Triplett meets with mayor over Lucas Park homeless
Lucas Park
When freshman Alderman Kacie Starr Triplett took office last year, she inherited a diverse ward with new construction, trendy restaurants and funky boutiques.
But her predecessor also left her an intractable problem that nobody at City Hall has so far been able to crack: Homelessness downtown.
For Triplett, the concern is focused on a specific area, Lucas Park, a one-acre oasis that sits parallel to the burgeoning Washington Avenue loft district.
It’s also, however, across the street from the Rev. Larry Rice’s shelter, the New Life Evangelistic Center, which presents a tricky balance.
Near-by loft residents have long complained that the homeless have hijacked the park, cutting it off as a peaceful place to walk a dog or take children to play. Homeless advocates argue, correctly, that Lucas is a city park, free to be enjoyed by individuals whether they have a permanent home or not.
The city’s attempts to reign-in the homeless –strictly enforcing the park curfew, or discouraging church groups from bringing food to the area — have, it seems, not worked.
Last week, Triplett met with Mayor Francis Slay to discuss potential solutions. According to Triplett, the mayor agreed to participate in a public forum on the issue sometime in the near future.
It should be a well-attened event.
Dude’s just tired. He could complain to the mayor that his rights are being denied when a lady walking a dog keeps harassing him while he sleeps.
He’s just there waiting to be registered to vote.
Well, there’s an estimated 165,000 homeless Vets on our streets. Beats the hell out of what Bush and Company did to Walter Reed and the Veterans benefits…Subcontract our military operations and hospitals to private companies..let the free-market system work! It’s not like these corporations are just out to make a fast buck.
Looney, that’s probably one of the war heroes (dude) you and McCain keep talking about that saved you from getting your head chopped off.
Good for Ms. Triplett for looking for solutions to this problem. We know no easy solutions exist so bravo for tackling this head-on.
This is sad: “The city’s attempts to reign-in the homeless –strictly enforcing the park curfew, or discouraging church groups from bringing food to the area — have, it seems, not worked.”
Let’s see…hassling the homeless has not worked. Trying to starve them out has not worked.
Perhaps if Slay were searching for humane solutions.
For the record, jjk, it’s pretty cruel to make jokes about voting rights amongst the homeless.
They have every right to vote. Just because they aren’t fortunate enough to have a place to sleep doesn’t mean they don’t have the same rights that the rest of us do.
The solution to this problem is simple: People need to stop supporting Larry Rice, and start supporting St. Patrick Center. While Rice warehouses homeless people and uses them to make political points and boost his own profile, St. Patrick Center has real programs which make a lasting impact on the lives of their homeless clients. St. Patrick Center doesn’t have television stations, and they don’t give away free light bulbs, they just do the work they are called to do.
Nobody has done more harm to the homeless in St. Louis than Larry Rice - he sucks up a huge amount of resources from donors who just want to help and don’t know any better, and runs his operation in a way which seems target to inspire hate and fear. If you really want to help homeless people, send your money to St. Patrick Center instead.
For more information on their programs and how to get involved:
http://www.stpatrickcenter.org
— E.D.:
For the record, — jjk’s joke is on those like you…
and ACORN…
and Obama Stormtruthers…
that willingly look the other way while YOUR most precious right is stolen — the right to vote in a free and fair election.
===
E.D.
What BobZ said.
If you had been watching the news last week, Fox News showed a homeless man coming out of the register and vote store in Ohio. They asked where he was going next and he said, “back home to Chicago”. You should be ashamed that crooked politicians are taking advantage of the homeless.
I’m waiting for the “Will Vote For Food” signs