While voters for both political parties in California are preparing to oust the politicians who have allowed their cities to become havens for homeless, which are either mentally ill, drug or alcohol addicted or simply those who want to live on the street, activists here in Louisiana are vying to create the same kind of urban chaos in Baton Rouge. This will probably fly, like it has in California, until they dare to move into the upper class neighborhoods of the state capitol. Once a city or government official walks out of their house and finds someone taking a dump in their front yard this stuff will come to an end.
Check out this article from The Advocate:
Some fear a proposed ban on homeless tent cities in Baton Rouge could raise other problemsTwo members of the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council don't want to see public rights-of-way transformed into "tent cities," havens for the city-parish's homeless population.
So they've introduced a proposed ban that would prohibit camping in any publicly-owned area. Offenders could be fined up to $200 and/or jailed for up to 15 days should they set up temporary shelter for more than 12 hours within a public right-of-way.
But advocates for the homeless say the proposal would make the work they do to provide resources and help to those in need that much harder. The Metro Council will hold a public hearing and consider adopting the measure at its June 22 meeting.
The proposal's sponsors, Councilman Dwight Hudson and Councilwoman Laurie Adams, say the ban's goal isn't about putting homeless people behind bars.
"The last thing we need is to have more folks in jail that aren't there for violent crimes," Hudson said. "But we do have an obligation to get the parish cleaned up and put our best foot forward when it comes to presenting our city."
Adams adds, "This is about putting guardrails back up in society. It's critical as a city and a community that we say what's acceptable and what's not acceptable."
The encampments have been labeled as public safety hazards, hotbeds for criminal activity and litter nuisances.
But the issue in Baton Rouge is a far cry from what's going on in New Orleans, where encampments dot stretches of interstate overpasses in highly visible parts of the city.
Hudson and Adams both say several problem areas have popped up where one or more homeless individuals have set up tents in public spaces — like beneath the overpass where O'Neal Lane meets Interstate 12, and along Bluebonnet Boulevard across from the Ketcham Fitness Center.
"We control the right of way; we have the ability to move people out," Hudson said. "What we've found is that as soon as we move them out, they come back. Where there are these areas with repetitive problems or offenders, we need a tool with a little more teeth."
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