The state of the gardens - another police incident

[Indaparkside]

The homeless situation isn’t helped by do-gooders parking up giving free soup away in the “Gardens” presumably with the council’s permission.

What a really shit reply that is, some people who are genuinely homeless rely on these for a hot meal/ drink maybe the only one they will get all day. Not all homeless are scumbags some are there through no fault of their own, and as for these do gooders that give their time up to help feed/ clothe people less fortunate in society they should be praised not ridiculed

 

[Ric]

Christ, there's some depressingly predictable responses already in here. Blaming the homeless and the volunteers who give up their time to help feed them?! Have a word with yourselves.

Anyway, let's get the thread back on topic which was about why Piccadilly Gardens was cordoned off last night.

 

[Chris in London]

No. A realist.

So you’d describe yourself as a don’t-do-gooder then?

 

[manchester blue]

It doesn’t exactly enhance the image of one of Manchester’s premier squares does it?

When these people stop breaking into apartment blocks and stop shitting on floors and injecting themselves unconscious in front of residents and their children I might have more tolerance. There is help for these people but they refuse it otherwise they would be housed and not dossing in town. Giving them soup and tea and facilitating their existence is not helping.

 

[Chris in London]

Harsher policing is what is needed.

Removing people sleeping in doorways.

Zero tolerance is simply not possible. When you have somebody sleeping in a doorway, they are usually on private property. The police have no automatic power to remove somebody from private property, that’s up to the landowner. So if someone is sleeping in Boots’ doorway it’s not open to the police to decide they shouldn’t, it’s a matter for Boots. Some shop owners deliberately decide not to ask the police to move them on provided they’re gone by the time the shop opens the next morning.

 

[Ric]

So you’d describe yourself as a don’t-do-gooder then?

A "do-badder"?

 

[urban genie]

Harsher policing is what is needed.

Removing people sleeping in doorways. Zero tolerance.
Problem is that most people believe all the people sleeping in doorways are homeless. They’re not.

Normally the ones sleeping in doorways are.

Think you are on about professional beggar, which the city and towns have, one gets on my bus in the morning when I go into about 10am and see hom going home at 5ish I gaurentee he and the others doing that (and he has been doinf it over 10 years) are not the ones I see at midnight on a saturday of 6am on a weekday.

The homeless are the homeless and vilifying them is not the answer.
Professional beggars are a different subject and breaking the law, which the police are supposed to be clamping down on.

 

[Chris in London]

A "do-badder"?

Ha.

I’m perpetually amazed that ‘Do-gooder’ is a pejorative term. These people give up their free time, and often at a direct financial cost to themselves personally, in order to help those less fortunate than themselves.

There is a legitimate discussion to be had about whether, like food banks, soup kitchens etc actually legitimise a state of affairs that should be wholly unacceptable, but I don’t see how it helps to denigrate the people who provide this kind of service. Nor frankly do I understand the mentality of anyone who ridicules those willing to help the less fortunate members of our society.

 

[urban genie]

All very silent from GMP on what happened last night and the evening news haven't updated the events either.

 

[manchester blue]

Normally the ones sleeping in doorways are.

Think you are on about professional beggar, which the city and towns have, one gets on my bus in the morning when I go into about 10am and see hom going home at 5ish I gaurentee he and the others doing that (and he has been doinf it over 10 years) are not the ones I see at midnight on a saturday of 6am on a weekday.

The homeless are the homeless and vilifying them is not the answer.
Professional beggars are a different subject and breaking the law, which the poloce are supposed to be clamping down on.

Normally I agree but not exclusively. I could give the names of two people with homes who sleep rough and one lives in town and one in West Gorton, both smart blocks. Just two that I know.

The problem in Manchester is not lack of homes but lack of services for drug addition/mental health.