Sweeping things under the rug ain't solutions, folks.

So... confession time.

The spot I like at the SLC Main Library gave me a rather wonderful, yet terrifying, glimpse into the minds of those who profess they want to help reduce the impact and scope of homeless problems in town, last week.

They had a little conference, of folks from various support agencies, and several things that might help will come from it, but one thing I heard has me wondering if the help providers do as much drugs as the addicts they seek to aid.

Aid and Abet, if what that moron says comes about.

Look, I agree, to reduce the clutter that the families have to muck through along South Rio Grande on Hell's Block, you need to find a way to move all the drug addicts and drunks off the walls of the Road Home and St. Vincent dePaul's buildings, just to make the sidewalks navigable and safe, but creating a "smoking area" where the cops are not to enforce the laws about narcotics and alcohol usage ain't an answer. It's sweeping the filth under a magic carpet, and acting like you solved the problem.

Yes, i do listen, morons. I may not speak, but I figure any "Brainiac" who claims to really want to help the homeless would at least talk to the more upstanding members (e.g. the non-addicts and non-criminals) before tossing out ideas willy-nilly. If folks thought Pioneer Park can be dangerous at times, or any part of the area Hell's Block (which is really more than a block, being the whole of Salt Lake City's skid row, from 200 South to 600 South, between 300 West and 600 West, with various jerrymander sections used by the druggies and drunks spiralling off that area) wait until this idea gets implemented.

Look, the real issues are indeed the need of a place for those who make no efforts to move out of the Shelter or Missions to move on. Targeting the druggies will just move them into the city, spreading east, as they did last year, bringing the crime, filth, and attitudes with them. You do not deal with addiction by creating a place to use and OD, you deal with it by sensible measures, say things like laws and funding for mandatory rehab for addicts and drunks after say six violations, even if not prosecuted... which indicates a pattern of self-abuse and public endangerment. You do it by looking at targeting the dealers that flock around Hell's Block, and taking away the CI's protection, as most of them are freaking dealing shit, feeding the cops their competitors, or those owing them money, instead of giving them a free rein to rule that area.

This idea moves forward, you will still have the fights, the stabbings, the crime, the drug-use, the overdoses, all the problems, just in a place where less of it will be seen, and thus it can escalate faster to much more dangerous levels, ones that will require the cops going in with guns drawn, not just a hand on the holstered sidearm they have to use now.

Wake up, stop feeding the addictions. Yes, we tobacco (which, unlike the narcotics, is legal to use) smokers could use some places to smoke, in peace. But, dammit, stop jamming the narcotics users in with us.

And stop thinking we are just bums who use, no matter our efforts to walk away.

Another, even better target? Yeah, I have one. A goodly number of the homeless in the shelter get an SSI or SSDI check, a GA check, or other assistance. Target that group, which has the monies that fund a good deal of the drug use, and includes many addicts in it, at getting them into some form of housing, thus removing the "Millionaire" (as those who get no funds call these folks) factor from the equation. Yes, many of them have issues that prevent getting normal housing, or desire not to go in with the addicts, drunks, and criminals. Some of those issues are related to felonies they committed, so it locks them out of a vast portion of the housing available, even if those events were not violent, not repeated, and quite a while ago. Finding a better solution towards getting those folks housed will do far more.

Reducing the money down there might just make an appreciable dent in the crimes, narcotics, and other problems. But that answer takes time, effort, and something society seems to lack these days, intestinal fortitude.

And, while I'm ranting a bit, how about doing something more productive than tossing the mentally ill back into the shelters or onto the streets. Right now, there are *3* functioning fecal matter artists smearing their wastes around places in public. In locations that range from public restrooms in the downtown and strip to the UofU restaurants, to public parks, and even lately on the sides of businesses, and enhancements to existing and new graffiti. Sorry to those on the Left who believe in keeping folks as part of Society who are so disturbed to rehabilitate them, and those on the Right too cheap to spend the money to actually solve issues, but these are walking health code violations, and after three offenses need to be locked up long-term, for treatment, true rehabilitation, and never allowed to be left unsupervised afterwards, as their recidivism is too nasty to leave the "art" they preform in the public view, where some kid could wind up touching it, and getting very ill.

So, to those who think we homelss are stupid, lazy, and useless... yes, some are, but this boy just offered you up options for some. For others.... well, real, meaningful, long-term work that comes with a living wage might be an option. Just don't offer it to me. After three years plus of searching for employment, and being denied, I've taken up a new way out, and plan to carry it through. I will write stories, trying to sell them, market my e-books of poetry as well, and just be a thorn in your sides, politically, to remind you that some of your ideas smell as bad as the above mentioned 'aritists" works.