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this is working very well for them
After looking at the photos of the emergency shelters, or hearing the stories about the conditions and the interactions between residents living there, if you've seen the individual shelters without water or electricity built by volunteers, how many readers on Punaweb would intentionally choose to live there?
Now, those of you who would prefer not to live there, when you hear that the residents in shelters get food and water in addition to a roof over their heads, do you also think, "hey, wait a minute, somebody is making out like a bandit here."
If a few people who didn't face mandatory evacuations manage to move into the shelters because they find those arrangements a free upgrade from their prior situation, can you seriously erupt with righteous indignation over someone being provided with basic living conditions that you yourself would find unbearable and untenable? A night of drinks at a Honolulu Hostess Bar would easily cover the cost of food and water of a few shelter residents for months on end.
If their actions rise to a level of lawbreaking and violence the police will be brought in, and once they're determined to be a danger to others I would assume they're excluded from further assistance.
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Don't get me wrong. My subdivision is very pleasant, almost country clubish since the undesirable elements have taken to the shelters. And I don't care if they 'make out like bandits there'. They're all on EBT anyway. They're just to lazy to cook the food they get for free and want someone else to do it for them. But when 13 year old girls are getting sexually assaulted by these freeloaders, I guess I do have a problem with them then. There are real victims that need real support and shouldn't be subjected to the type of behavior you would find in a San Francisco homeless shelter. You shouldn't have to watch where you walk constantly so you don't step on a needle.
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Another heartless Punaweb discussion on the crime of poverty and homelessness.
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when 13 year old girls are getting sexually assaulted
Isn't this a crime?
Wouldn't the attacker be arrested and removed from the premises?
A bird flies home across the sky. It appears to be tired, it had a difficult day. It returns from the hunt, it was hunted. - Laszlo Krasznahorkai
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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quote: Originally posted by HereOnThePrimalEdge
when 13 year old girls are getting sexually assaulted
Isn't this a crime?
Wouldn't the attacker be arrested and removed from the premises?
I guess I don't get your point. If you are family who's lost everything and are forced to go the shelter, and you are lumped in with the element of criminal offenders that are taking advantage of this situation you have created a dangerous environment. Why wait for bad things to happen. Screen them. Only mandatory evacuees should be allowed in there.
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Only mandatory evacuees should be allowed in there.
Are you certain all crimes in the shelters were committed by non-mandatory evacuees? I don't believe that can be determined one way or the other.
A bird flies home across the sky. It appears to be tired, it had a difficult day. It returns from the hunt, it was hunted. - Laszlo Krasznahorkai
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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quote: Originally posted by HereOnThePrimalEdge
Are you certain all crimes in the shelters were committed by non-mandatory evacuees? I don't believe that can be determined one way or the other.
Absolutely not certain ALL crimes. But I'd bet dollars to donuts that almost ALL crimes are being committed by folks at the shelter who are NOT from mandatory evacution sites. I wouldn't stay there if I had a daughter (or a boy for that matter, there are some real sickos in there), would you?
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I'd bet dollars to donuts that almost ALL crimes are being committed by folks at the shelter who are NOT from mandatory evacution sites.
"How many dollars, and how many donuts, detective?"
"I'd say $20 bucks and a half dozen glazed, Captain."
"That's good enough for me. Book 'em Kimo. Book all of 'em."
(from an unreleased episode of Hawaii 5-0, Outer Island Outtakes Edition)
A bird flies home across the sky. It appears to be tired, it had a difficult day. It returns from the hunt, it was hunted. - Laszlo Krasznahorkai
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quote: Originally posted by Allenl
Don't get me wrong. My subdivision is very pleasant, almost country clubish since the undesirable elements have taken to the shelters. And I don't care if they 'make out like bandits there'. They're all on EBT anyway. They're just to lazy to cook the food they get for free and want someone else to do it for them. But when 13 year old girls are getting sexually assaulted by these freeloaders, I guess I do have a problem with them then. There are real victims that need real support and shouldn't be subjected to the type of behavior you would find in a San Francisco homeless shelter. You shouldn't have to watch where you walk constantly so you don't step on a needle.
You are 100% correct, the shelter is for evacuees, that is who belongs there, period. But it's not just the moochers from your subdivision, it's homeless from other places, many of them predatory and unstable. I wonder if some didn't show up on island just for the freebies.
We disagree in that I think it should be for voluntary as well as mandatory evacuees. I'm in voluntary zone and have been visited by Civil Defense doing their best to talk/scare me into leaving. I've heard numerous times I should get out, most of my neighbors already have. That said, we've got a new construction site starting up in Kehena and there are 2 active sites I am aware of in Seaview. Bulldozers, large lumber deliveries, full crews you name it.
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When all this started, I think we knew that the low-life elements of Puna would emerge at some point as a fly in the ointment of everyone else's charitable intent. Are all the homeless criminals? Certainly not. Are some of them? Most definitely. That's why screening makes sense. It's understandable that in the initial rush few questions were asked at the shelters or goods distribution points, but things have evolved, and so should the approach to providing assistance.
On a related topic, a friend who lives near the "garden shed" temporary housing village in HPP went to a meeting at one of the churches involved. He politely asked if the prospective residents were being screened and if the facility would be decommissioned after the emergency was over. The answer to both was yes, which was what he was hoping. He did encounter some stink eye and a few groans from other attendees just for asking, though. I think his concerns were legitimate and that the questions needed to be asked.
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