The residents in a Seattle neighborhood are scandalized that a street encampment in the Highlands area now has a blow-up swimming pool that some of the tent dwellers brought in.
But Anchorage has seen the blow-up pool, and has raised it one.
At the 3rd Ave. and Ingra Street tent-and-tarp encampment in downtown Anchorage, at the site of the old Alaska Native Hospital, someone has hauled in a skiff, complete with its trailer.
“Someone installed a swimming pool at the encampment that has been growing for months between SR 509 and Myers Way in the Highland Park neighborhood,” KOMO reported, saying that neighbors consider it a safety hazard but also a slap in the face.
In Anchorage, the mayor has tried to clear the encampment but with little success.
A recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit says that municipalities have limitations as to how aggressively they can clear vagrant camps.
Photo credit: KOMO photo of Seattle encampment
Gonna freeze in that pool..maybe bathe in there. The boat wins hands down.
Why not spa treatments?
What’s the matter? The Homeless can’t live instyle while experiencing poverty. The homeless are maintaining their dignity, what’s left of it, under their stressful circumstances. What is it this doesn’t match the image everyone else concocted up about what is a homeless person? Or what one should look like and what one can be given and own. Such a snobby attitude to think that way. If these leftists and Republicans are so bothered then criminalize them to the fullest extent of the law when they commit crimes and make them need to go to work.
What attitude is that? I said the water is cold..they did try to put up some privacy fencing. I’d prefer a spot bath. I’m a boat guy. Shoot me.
Years ago, I worked with a dude on the slope who was remodeling and living in a sail boat outside of Phoenix. He had a rabbit who was house broken too but that’s another story….Out here in the Valley we get these people sleeping in cars with towels over the windows in the stop and rides. Also, motor homes “setting up shop” all over the place.
Some municipalities have ordinances against where someone can park overnight and especially a motorhome which could limit traffic and emergency response. You might want to check into I pulled into places many times to numerous to mention and put the seat back for a few hours of shut eye. Sometimes that’s all it is. You don’t want to get a hotel or can’t afford one. You want to just pull over for a few hours and get some rest and continue on your way. It’s not like these people are homesteading. Motorhomes are probably tourists that are just seeing Alaska and are self-contained, not too big a deal in my mind. As long as they’re not on private property or creating a hazardous situation, I don’t see a problem with it.
Furthermore granted there will be homeless people who won’t go into work because of major mental health disiblities like my homeless neighbor Phillip. However making everyone else need to go into work, it’ll help homeless people like Phillip finally get the attention he needs from leadership if everyone else is stripped of their needless assistance if less people are made eligible.
So people are becoming homeless so they can get handouts. Wow. Just wow.
No, any image is the problem. It is not something I want to see nor experience the legal ramifications of. Attractive nuisances do not belong on trespassed properties.
I seen a lot of people put out hummingbird feeders when I was homeless. I guess they enjoyed the beauty of the birds and tried to bring a little bit of sanity to their predicament. Can’t blame people for doing that.
See? I told you…they needed a pool, a water amenity for the nighborhood, a dog run or walking park, garbage pick up on the hour for several hours each morning, bumper car rides for kids, laundromat, separate showering facilities, and bowling, an area for tents, RVs, platforms, take your pick. You can rent an rv spot for a tent if you’d like. Think of it as a family friendly camping area with a fire pit picnic area, covered area, a little train that sells firewood going around and around. An actual neighborhood amenity that adds value because it adds value. And welcomes those on the lower end of their spectrums to live well while living inexpensively. LIke Canada, the nice guys. Try that.
Exactly.
Are there fishing trips and water ski lessons too?
I don’t know about that but I used to take a bus with my big old fishing pole down to ship Creek from the muldoon campground to snag some supper.
Thank God we live in a judeo-Christian society that allows this, instead of the Christian society that forbade this sort of behavior. I for one, am proud we send $40,000,000 to Israel everyday while the ACLU files lawsuits to stop homeless camp abatement. This is truly what the founding fathers intended ;_;7
A lot of fake Christians on here disagree with you
Stealing ever more money from me in the form of property taxes in order for these vagrants to live with no cost has finally convinced me to leave, after 66 years. This place is going into the crapper and not enough of the movers and shakers give a shit and some of them are in on the grift.
You could get an RV and go to Arizona or New Mexico. Camp out at burning Man.
I think this is great. They should set up a website so people can choose where they want to be homeless. And rate different cities, according to the offerings provided. We finally have a chance to be #1 at something. Let’s show the world our hospitality. Comforts are pretty small in costs compared to the high salaries of the nonprofits. Plus, it could solve the housing crisis. If done well enough, the city could charge a sleeping bag tax. Or just raise the alcohol taxes.
I used to have an old book that had free campgrounds and places to camp overnight. It was in all 50 states. I used it quite often but it became outdated. I once was looking for a driveway at night to one of these camping spots. I was about 30 miles east of Olympia Washington. After going back and forth numerous times knowing that I had passed the entrance, I got out with what looked like a likely spot with my flashlight. I did find the entrance but it looked like it had been abandoned for 20 years. There was a chain across the driveway that was grown over and I walked back in there and saw where it obviously had been a campground of some sort at one time. There are lots of places that you can look at online especially BLM land where you can camp for free as long as you pull over in designated pull-outs. They don’t want you destroying the vegetation or making a fire in a previous pristine setting. You have to use existing fire pit but those places are all over each state. So you have a good idea but someone thought of it before you.
Hawaii has the biggest handouts if you want to be on an eternal campout. Just gotta save up for that one way ticket!
People on the street are making the choice to STAY THERE Greg my God. Anyone who ends up that way, knows why, yet continues to not make their life any better is a loser plain and simple. Many have been homeless but figured it out and got help them a job. You cannot keep feeding the Seagulls (homeless) or the problem grows. Then people like me who pay taxes have to live around it. Nope. Not right. Stop feeding them, stop ENABLING them and they will either leave or figure it out, or die. That’s it folks. Liberal minds are the only ones who think them living in tents on a city street is perfectly ok. Show me I’m wrong! Look at Seattle, Portland, Oakland California…. It’s disgusting! Stop supporting them!
LoL. Got you praying to God now. I would suggest you walk a mile in their shoes before being judgmental. I have.
Are you a Christian? Doesn’t sound very Christlike.
I could tell you about the circumstances that led to me being homeless for 3 months, but I won’t. It wasn’t because I was ran out of any village or because I was abusing drugs. Loss of employment was the main culprit. Without work and a steady source of income, a spiraling effect happens. I never once gave up nor even thought that that lifestyle would continue indefinitely. Nevertheless, here I was living in a tent in the second rainiest July in anchorages history, having to walk a half a mile to the bus stop. I was even robbed from some of my possessions that I had in the tent. I solved my own crime but that’s another story. The point being is, many on here stereotype homeless people and a small percentage may be true, many want a better life, they just don’t know where to start and after a while, a feeling of hopelessness sets in. Sometimes all they need is a little help and possibly a nudge.
Who owns the property?
If the City own’s it, we do.
And when did we ever give permission for the city to spend one red cent on the homeless, or allow them to trespass?
Stop micromanaging.
Just quit squabling over petty stuff and buy them all new spas and yahts.
After all they deserve it after beating the streets all day looking for handouts.
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