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Patricia Calhoun’s post about the Ballpark Neighborhood Association‘s opposition to a day center for the homeless triggered literally hundreds of comments, with readers on every conceivable side of the issue sharing their views with passion. Here’s an example.
Tiffany Smyth writes:
I feel as though most people are missing the issue. The community day center with 10 ft walls sounds like a prison to me and costs $8.6 million. Its cost is to hide homeless people not so much to help address the problems these people face. It costs way more to have city taxes pay for the ER, jail and police time then to provide housing and treatment and job training. Homelessness is a complex issue, you can’t just tag a person with being a drug addict. So many have mental, physical issues that our system has failed to address. A lot of them are war veterans who have serious PTSD and the VA kicked them out of the system for drug use or other reasons. There’s no easy solution to this, but to put a wall around them, out of sight out of mind, doesn’t make the problem go away. It creates more disdain and apathy by the general public.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.
For more memorable takes, visit our Comment of the Day archive.
