Urban Campground

[Shadowman]

A scene from a recent trip to Miami, the homeless conditions are less visible than in my area but has seemed to be increasing within the last for years. For a high tourist area you would expect officials to be concerned, an article in one Miami paper stated that police take the homeless from one area and dump them in a nearby community.


Urban Campground by JOHN, on Flickr

[rpcrowe]

This image is poignant and seems to illustrate the life of a person who is homeless despite not showing any individual person...

There are areas of the City of San Diego that are overflowing with homeless folks who have staked out entire blocks with their makeshift shelters. I am wondering if he relative moderate climate of my area might be a bit more attractive to the homeless. If I were unfortunate enough to be homeless, I would certainly prefer to be homeless in an area in which the temperature seldom dips very low. Although there are times, especially in January, when our temperature drops to a bit below freezing. There are homeless shelters open during those days to give shelter. Many of our homeless folks appear o have significant substance abuse and/or mental problems which contributes to their unfortunate condition...

[Shadowman]

This image is poignant and seems to illustrate the life of a person who is homeless despite not showing any individual person...

There are areas of the City of San Diego that are overflowing with homeless folks who have staked out entire blocks with their makeshift shelters. I am wondering if he relative moderate climate of my area might be a bit more attractive to the homeless. If I were unfortunate enough to be homeless, I would certainly prefer to be homeless in an area in which the temperature seldom dips very low. Although there are times, especially in January, when our temperature drops to a bit below freezing. There are homeless shelters open during those days to give shelter. Many of our homeless folks appear o have significant substance abuse and/or mental problems which contributes to their unfortunate condition...

Hi Richard,

A few comments from the locals suggest that a decent percentage of the recent homeless in Miami are from other parts of the state or even parts of the country and warm climate areas are selected because of that fact and that sometimes food is easier to come by with fruit trees in the area, states which recycle cans and bottles, and areas where local officials are more tolerant to their plight. Thanks for commenting.

[Manfred M]

Well seen and as Richard has mentioned it doesn't need the person in the shot to make the point.

I suspect a different POV, rather than at your eye level, would have resulted in even more impact. I suspect a shot taken from a crouching position would have been extremely effective.

[Shadowman]

Well seen and as Richard has mentioned it doesn't need the person in the shot to make the point.

I suspect a different POV, rather than at your eye level, would have resulted in even more impact. I suspect a shot taken from a crouching position would have been extremely effective.

Hi Manfred,

Thanks for commenting.

[george013]

John,
I think it could have been taken better. You isolate your subject to much. To less environment, no interaction with it. Now it could be a camping store.
But go on with it.

George

[Shadowman]

John,
I think it could have been taken better. You isolate your subject to much. To less environment, no interaction with it. Now it could be a camping store.
But go on with it.

George

Hi George,

Thanks for commenting.

[lovelife65]

Nice photograph John, very well done street scene.

In terms of tourism areas and homeless, you should see San Francisco!!!
Los Angeles has skid row, which is a village in and of itself.
And of course Seattle, tent cities all over.

As Richard has mentioned, there seem to be more problems in milder climates of the west coast, yet it could also be possible that the harsher climates just shelter them better, or they don't have the "choice" to remain on the streets and alive.

There have been articles in newspapers about homeless dumping, for example Las Vegas giving homeless one way tickets to San Francisco.

[Shadowman]

Nice photograph John, very well done street scene.

In terms of tourism areas and homeless, you should see San Francisco!!!
Los Angeles has skid row, which is a village in and of itself.
And of course Seattle, tent cities all over.

As Richard has mentioned, there seem to be more problems in milder climates of the west coast, yet it could also be possible that the harsher climates just shelter them better, or they don't have the "choice" to remain on the streets and alive.

There have been articles in newspapers about homeless dumping, for example Las Vegas giving homeless one way tickets to San Francisco.

Hi Sharon,

I've stumbled upon San Francisco's and Vancouver's skid rows, both spring upon just by quickly turning a corner of the downtown areas, didn't see LA's area though. Years ago I heard that the mayor of Las Vegas had a vengeance against the homeless and would have his officers deliberately terrorize them. Thanks for commenting.

[LePetomane]

The "tent cities" in the Twin Cities seem to have vanished as the weather got colder. Most of the residents of these encampments were Native Americans. Where did they go? I don't know. The local media does a good job of suppressing coverage of this as Minnesota takes pride in a huge social safety network and this is a big black mark.

We don't see homeless in Sheridan, Wyoming but there is a significant population of them in Billings Montana, predominantly Native American.

[rpcrowe]

Our Native Americans are missing an enzyme that helps in the metabolizing of alcohol in the human systems. While this is certainly not the only factor in the high rates of alcoholism among that populace, it certainly is a contributing factor...

Alcoholism and drug addiction (most often combined these days as a multi-addiction) is a deadly combination which is extremely difficult to fight.

When I was growing up in a very Irish area of Brooklyn, New York; I and just about every male that I knew were hard drinkers - some obviously were alcoholics but we didn't use that term. However, my generation and my group of teens which spent our teenage years during the 1950's and normally identified ourselves as Irish, did not use drugs. We chauvinistically considered that drugs were for persons from other cultures. I do not remember one instance when drugs of any type, except alcohol or tobacco, were used at an party that I attended. This changed drastically during the 1960's.

I stopped both smoking and drinking on my own volition when I was about 38 years old and have never regretted no longer drinking or smoking but, I have always been grateful that I did not come from a culture in which the use of drugs other than alcohol or nicotine were accepted behaviors...

When I became a substance abuse counselor in the U.S. Navy, I noticed that there was a sharp dividing line in ages between persons addicted only to alcohol and those with a poly drug addiction. I was from just about the oldest in the group of guys who used alcohol alone. In fact, originally the Navy treated alcohol addicted persons and drug users in different in-patient facilities. The alcohol treatment facilities (which also treated compulsive over eaters) catered to an older group of patients who were usually of more senior rank while the drug treatment programs treated younger and lower rank individuals.

IMO, the reason that the Navy's alcohol treatment was very successful is that the patients had more invested in their Navy careers and also had more to lose. There was a time when a Navy Alcohol Counselor who had completed the Naval Institute of Substance Abuse Studies Course (I graduated in 1984) would be hired by just about any civilian treatment facility upon retirement from the Navy. I was hired within a month after I retired and only about a week after I began to apply for jobs.

[xpatUSA]

I rather like the contrast between the posters on the column and the scene on the ground ...

[Shadowman]

I rather like the contrast between the posters on the column and the scene on the ground ...

Ted,

Thanks for commenting.