This past week, Q-Line asked, “Do you think the new law is really about protecting the public or is it to get rid of the food lines and subsequently the homeless?”
Here are your responses: ■ “I do believe the new law is about two things: protecting the public and getting rid of the food lines. Downtown Santa Monica looks really bad, and I think that’s why people are not shopping on the Promenade. There is garbage and it smells in the parks. They stay because of the weather and free food. I am waiting to move from Santa Monica to Culver City. It’s a disgrace!” ■ “Both. Considering that the homeless themselves present a considerable health risk to all the rest of us, I would say it’s about time!” ■ “As a Santa Monica resident, I pray to God that this new law gets rid of the homeless. I hope that everything the city is doing to get rid of these miserable, flipping homeless does the job. Myself and all the residents on my streets along with other residents on other streets where I live are tired of it. We will do everything to get rid of them.” ■ “Ultimately getting rid of the homeless is what every civilized society would want. Living on the street, eating out of garbage cans and then throwing up in those garbage cans (which is something I saw on the Promenade the other day) is not a mark of civilized society. It is a failed society. Anything that can be done to steer the homeless to get them off the streets and get them somewhat productive, I support.” ■ “Laws are legislated by spatial interests to be challenged and broken by other spatial interests. It keeps the judicial bureaucracy alive and kicking. The people who serve and supply food to the homeless are saints who walk among us.” ■ “The way to protect the public and to protect the protect the public interest is to get rid of the damn bums.” ■ “I do think the new law is about protecting the public. Right now, Santa Monica is in a very bad way. I’m smothered by homeless when I am there. They go through trash cans. I see rats on the Promenade. You could not pay me to eat or go there.” ■ “I live in Santa Monica on Bay Street. I feel that the city is being reasonable about their view of feeding homeless in the parks. I think other communities do not respond in the same way Santa Monica does. We should have some control over how many people are fed here. I do feel that it is not a political issue but an issue of fairness.” ■ “As the saying goes, ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ And during these horrific times, aren’t we all a job, a pay-check or maybe an unemployment benefit away from this plight? Whose health are we talking about here? I think the homeless lack of food is a serious health risk. For the few and decent people left in Santa Monica, and I do mean few with heart and soul, to me it’s unconscionable to condemn these kind human beings. Maybe some of these heartless people who reside here and go to bed at night with full stomachs may some day find themselves in this position can only hope for their forgiveness of their selfish and petty ways and are fed a warm meal at sometime.” ■ “Even if politics is behind the new city ordinances, I believe the city has the right approach in tying the feeding and care of the homeless with organized programs to really get them off the street. On the other hand, the National Lawyers Guild has no real compassion, and are simply a front group using the homeless for their opportunistic and extreme political agenda.” ■ “The new laws are really about getting the homeless out of sight, out of mind. Canceling the food lines will not get rid of the homeless. It will increase panhandling, petty theft, dumpsite diving and possibly food poisoning cases as well. The health issue is bogus. I’ve gotten far sicker from OPCC than I ever have in an outlawed food line. “ ■ “Yes, I think the new law is really about protecting the public. And if it has the effect of limiting the number of so called homeless in Santa Monica, so much the better.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 10, 2003. Read the original PDF.