this time."

The homeless encampment near the Amtrak station was established about six months ago at the city's urging, said Rick Ritchey,


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40, one of the homeless people who moved from the station to the new site.
About 30 people were living there when police came on Friday, told the homeless people about the new living space and said "in a roundabout way" that they had to leave the Amtrak site, said Rod Vaughn, one of the homeless people.

"They wanted us out of sight and out of mind, which we didn't mind," said Ritchey, who has been homeless off and on for 10 years.

The living space is at Cucamonga Avenue and Jefferson Street, in an area just west of L.A./Ontario International Airport that was formerly a residential area.

The city purchased the residential lots from owners through a voluntary program established after the airport opened, Heitzman said.

The area encompasses several full blocks, and in recent years people have used it as an illegal dumping site. The area is peppered with large "no dumping" signs.

Homeless people at the site say they like the new living space. It is now filled with bags, suitcases, tents, mattresses and other camping equipment.

The noise from planes passing overhead and nearby trains is bearable, they say, better than the previous spot right next to the train tracks.

There are trees that provide shade, and the city laid woodchips down over the site, which is roughly the size of two residential lots.

The city installed four trash cans and two picnic tables, and because the site was set up by the city, the homeless people say they are no longer bothered by the police.

"At least the city is recognizing us," Ritchey says. "The city of Ontario doesn't have transients, it has a homeless population."

Volunteers from aid groups that serve food to the city's homeless had mixed feelings about the new living area - many commended the city for attempting to help the homeless, but questioned the appropriateness of the site's location and wondered whether the city considered it a permanent fix.

"What is the city going to do with those people?" said Borsay Bryant, a Chino Hills resident and volunteer from Calvary Chapel Golden Springs in Diamond Bar. "Are they going to keep moving them from place to place, or are they going to find a suitable place for them?"

Peter Briring, a staff attorney with the Southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union who has done extensive work on homelessness, said he was not aware of another city that has set up a similar outdoor encampment for the homeless.

"That may be better than harassing and arresting homeless people, but that's not a long-term solution to homelessness," he said. "It's not going to get those people off the streets.

"Experience shows that the best way to get homeless people stabilized is to provide them supportive housing - housing with services that address the issues they may have: mental health counseling, drug and alcohol counseling."

[restored2x]

Or - we could buy FEMA trailers left over from Hurricane Katrina, set them up where Bell's used to be and call it done.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17509045/

Or, use the left over government building when the city moves out and have them all live there.

[cannon_fodder]

I can't believe no one has suggested Bum Fights.  It would help us fill our new super arena when it opens while boosting the economy AND controlling the bum population.  Well, it would probably work about as well as any solution FEMA could implement.

/yes I know where I'm going straight to

Disclaimer: cannon_fodder, his persona, Tulsa Now, nor decent human beings actually suppor the idea of Bum Fights.  No matter how amusing or profitable.

[Conan71]

I must not be a decent human being then.

Someone call Dale Cook and get him to train them.

[osupokie]

They want to put the center downtown!!!!  Makes no sense.  If they keep them downtown then how will they develop downtown.  I am soooo pissed off right now!!!!!  Read the article below.

Project to house chronically homeless receives grant


By Staff Reports
7/12/2007  3:13 PM


A project to permanently house Tulsa's chronically homeless has been awarded its first government grant to build the initial phase.

A $2 million grant from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services has been given to Housing Partners of Tulsa, the nonprofit arm of the Tulsa Housing Authority.

The grant will be used to start construction on a living and service center for about 60 people. The facility will be a hub for the project.

A location is still being sought downtown.

The project, called "Building Tulsa, Building Lives," was prompted by concerns from the Zarrow Families Foundation that chronically homeless people are not receiving appropriate services and will be forgotten during the revitalization of downtown.

[waterboy]

Downtown has no organized constituents to vote against this plan. I understand your concern and I agree that downtown will be branded. But, where would you suggest they build this housing?

[TURobY]

Oklahoma City. It is the capitol after all...

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by TURobY

Oklahoma City. It is the capitol after all...

Yes...so simple it plum evaded me! Can we get someone to sponsor the free bus rides to the capitol?  Liquor them up and then drop them off near the Bricktown with signs. Brilliant! But lets think bigger. Dallas?

[osupokie]

How about Broken Arrow or maybe South Tulsa?

[TURobY]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy
But lets think bigger. Dallas?

Mexico?

[Townsend]

Mexico would look at that as illegal immigration...they are against illegal immigration.

[RecycleMichael]

How about we build an island in the middle of the Arkansas river?

Nah...it would never work.

[Double A]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

How about we build an island in the middle of the Arkansas river?

Nah...it would never work.

I dunno. I think there's plenty of people that would vote for that if they weren't allowed off the island, which is a scary thought and poor reflection on our city. Then again, it's hard to dispute those that argue our generosity and benevolence in regards to homelessness has made Tulsa the San Francisco of the mid west in regards to attracting homeless populations. There's a fine line between charity and co-dependent enabling, where to draw that line is a perplexing question that is far beyond me.

[cannon_fodder]

If only there was a vacant building near other city services.  Somewhere around the YMCA, the courthouse, and the library.  Probably wouldnt hurt to be near a strong police presence either.  It doesnt really need to be a top notch building, even a run down building that isnt good enough for other government purposes would probably do.

Think, think...

Or better yet.  Lets find an area that has the most potential for development and put it there to make sure no area gets ahead of the others.

OR - drop it near an oil refinery.  If you want free room and board you may as well have a view.