At the Tuesday, Oct. 17 meeting, the discussion on funding the pallet shelters for a second year morphed into a discussion on how Greensboro was attracting more homeless people to the city.
Councilmember Sharon Hightower started that portion of the discussion saying, “Now buses are driving people here because we are taking care of the homeless.”
Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter went into more detail saying, “We have found out from speaking to the homeless, and I know the mayor has as well, that they are coming from other cities with a one-way ticket to Greensboro because it is known throughout the state, and actually some from Florida, some from Wilmington, some from Fayetteville, that they should go to Greensboro and they’ll take care of you. I’m a very open caring person, but we can’t take care of everybody, and the more they send to us from the other cities, I don’t know what we can do to solve that, but it’s starting to put a strain on the resources we do have. So I don’t know if there is a magic answer to that either, but I know the mayor and I had a conversation about it and I talked to a few other council people. I really don’t what we can do, but it’s bad. We like having a reputation of helping people because that’s what Greensboro is all about, but when you start becoming overwhelmed because of that, when someone was given a one-way bus ticket to Greensboro, that is a concern.”
Mayor Nancy Vaughan agreed that having homeless people come to Greensboro to take advantage of the services the city provides was a problem. She said, “I would agree we are seeing people coming off the buses and trains with suitcases. You see suitcases all over, and it’s not just the downtown, you see it out in other places.”
Vaughan said that the city was working on a way to “prioritize the people who have lived their lives here, compared to people who have just stepped off the bus. So, we’ll probably bring something for consideration within the next month.”
Well, DUH!!! This was a no-brainer from the beginning. It works the same way as the illegal crossings at the border.
This is, in fact, a classic example of the inability of liberals to understand why the problem exists in the first place and wasting taxpayer funds to give themselves a feel-good experience. It’s not helpful.
Please, please, do NOT re-elect these incompetents back into office to further waste your tax dollars. That goes for the Guilford County liberal commissioners, as well.
“Welcome to the world, how may I help you?” If these liberal idiots would read anything I’ve written here for the past several years, they would clearly see this coming. One more time for Hightower & the rest of the loons: Government has NO PLACE in this fight. Stop taxing the hell out of us to pay for anyone else. People are genuinely good to one another and would take of this on their own if only government wasn’t forcing our hand to pay the way for all the able bodied welfare queens. There’s nothing quite like standing in line at the grocery behind one who just had her nails & hair done, yapping on an Obama phone, paying with food stamps & watching them go out and get in a rented or leased Lexus or Mercedes while you watch hard working people rub two nickels together to feed their own kids. If people had a FAIR TAX (hello…. we’ve seen this before, but not with an R or D attached) they would freely give more of their own disposable incomes to help others in countless ways.
I couldn’t have said it better. Thank you
We have a national housing crisis that few people want to confront. Rents have skyrocketed over the past two years, often out of pure greed on the part of landlords. You need to make $20 an hour to qualify for most apartments, and you need $30 an hour to cover utilities, food, insurance, and vehicle expenses. And home ownership has been priced out of most people’s budgets, with existing inventory being scooped up by wealthy investors who then turn the homes into high-priced rentals. Meanwhile, zoning and building codes prevent people from building minimal housing that would keep them out of tents or government shelters. In rural areas I’m starting to see a lot of people living in RV’s. It’s all they can afford. This problem is going to get a lot worse. And all I hear from government officials is “there’s nothing we can do”.
Most (if not all) the people Zack is referring to in Center City Park are mentally ill or drug addict. It’s not a $ issue for them.
Lol…” a strain on resources”. And that quote my friend is from one of your socialist democrats you elected plus your 30% tax increase you must be enjoying.
The good intentions paving company… I love liberal progressive policies they are also short on the follow-through. Our town council are suppose to be reasonably intelligent people. Meanwhile the blacks and minorities that they say they care so deeply about so deeply about simply fall through the cracks. Or become victims of homicide.
We run this city and county we are definitely not falling through the cracks now we win contracts and sell houses at huge profits
Was this problem discussed several years ago? I think it was during or brought up in regards to the panhandling and begging on the streets. It was known then and nothing has been done, but rather got worse due to the open pocket book of the City Council and the special interests and the warm and fuzzy good doers.
Well, here we go. Busing people here from elsewhere. This is a disaster for Greensboro. It has gotten so that my wife no longer wears her engagement ring in public. There are many areas in the City that we will not venture, especially at night.
You elected these people. This Mecca will destroy the city & county.
Stop lying!
A typical no Sherlock moment our esteemed council lacked the wisdom to foresee.
You can’t help everyone. Especially those who won’t help themselves. Those folks who stand on corners with their children are a disgrace. Is this not child endangerment? What a great role model they are. They are teaching them to wait and it will be given to them. I am so thankful I was raised by parents who believed in work ethics and becoming an independent responsible human being. And I might also add that my children are hard working citizens who expect nothing for free.
But, but, these are “caring” people………they tell us they are ALL THE TIME……….I don’t really think they know what the term means in the context of governance.
This reminds me of people putting out a bird feeder, and then complaining about all the bird droppings. Good intentions have unintended consequences.
I absolutely love your analogy. You have hit the nail on the head and summed it all up. Hilarious. I wish every council member could read this.
Stop all the handouts.
We need to help all people find and maintaining housing, those people who come may or may not become productive citizens but we should have compassion and give them a chance to be productive citizens and better their environments
Why are they not productive citizens where they are coming from. There is a lot of factors at play here that just giving a handout will not solve.
Kudos to big city. He had brought all of his relatives from Durham with him. 60 and counting
And exactly why we have the highest taxes in the state…property…purchasing…restaurants…
And remember the once great San Francisco…l have gone there three times…my last was final time…they held the door open and allowed drugs on the streets…human waste…smelled like a overflowing porta potty…nope, l am done and getting my permit to build in another County…and sell my greenslibratard home…tag, not going to keep paying the taxes!
Well you wanted this, sounded good at the time. NOW DEAL WITH IT!
I work with the homeless at a very large homeless agency and there are not buses arriving with homeless people or if there truly are I have no idea where these people are going to get all the GREAT care Greensboro provides because if the city, county and healthcare would step up maybe the situation would and could be a lot better.
Just remember you can fool some people some of the time but then there’s the ones that know the truth and rightfully shake their heads in disgust at you.
People getting out of State prison are.tols to come here too.
It’s the panhandling and lax police enforcement.
Stop the panhandling and the problem will take care of itself.
The problem is we don’t have enough parks downtown. If we build more parks, they can have more room for their suitcases and tents. I am pretty sure the only reason we spend money on parks downtown is to give them a place to trash and loiter.
They need a bigger bus!
rather than ‘2 hots & a cot’ in a barracks, taxpayers are expected to give these people homes. i don’t own a home. ship me to wilmington.
Your wife can’t wear her engagement ring in public. Say it ain’t so!!!