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# Letter: Responding to Lisa Fisher on the homeless and Fifth Street
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/041006-story-20060410/
- Published: 2006-04-10T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:32:45.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

*By Lori Emerson*

In response to Lisa Fisher’s letter “Humanizing the homeless” (SMDP, April 5, page 4), one can immediately assume that she is the recipient of taxpayer dollars that continue to facilitate the increase of the transient problem in Santa Monica.

She is obviously an employee in the “homeless industry,” which puts her views and ideas for solutions into question. Some would call it a conflict of interest.

Ms. Fisher’s bleeding heart attitude and list of excuses for bums not having jobs is weak. The gang of bums that hang out on Fifth Street between Santa Monica Boulevard and Arizona Avenue are not down on their luck, physically impaired or victims of poverty. They are quite capable of running like gazelles in front of moving cars, which makes them quite able to seek employment, clean up their own mess or to simply stop intimidating passersby.

They have been loitering there for years, and there is no sign of them leaving. I am not against all homeless people, such as those with families that have had a few strokes of bad luck. Children need to be fed, clothed and cared for. That’s a given. What I am against is the acceptance by our community leaders of the unending growth of the transient community. Some of these bums have been here for over 20 years, (i.e. Charles Springer) and are assisted by Ms. Fisher and other service organizations (like the OPCC) on a daily basis.

I commend Ms. Fisher for taking care of homeless families with children, but that’s where it should end.

If she has seen the same old bum, with the same old stench, with the same old hard luck story for more than five years, he is not homeless, he is dependent.

It’s time for that bum to leave our city.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 10, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041006.pdf?ref=smdp.com)