Here are some takeaways from last night’s meeting (it only took 12 hours this time to get the video up, still don’t know why they don’t live stream);
• Several complaints about the mismanagement of Dudley House, the way they are treating clients, not taking care of situations, working with clients, interviewing them, etc.
• The public (city, county) is not properly funding the management of homelessness and there needs to be more police foot patrols.
• Panhandlers have taken over the neighborhood (Before the signs went up about not giving to panhandlers, my SIGN idea was to make it clear that GIVING to panhandlers out of the window of your vehicle while in traffic is ILLEGAL. There is NO purpose in giving violations or shaming panhandlers, it won’t stop them from asking, not to mention they have a 1st Amendment right to ask for money. The solution is making it clear to motorists that you can be fined for obstructing traffic. The only way we can get panhandling under control is shutting off the tap, that means cracking down on the contributors).
• The Dudley house is in a bad location. I suggested when they picked this location that there is plenty of space just north of the jail. Not only would it be close to law enforcement it would be within a few blocks of Falls Community Health and The Link. The Dudley house needs to close its current location and move.
• The 9th Street Alley that runs along the south side of the Dudley needs to be closed and fenced off.
• The clients need to participate in their recovery.
While nobody brought this up during the meeting, I know that there is a lack of transitional housing in Sioux Falls. The legislative/policy body of the city, the council, could write ordinances that require developers to provide so many efficiency, felon friendly, transitional units for every regular unit they build. They could also require rent control in these units that only have their rent increased with inflation.
Blogs are replacing local print and broadcast. Something with video showing street people, lines at ‘The Banquet’, crowds at Dudley House, freeway ramp panhandlers, etc. could shame local public office holders into doing something. Political ads could have links showing video of how bad homelessness has become in what is portrayed as a prosperous full employment city.
They are starting to encroach upon my neighborhood as well. It reminds me of the army worm invasion of ‘71. I say, we borrow some buses from Fargo, then ship them to Taupeville.
As I mentioned to someone today, besides RC, are there any other cities in SD that are dealing with homelessness and panhandling like we are? I am not sure, but my guess is they are shipping them to SF because of the services. I’m all for helping them, but if anything comes from this task force it should be a different strategy of how the organizations help these folks. As one commenter said, they have to participate in the recovery effort. I also wonder why our business community doesn’t step up and help fund a non-secular overnight facility? The problem with the issue is there are solutions out there, but are we willing to take it on. I don’t think we have it in us.
Opinions are like buttholes, we’ve all got one. I’m sad for a life to be so angry about such small potatoes like agenda typos and pointing out mistakes. It takes real guts to be in the arena and admit mistakes. I hope some of these rants of yours provide actual relief to your spirit. Good day.
There are a few issues at play here, but what are the answers? Kelo is running a ton of stories right now about missing and murdered women and children. They all go about the same way…a relative is interviewed and it’s stated that the person in question was the nicest most helpful person, and was working on turning their life around, then suddenly they are killed or vanish. It’s really awful to think about. But HOW do we help stop these issues? Do they want help? Do they want to work to make a better life? Govt handouts certainly hasn’t helped, what will?
Homelessness exploded because of Reagan, who destroyed the middle class and stripped many social programs, including low income housing.
https://shelterforce.org/2004/05/01/reagans-legacy-homelessness-in-america/
In the last mayoral race, David Z. kept talking about how there should be a quota system for the building of homes in this town, where for every executive home permit allowed there needed to be many more middle class home constructions permitted. That’s a great idea, but it should have been started in the early 90s around here with the advent of the initial Prairie Tree development which over time morphed into modern day Taupeville reality.
Reagan’s tax policies made for more millionaires and billionaires, a greater upper middle income sector but not one big enough to replace the once middle class, and thus the onslaught of irregularity in the housing construction sector which greatly added to the affordable (“accessible”?) housing crisis we have today in Sioux Falls and throughout the country.
( and Woodstock adds: “Boy, that Reagan really fxxked things up, but then again what could you expect from an actor who liked to hang around a monkey?”… )