Since my last post about the "guest" who is living under a nearby stoop, which I thought was an anomaly, I find that he is actually part of a trend.Today I was walking down 11th Street, and there was another homeless guy squatting in a doorway, drinking coffee. Another scruffy guy appeared and joined him.
Across the street, in front of the coffee shop, a third hobo was sitting on the curb next to his knapsack.
I drove around a bit later on, and saw several more obviously homeless people wandering aimlessly around town or sitting in strange places staring into space. While at a stop sign with the window rolled down, one was overheard saying to another, "Let's go find a back yard to sleep in tonight."
When I first moved here, one of the things that impressed me was how clean the city is compared to where I was living. The other thing that struck me was that there were no homeless people. Except Motorcycle Steve, who wanders around in his motorcycle helmet with his shopping cart, and who isn't technically homeless, from what I gather. Besides, he's a known quantity, harmless, and a local fixture.
So what is going on? Since when has Astoria become a mecca for the homeless? Where I lived before, the place was rife with the homeless; some were harmless, some not so harmless, and some completely demented and downright dangerous. Many didn't want any part of the shelters because they couldn't drink and drug there.
You rarely walked about in the daytime, and never at night, because there were just too many crazies, not to mention gang members, out and about. You drove around with your doors locked at all times.
With this sudden influx of homeless people, call me silly, call me an alarmist, but I don't feel safe here any more.
14 comments:
I hate to be the one to point this out to you Astorianna, but the people you outta fear more in this town are the locals, not the homeless.
I think you should ponder why you moved here and you will have the answer.
Pam
Odd coming from you since you are a local :-)
Oh Lordy, sure I understand why they're here, it's a gorgeous place.
But Astoria is not exactly on the beaten track, to say the least. It must have taken considerable effort to get here. You'd just think they'd head somewhere easier to get to, that's all.
In the words of the great Buckaroo Bonzai, "No matter where you go, there you are."
Also ... I suppose, bottom-line, this means that Astoria has really and truly been "discovered."
I, too, have been wondering of late why the sudden influx of space rangers, pioneers and rugged individualists. There's quite a few of them camping in various sites along the River Walk. Some are obviously mentally ill- others are besest by alcoholism.
I guess they're a byproduct of the "new" vison of Astoria as a tourist destination or resort. People like these wandering dumpster diving "artists" thrive on other people's garbage for sustenence and discarded aluminum cans for tobacco and beer money-more tourists means more garbage which draws more drifting derelicts.
And the shopping cart over dressed schizo in the helmet is named "John", not Steve-he's not a "local", he's another California transplant.
Anon ... I think you really have something there, and it explains the influx quite well.
Sorry about the mixup with the helmet-guy's name. Don't know why I thought his name is Steve. Nobody ever mentioned to me that he came from CA, either. Interesting.
The helmet guys name is John, I understand he is from Portland. He does have a brother named Steve.
He wears the helmet for fear of radition.
I'm told he was a scientist, he went bonkers after living in Saudi Arabia
Helmet John told me once he grew up and went to school in the Bay Area of California--I think his mother lives in Hillsborough or Forest Grove and his brother lives here in Astoria...
an intelligent, educated, nice and gentle person, John could certainly be helped by some proper medication and a structured living enviroment-sadly he is unable to keep himself up living like he does..he has some undaddressed medical issues regarding his one of his legs-and, of course, his personal hygeine is non existant.
I have never spoken to him at any length, just enough to give him any aluminum cans I happen to have around when I'm at the Sunday Market.
Interesting - A friend once told me that Portland was shipping their mentally ill/homeless to the Coast whenever they'd get picked up for some infraction. That notion went in one ear and out the other at the time, but now I'm starting to wonder...
Anon ... funny you should mention that. Now that so many cities and states no longer institutionalize the indigent mentally ill, they are now on the streets, and can and do wind up almost anywhere.
Someone in town I talked to said (jokingly?) that the police shuffle them down to Warrenton when they cause a problem here.
I know that in CA they used to shuffle them from downtown L.A. to Santa Monica. Nobody knows what or if there is a solution, so shuffling them is the temporary answer, I guess.
Well, for heaven's sake, don't build a shelter. They did that in Chico, right next to the Costco and all of the sudden the shopping carts started getting absconded with, there were issues with the employee cars parked behind the store, and lots of potty activity outside. Once they built it, they came, boy did they.
It's not that I don't have compassion. You can thank Ronald Reagan, who closed down all those mental hospitals in the 80s and just poured the people onto the street. It's not so much the homeless I have a problem with, but a country that will spend billions on an illegal war, but won't give basic medical care to its citizens. Shameful.
Shelters aren't much help from what I've seen, either, since it's a Catch-22.
Shelters won't take these guys in if they've been drinking or drugging, and many of the guys would rather stay on the street than go some place they can't drink or drug when they feel like it.
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