calamarichris

I don't know what's more discouraging; seeing human beings reduced to living in squalor in one of the wealthiest counties of one of the wealthiest states in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, or the utter lack of compassion expressed by some in this equally squalid thread.

LiquorLad

I don't understand the public ignorance that a person is homeless because they couldn't make their rent or mortgage payment & now their trying to get back on their feet. Perhaps you can buy the sob story.

In reality they're either are crazy or they choose that lifestyle. Please give me money so I can eat, I mean shoot up. They contribute nothing to society & should be exterminated.

Garfield Cat

Just read Mr Beanz blog from Saturday March 11 ride on the SART. Classic Mr Beanz

Mrbeanz and his bike rides His blogspot.

snidely

Maybe you should go and ride the section of trail being discussed. I don't see a lack of compassion here. I see frustration at the ENORMOUS problem in the area.


The videos, photos, and descriptions of the problem really can't do it justice. It has to be seen and experienced to be understood.

ZippyThePinhead

Really? So if it isn't their fault, what reduced them to this?

I rode SART last week with a friend who has a good amount of experience working with and feeding the homeless. She echoed some of the comments I made upthread from another person with a good amount of first-hand experience. Her take was that none of the parties involved are really listening to the other parties involved, including the cyclists and taxpaying trail users, and until that changes, it's unlikely the situation will improve significantly.

County employees were working around the portion of the trail that passes Anaheim Stadium last Friday (3/17). It wasn't totally clear what-all they were doing, but among many things they were painting a white stripe on the dirt alongside the trail, presumably to discourage campers from crowding the trail. We'll see what kind of enforcement it gets.

I'm all for live and let live, but when I see what appear to be able-bodied people, seemingly living off a variety of enablers, it's hard to have compassion. Of course, it's not always easy to tell who is able-bodied and lazy, who is on the lam, who is a substance abuser, and who is mentally ill based upon appearance only. So, when passing through I try to extend the same courtesies that I would extend to anyone else encountered on the trail: a bell to let them know I'm approaching, calling out if necessary, riding defensively when around them, and so forth. And hope I can get through without a collision or a flat.

TGT1's comment is pretty much spot-on.

mileslong

I hope you haven't reproduced, you are a vile and ignorant excuse for a human being.

BillyD

Somebody should have reported it. Closed.