Carrot and Stick for Street People

Funny how they do the roundup on Friday before the tourists start arriving.

I was downtown with my family recently and was surprised by the intense panhandling from several homeless people, including a woman demanding the food I carried. She continued to demand our dinner as we walked past, her behaviour scared my small children and made me nervous.

Oh another meeting of gaffs and gaffaws brought to by the Chamber, the peoples republic police force with their high tech pointers. Pitiful. Did the cleansing campaigner council member and 3-fingas down Mesa gang member Randy Rowse present his ruddy faced shtick. Meanwhile various well heeled axels and tailpipes are roaming the streets full thottled and under the influence of certain Chamber approved products. Children and mommies should be nervous and even scared.

"If it costs $160 to book someone in County Jail and $550 to get a room at the Faulding Hotel for a month, maybe it makes sense to spend the $500 up front if it will save taxpayers $5,000 in the long run."

What's not calculated is the number of additional street people that will gravitate to Santa Barbara knowing that the city will foot the bill for putting them up in a hotel.

The SBPD describes "generating arrests" as "output"?? And brags about it? This is disgusting, but revealing. "Productivity is up, sir! We've imprisoned hundreds of poor people!"

If homeless people make you uncomfortable, fight homelessness as a societal problem; arresting individual homeless people only creates more pain and hardship.

"Oh another meeting of gaffes and guffaws brought to by the Chamber, the peoples republic police force with their high tech pointers."

No, Santa Monica, the city that happily sends us their "street people" (keeping up w/ the newest & latest pc terminology!), IS the People's Republic.
By the way, didn't want SuzIe heckling your spelling of "gaffes" & "guffaws" so I took the liberty to fix that for you.
See, I am a nice guy, always watching out for my fellow human, even if they are a commie.

"Did the cleansing campaigner council member and 3-fingas down Mesa gang member Randy Rowse present his ruddy faced shtick?"

We're sure he did, just as the other 6 Council members followed suit. Monkey see, monkey do.
By the way, seeing this was a question I didn't want SuzIe heckling your grammar so I added the "?" @ the end for you. I got your back Dee!

"Meanwhile various well heeled axles and tailpipes are roaming the streets full thottled and under the influence of certain Chamber approved products."

Donny, Donny, Donny, your absolute hatred of cars leads me to ask if you own a motor vehicle. I'm sure you do & this being the case hypocrisy abound widdle buddy!
Look @ drunk driving stats & you'll see that problem is somewhat kept in check.
Just ask Denunzzio about the beating he got for doing so if you doubt this.
Of course, when you got professional drunk driver/amateur journalists like Pete Lance & experienced drunk drivers like dolomush they do present a problem, I will grant you that.

Full throttle? You don't EVEN know what that is because if you did you'd know that is a practical IMPOSSIBILTY on State Street or any of Santa Barbara's streets for that matter to go "full throttle" as you claim.

was gonna invite you to the Sandrail Huckfest in Pismo Beach this weekend, 2 days of high horsepowered, big tired tearing up of sand dunes (in the legally intended area mind you). FULL THROTTLE FUN!
But you've been a naughty little commie again, so as a consequence (In a Stalinesque voice) NO FUN FOR YOU!

"Children and mommies should be nervous and even scared."

Of people such as yourself, full of hatred, anger, envy toward anything not you, out to pee on everyone's parade simply out of self-righteous pomposity, yes, they definitely should be.
Actually, you're quite a hoot & a shining example of what NOT to be like. How many parties did you get kicked out of as a teenie weenie Don?
I can just imagine the party host: "Oh no, here comes Donny Downer again! LOCK THE DOOR, TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!" :) henry

Wrench: "If homeless people make you uncomfortable, fight homelessness as a societal problem; arresting individual homeless people only creates more pain and hardship."

Gotta agree w/ you there, but the problem isn't homeless people making people uncomfortable.
It is BUMS (not homeless) acting in a way that is threatening & in some cases that lead to arrest, unlawful.
The cops arrest drunken college kids downtown all the time, AS THEY SHOULD BE, why not drunken BUMS (not homeless) for the same asinine behavior?
Look @ the arrest records of BUMS (not homeless) that get popped by the popo. It is usually for commiting an offense that you or me would also get taken to the pokey for.
W/ that said, why should bad behavior be rewarded?

