About a hundred yards from my home, in a gully in the southeast corner of Van Winkle and 900 South, there is a permanent homeless camp. Several weeks ago I stopped near it to snap a few photos of the sunset over the Wasatch mountains. While there, one of the homeless, a man appearing about 40 years old, asked me if I wanted to come take a picture of the garden he was planting. He seemed sincere and wholly invested in his mission to plant a garden in the fall. Peering back into the overgrown unkempt mass of weeds, brush and trees and the garbage strewn around, I politely declined. While not a psychologist, it was apparent the man was mentally ill.
This last spring and summer there had been a string of burglaries in our neighborhood, including my home. Preceding the thefts, our neighbors have observed the homeless walking among our houses and sometimes knocking on doors to see if people were gone. Some of the culprits appear to be our homeless neighbors from the gully. We’ve complained. But, what do they do?
We have no adequate programs for the mentally ill and homeless. It’s cheaper for the police to allow them to languish in the gully than pester them to move along. My fear is that the harmless, the desperate, the criminal and the violent are congregating and nothing will be done until the crime rises to a level more serious than the thefts we have been experiencing.
It is likely that the cost of doing the right thing in the long run would be cheaper than the crime and the human toll that will result by ignoring it.
I have lived conservative ideals all my life. I’ve worked since the day I was old enough to shovel snow, mow a lawn and throw a paper. I paid for most of my college and have lived within my means and paid my debts and taxes. I espouse fiscal responsibility and I want my taxes to be as low as possible. Yet, my outlook is progressive. I am more concerned about the man planting his fall garden than I am about the corporations and the wealthy who, through the power of their money, have obtained unfair advantages and corporate welfare by manipulating intellectual property, bankruptcy and tax laws.
Some of that interest is selfish. I would rather we provide for the mentally ill so they have their basic needs met rather than having them come through my neighborhood or standing on the corners pan handling. Also, I think it is the right thing to do because its humane, decent and necessary. At the same time, the gully, instead of being trashed with garbage and raw sewage, can be preserved. That would be a better solution than us as a country ignoring the mentally ill who are busy planting gardens in the fall.
Loren M. Lambert, Oct. 29, 2015 ©.
This last spring and summer there had been a string of burglaries in our neighborhood, including my home. Preceding the thefts, our neighbors have observed the homeless walking among our houses and sometimes knocking on doors to see if people were gone. Some of the culprits appear to be our homeless neighbors from the gully. We’ve complained. But, what do they do?
We have no adequate programs for the mentally ill and homeless. It’s cheaper for the police to allow them to languish in the gully than pester them to move along. My fear is that the harmless, the desperate, the criminal and the violent are congregating and nothing will be done until the crime rises to a level more serious than the thefts we have been experiencing.
It is likely that the cost of doing the right thing in the long run would be cheaper than the crime and the human toll that will result by ignoring it.
I have lived conservative ideals all my life. I’ve worked since the day I was old enough to shovel snow, mow a lawn and throw a paper. I paid for most of my college and have lived within my means and paid my debts and taxes. I espouse fiscal responsibility and I want my taxes to be as low as possible. Yet, my outlook is progressive. I am more concerned about the man planting his fall garden than I am about the corporations and the wealthy who, through the power of their money, have obtained unfair advantages and corporate welfare by manipulating intellectual property, bankruptcy and tax laws.
Some of that interest is selfish. I would rather we provide for the mentally ill so they have their basic needs met rather than having them come through my neighborhood or standing on the corners pan handling. Also, I think it is the right thing to do because its humane, decent and necessary. At the same time, the gully, instead of being trashed with garbage and raw sewage, can be preserved. That would be a better solution than us as a country ignoring the mentally ill who are busy planting gardens in the fall.
Loren M. Lambert, Oct. 29, 2015 ©.
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