Hank Show Roils Hotel Managers

Well of course...they don't want their guest to be exposed to "those" people and see anything outside their little world of money and good fortune.

I love the "our" neighborhood mentality that Fitz pushes. Of course if these weren't rich folks predominantly of a certain color pushing their claims to turf, they'd be called gangbangers.

Oh and by the way, not all these people are "transients", chances are these "transients" are more likely to be locals than the tourists that are worshipped on the alter of profits.

Bill,
you are absolutely right, so I am sure you won't mind having them over to your home everyday for lunch. I am sure your wife and neighbors won't mind either. As a matter of fact you could have them over for dinner also.

As long as he's preaching, Mr Drost is covered by the same constitutional rights as the Muslim group that wants to build a community center near ground zero. We may not agree, or even like, what he's doing but we need to respect that he's not taking taxpayer money and doing this on his own accord. In fact giving to others less fortunate is very much a Christian belief.

"Don Fitz is the General Manager of the Castillo Inn. You could talk to any hotelier in the area [about Drost]” he said. “It’s the worst thing ever. He doesn’t do it in his neighborhood. He does it in ours, bringing 50 to 70 homeless people to the park that scare our guests.' "

WTH?? This is a joke, right? Seriously?

First off...nobody has to "bring homeless people" to Pershing Park...they already live there..in case Mr. "Hotelier" (OMG...HOTELIER...REALLY?) hasn't noticed.

Then again...he actually thinks that feeding other human beings is "the worst thing ever"...which illustrates what an incredibly sheltered life he has lived.

Perhaps Fitz and his fellow "hoteliers" should spend a little time with Hank Drost, and hear his personal story....and learn what "the worst thing ever" REALLY looks and feels like.

I guarantee "the worst thing ever" is not a kind and gentle man feeding and sustaining other human beings in the park they happen to have been living in for literally decades.

Not even close.

"I love the "our" neighborhood mentality that Fitz pushes ..."
-- billclausen

Me too. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the hotel owners in the West Beach area are from out-of-town and bought their way into the area.

That said, the park is public property as well as the beach plus waterfront. Paid for and maintained by local residents and businesses. If Drost has the will to help the needy and unfortunate, I say more power to him.

BTW, if you click on the link at the end of Walker's story, you'll see that some of the homeless are indeed locals. And some of them are not habitual lifelong free-loaders (as some may be thinking). Some are just recent victims of the economic downturn (thanks Wall Street!).

Its interesting that some businesses are taking their current posture vis-a-vis the homeless. No doubt some of this is motivated by the largest economic downturn in decades. At least the hotel owners have a clean, warm, and safe place to sleep at night.

The hotel business is difficult enough in this economy. Nobody is saying the homeless shouldn't be fed, but they shouldn't be fed across the street from a business that relies on tourists to pay the bills.

It's great to "do good," but not at other folk's expense.

" I am sure your wife and neighbors won't mind either. " -Zigot October 4, 2010 at 7:34 p.m-

Two things I feel I should correct: I'm not married, and I think you misspelled your name because in your case a "B" would be more appropriate than a "Z" in front of "igot"

Santa Barbara, you reap what you sow! You built it, and they came!!!! Buena suerte. San Francisco would be proud of your efforts.

Actually, Lars, there is a group of powerful people who are indeed doing everything they can to prevent the homeless from receiving basic nutrition. And actually, rukidding, there are 12,000 fewer homeless people in San Francisco than there was five years ago BECAUSE they adopted Housing First, recommitted to effective shelter and food programs and created Project Homeless Connect. They did the same thing in LA and the number of homeless dropped from 60,000 to 48,000. Services actually work to reduce homelessness, not add to it. It's time that people start telling the truth to raw bigotry.

It seems to me that the bad guy's being described here are the hard working, risk taking, tax paying contributors to society.
So these business owners and the revenues, jobs and contributions to the City they bring are the greedy bad people.

Wow, are we in the bizarro world here or what?

The majority of these "homeless" folks are transients, drunks, drug users, pan handlers, criminals, and, well....Bums.
Not politically correct but true.
Check out the parks and the public restrooms, and the benches on State and the beach areas and the Harbor and the entrance to the Pier etc. etc. etc.
I have had friends and relatives come visit SB and are blown away at the amount of "homeless" they see everywhere. Digging through trash cans, swearing, vomitting etc. in front of out door cafes by the beach etc.
Why do you think they come here?
We should help the truley helpless. I am for that. Especialy the older folks you see or the handicapped. That I understand.
The rest????? GET THEM OUT OF HERE.
I know. I'm mean and greedy etc. etc.

Bill,

Why am I not surprised that you are not married. You could still have them over for lunch.

What I find interesting is that this is not about a government program, but about a person voluntarily using his own funds.

Either way, there are those who don't want to see the homeless get any help.

By the way, if zigot isn't surprised that I'm not married, why did he/she imply that I was in their first post?

"Nobody is saying the homeless shouldn't be fed, but they shouldn't be fed across the street from a business that relies on tourists to pay the bills."
-- Lars

So where should they be fed? Five Points? Yeah, I can see the local merchants supporting that. Loreto Plaza? Ditto. BevMo? Great idea. Girsh Park? Yeah, the soccer moms will go for that in a big way. How 'bout the SBCC fancy-pants catering school feed them some leftovers? Riiiiight. Oh, I know - Laguna School in Hope Ranch; they've got a nice cafeteria. No? How 'bout the Vons parking lot in Montecito. No? How about any of the huge churches in SB with manicured lawns, nice big parking lots and fancy steeples. Yep, that's it. Those Jesus-loving Christians will be happy to welcome them 24/7.

No?

Are tourists really surprised when they encounter homeless people in parks? That is the way of the world. If there is a city of any size that has no homeless people in its parks, it either provides housing for the homeless, or is a police state.

"if zigot isn't surprised that I'm not married, why did he/she imply that I was in their first post?"

zigot has the intelligence and ethics typical of Tea Partiers.