Botany: "What's not calculated is the number of additional street people that will gravitate to Santa Barbara knowing that the city will foot the bill for putting them up in a hotel."

Practically there! The welcome mat has been set out for those crusties from the Pacific Northwest to come down & set up shop to live their wannabe anarchist fantasy :) henry

We have just issued an State Wide invitation for all homeless - street people to come to SB. Officer Olsen has just had admitted that there's a free ride in the judicial system. Homeless Incorp. Headquarters: Santa Barbara, Ca.

Thx, hen. Where would I b w/o u? It must have been tough being mute before the twittersphere bigbanged into existence.

SezNothing: "Thx, hen. Where would I b w/o u? It must have been tough being mute before the twittersphere bigbanged into existence."

No problem Suzie, always glad to help hateful twits like you. Nice use of twitspeak by the way, proof that even simians are teachable.
Tomorrow I'll show you how to chew gum & walk simultaneously (the means @ the same time).
By the way, not to nitpick, but "big bang" is 2 words, not a root word. You really are slippin' ain't you? :) henry

@hank

Because I find humor in how those who correct the spelling/grammar of other people online often do so with mistakes themselves. . . .

You failed to capitalize "dolomush", and as for "big bang", you are right that it is two words, but it should also be capitalized as "Big Bang", to refer to THE 'Big Bang', and not simply a loud noise. Plus, because SezMe verbed the noun, I'm not even sure that standard rules exist--although, I would personally have hyphenated it ("big-banged"), but I like hyphens. . . .

Disclaimer: I too have corrected people, and done so with mistakes myself, but I still find/found the irony funny! In fact, I have *not* run this post through a spell-checker, so if I've made a boo-boo, it will stand.

Yeah I may not be perfect but who would have thought that Hank :(,, the sad 5x year old skateboarding, BMXr, monster truck madness proponent and likely aspiring cage fighter would also be a meticulously persnickety spelling bee twit. And all on our socialized school grounds, sidewalks, roads, beaches and parks.

Ah, Equus, you make my Friday feel like a Friday. Good to see humor taken & given in a way that is well, funny. Always appreciated!
Better than the "Ooh, I'm so perfect & the rest of the world NEEDS to be like me!" types. Speaking of which...

Donny: "Yeah I may not be perfect but who would have thought that Hank"

Neither am I old gal. Never said I was, never will say I am. Got you to do that for me.

Donny: ":(,, the sad"

Sad? Really? You gotta be kiddin' me! Laughing @ you as I write this.

Donny: "5x year old skateboarding, BMXr"

Actually 52 this July, but age is just a number, old is a state of mind old lady. You should try & subscribe to that reality.
You forgot downhill mountain biking, snowboarding, surfing, paintballing, hiking, camping, skimboarding & a slew of other fun activities that you'd know NOTHING about.
Also raced motorcycles (MX, enduro & flat track) & go-karts when I lived in FL, but that was many moons ago.
I figure if you're going to hate me you might as well have your facts straight before you go sounding like the know-nothing you really are.

Donny: "monster truck madness proponent"

Actually I'm a proud owner of a 1990 Honda Civic wagon w/ 350,000+ miles & still gets 35 mpg (contrary to what our phony "God" thinks, he's slipping you know, old age & stupidity).
I also got a 1957 VW Baja Bug, but I have to re-register it, smog exempt baby!
By the way, you wouldn't know a monster truck if it happened to run you over by accident. Unedumacated commie.

Donny: "and likely aspiring cage fighter"

No, not a cage fighter, but did judo, tae kwan do, jiu jitsu & some karate for a while. The streets of Miami, FL were kind of crazy, always good to be prepared.

Donny: "would also be a meticulously persnickety spelling bee twit."

See, that's where you're showing confusion. You got me mixed up w/ a dingaling named "SezMe" who really SezNothing, well of importance anyways.
What? You need a program to know who the players are? Silly communist.

