Homeless Brawl on Eastside

Mmmmm....NO to Ritz Carlton....No to Miramar....NO suburban sprawl...NO Urban redevelopment...NO gentrification of "funk zone" YES YES YES YES to homeless shelters...lower east side, westside, uptown, downtown, goleta....let´s continue to cater to the needs of a non santa babara population that will pull us all down with them. It is only a matter of time until one of these confrontations between those the community seems intent to draw with their enabling charitys...and an innocent local or dollar dropping tourist, makes State or National headlines...and Santa Barbara tourism and the livelihoods of many more will be at stake. I personally can´t wait!! Get a grip people...we are not helping anyone. (save transition house which to me does do incredible work in breaking a cycle of abuse) Do we have to hit rock bottom b4 we see what we have done to this community with our so called charity?!!

Interesting warm story about how people from different places come together to share lifes events and stories together. The comment from lovechop seemed cold in contrast to the story.

No, not at all. It seems to me that these sorts of things are common place with people who find themselves "without" so to speak. By looking at the photos of the two men who were arrested neither looked as though have any legitimate reason for not having a job and a place to live. But on the other hand, if people choose to subsidize these thugs then I doubt very seriously that they will ever become taxpayers and contributors to society. Where's the incentive?

I will say this. Based on what they did these two particular individuals should be a non-issue for some time to come albeit at the taxpayers expense.

How is my comment "cold" and the drunken brawl "warm?!" ....I too, am "sharing life`s events and stories" ....just doing so without the warm fuzziness of knives, box cutters, and milk crates! :-)

It is nice to know that we have hundreds of potental criminals living in the bushes near the 101 freeway. They have taken over many of the areas near the beach, especially Chase Palm Park. These are the ones without cars or campers. The mobile crew alternate between West Beach and East Beach. You can catch their antics daily at Dwight Murphy park or Cabrillo Ball field. When is the City going to control these idiots? Perhaps AFTER one of them commits a major crime.

One thing is for sure...I have convinced many that SB is turning into San Fransico....and to look to Laguna, and La Jolla as alternate communities to buy their fab retirement-year palazzos... (ie...tax revenue) I, as a 28 yeal old male don`t even feel safe walking the dog past dark at east beach....due to the hooligans and drug addicts from all over the country that the area´s public policies attract. Let´s not even discuss the morning rush hour...as the free hotels dump their "guests" out onto the streets in search of how to spend their social security check on drugs instead of food and shelter. Let´s face it: Santa Barbara is gross....(the areas affected by these transients at least) the parking garages smell like urine, and their are bags of stolen medical waste strewn along the area impacted by the Cacique Street Shelter....junkies looking for their next high. Public beaches become privatized by the transients as the tax paying community ceases to cooexist with the increasing numbers of them...justifiably frightened by it all. I say...WHEN the inevitable gruesome robbery or murder does occur between one of these transient addicts and a local State Street patron or tourist....I hope that the poor victim, or victim´s family hold the public and private institutions financially responsible for the attacker´s presence in Santa Barbara. Paradise Lost to the enableres of addiction.

For heaven sake - get a grip, people. These are some of the nicest homeless people I have ever met. (Have you ever tried convincing someone in Chicago that you can't help them buy a bus ticket? Yikes.) Have you ever actually TALKED to any of these so-called criminals-in-training? If you are so afraid of them pulling you down with them, why don't YOU try pulling them up with you instead? Yes there are drug and alcohol addictions, yes there are mental health disorders, yes there are fights and scary looking figures looming in the dark on the beach. You can take that exact same sentence and apply it to the wealthy in Montecito - it will still be true. (*Gasp* Blasphemy!) The difference is that people in Montecito who rape, pillage, plunder, snort, drink, abuse, steal, and destroy other people's lives have a safety net - a community, money, family, connections, and estate walls to hide behind. But you keep talking about WHEN one of them - ONE of them - commits a major crime against a poor innocent tourist or "real" Santa Barbara resident. There have been homeless people here for HOW MANY DECADES? I'll admit I don't know the numbers - must be you do. What percentage of murders, rapes, beatings (etc. - whatever you'd consider major or gruesome) have been committed by homeless people here against whatever you'd consider to be a fine upstanding citizen? Please do the research, I'm prepared to change my tune if properly horrified. A UCSB student plowed his car through a street full of people in IV a few years ago. No one said, "You see, this is what happens when you let university students into your town." More recently an ex-postal worker (not the first in this country!) opened fire and killed people here in cold blood. No one said, "Those postal workers are a real blight on this town, why are we still funding them?" A so-called investor from Hope Ranch bilked people out of bazillions of dollars and I didn't hear anyone say, "Something has to be done. Letting all those businessmen and entrepreneurs congregate in the same neighborhood really opens the door for the rest of us to experience a serious BLOODSUCKING!" Why not? Because there are good apples, and there are bad, in any population - however you slice it. Taxpayer money goes to help the potentially good apples stay on the tree a little longer until they're ripe. It's not used to spray paint the bad apples bright red so they can be sent out to wreak havoc at your next beach picnic.

Despite your helpful suggestions to your friends about where to blow money on their second home, it is NOT the homeless causing white flight in this town. Did you miss the article on the school budget issues? It's the Miramars and Ritz Carltons and gentrification that push out the teachers, policeman, firefighters and service industry workers who go elsewhere before THEY end up on the street trying to feed their families. ***But don't worry, it won't be long now before those people working in those silly non-profits can't afford to live here either. Thank God. They are the real scourge, don't you think? If it wasn't for them, I'm sure the homeless would be someplace more appropriate, like Lompoc. (***Please note the sarcasm here, if you've skipped to the bottom of my post.)