Donny: "And all on our socialized school grounds, sidewalks, roads, beaches and parks."

Actually, Elings Park is a private park that doesn't rely on those "socialized funds" you keep babbling about.
But hey, keep grasping widdle fella, someday you may be correct (for once). It just ain't now. Come to think of it, never.
By the way, you use those entities (school grounds, sidewalks, roads, beaches and parks) as well, too bad you can't enjoy them like THE MAJORITY of the people do.

So there you have fellow posters, Don McDermott, miserable, angry, envious, self-righteous, bitter, self-hating, lonely, self-loathing, sad, BUM & gang scum supporting communist extraordinaire. I hear he does children's parties too as DingDon the Clown :) henry

Quick correction of a couple of Henry's mistakes, as I've got a Universe to run:

-- you don't get better mileage in your Civic at 350k miles than when it was new; remember what I told you about lying?

-- Elings Park is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and therefore is given the special government favors extended to non-profits (but imposed on other businesses) such as exemption from Federal, sales, and property taxes. Commies.

Okay, back to Omniscience.

The false "god" is wrong/lying/uninformed yet again. Remeber what I told you about being any of those things?
The thing "god" forgets is if you know something about mechanics (which hank does & "god" doesn't) & have the ability to use said mechanical ability (which hank does & "god" doesn't) you can improve the mileage of a vehicle (which hank has done).
My Honda gets 34-35 mpg highway, 30-32 mpg city, got gas receipts, mileage records, data & graphs to prove it.

Elings Park is 501(c)(3) which is non-profit. That doesn't mean it receives state $$$.
The tax exemption (granted they don't pay said taxes) is thereby nullified by the fact that they get no funding from state taxes.
The only "state fund" Elings Park has received is that CREF which they've offered to pay back w/ interest, but the state refuses the $$$ so it can have control over the south side of the park. Fascists.

By the way "God" those things you call your "houses of worship" also fall under the tax free shelter. Fascists & commies too?
Kind of hypocritical of you to use the 501(c)(3) non-profit charter to boost your personal agenda of hatred toward the hank.

The supposed "god" loses yet again, go back under the rock whence you crawled under from :) henry

Henry I dare say you Big-Banged God and that just can't be very good...

Dr Dan, I believe I just did & yes, it is good. HAHAHA! Hope your weekend is as good & fun as weekends in SB can get :) henry

Hank: I believe what DonMcD is referring to is the bars downtown and the fact that they generate drunk drivers AND are a never-ending problem for the neighbors.

Let's look at the big picture: It's near impossible to start or run a business in S.B., wages don't come near the ability to pay rents, (forget being able to buy a home) Santa Monica "Home of the Homeless" as Garrison Keillor says, is a model for the rest of California, the family has been breaking down for decades where throwaway kids roam the streets because mommy's boyfriend doesn't like them or perhaps likes them in an unhealthy way, (and the dad is long gone--often with a new family) we live in a state that's regulated to death, S.B. is a city far more interested in pandering to the booze culture, putting the desires of tourists over those who live here, and we wonder why this problem exists.

Yep, the infrastructure is collapsing yet the average person keeps voting for the same people that have allowed this to happen. I escaped to Solvang a few years ago, but how long before that place, and everywhere else becomes like S.B. I already see that booze, gambiling, and tourism is far more important than the people as far as the politicians are concerned. As the saying goes "As California goes, so goes the nation", and California is sinking fast. Time for a lot of soul searching and review.

BillClausen for the win.

PeterPeli: "BillClausen for the win."

Ditto :) henry

I remember in years long ago (80's-90's), where the Law would sweep the streets for all manner of homeless and drunk alike and drive them to the edge of the County to deposit them on the County line. It would take most a week before they would return but in the meantime NO tourist during Fiesta would be accosted by the ill and repugnant of our streets. My question, is this practice still used today for teh Fourth of July and Fiesta?

Anyone ever see the headcase who walks around with his guitar strapped on his back YELLING!!! inanities at everyone he comes into contact with? Bad chemicals, boy.