Homeless

All Snark Aside…

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The situation in Haiti is only going to get worse as time goes on. Respiratory illness and infection will kill more people in the coming weeks than the earthquake did.

Take a second away from drinking your morning starbucks & bottled water while reading this stupid blog on your fancy computer which runs on the electricity you take for granted, whip your phone out and text ‘HAITI’ to 90999. This will tack a much needed $10 onto your next wireless bill as a donation to the Red Cross.  You might have to share a meal next time you eat out at the Texas Roadhouse instead of getting your own texas toothpicks. But it will taste better, trust me.

That is all. Thank you.

Is Dave Munson living in Candyland? I’m not the only one who seems to think so.

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I think Hugh Grogan says it best when it comes to the spending priorities of Mayor Munson;

Hugh Grogan, county welfare director, said he had attended the city budget session, which had no room for the homeless project but did find $1.7 million to improve golf course clubhouses.

“I felt I was in candyland,” he said.

Yeah, but Hugh, what is more important? Golfers having a nice new place to enjoy a brew after an exhausting 18 holes or a homeless person having shelter? Like I said yesterday, it is about time public officials are calling out Munson for what he really is; a phony. It’s just too bad it took until the end of his administration for people to figure it out, kind of reminds you of another politician, doesn’t it?

He (Munson) took exception to criticism of golf course upgrades.

“Now wait a minute,” he said in a phone interview. “We’ve got a responsibility. We have to take care of pools … and parks and fire stations. You start to look at all the needs. We’ve got a great park system.”

Yeah, it’s so nice that many of our homeless enjoy going for a stroll while enjoying an ice cold Tilt.

More inaction from the Munson administration

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Munson didn’t include the homeless shelter in the 2010 budget;

“This is a huge decision to go it alone,” County Commissioner Carol Twedt said. “We were always under the hope we would have a partner in the city. But we don’t, so we are going to be brave and do the right thing.”

I would support the city’s inaction if 1) The city and county weren’t saving $400,000 a year in emergency services by having this program 2) the city wasn’t spending money on silly ‘Quality of Life’ projects that we don’t need. It seems Munson ducked controversy once again just by doing NOTHING. Pathetic.

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I think the earth just turned on it’s axis, I agree with the Gargoyle Leader’s ED Board

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Sorry drunk homeless man, my shelter is more important

Holy Shit! Did they take smart pills for once? The Editorial Board uses common sense when writing an editorial:

The point of the pilot project is to manage those costs in a way that saves the county money. Truth is, it likely has saved the city some money as well through, if nothing else, reduced law enforcement costs. For that reason alone, the city should ante up to help defray the county’s costs for Safe Home even though dealing with the homeless is a county function in South Dakota. But more than that, Minnehaha County and the city of Sioux Falls already work together on many different levels, both recognizing their responsibilities in the greater metro area. It would be a shame if the city doesn’t pick up its share of the burden for Safe Home.

It would be a shame. The irony of all this is that the city is the one saving thousands by having this shelter. I have aways looked at this issue in terms of money. If it saves us money to invest a little now – DO IT! It seems city leaders only want to spend money on stuff that doesn’t save us money, like monkey crappers. How pathetic is it that we can’t build a shelter for mentally ill homeless people but we can build barns for pink birds. Talk about F’d up priorities.

City leader’s priorities, once again, screwy

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You would think after the mayor had to kick a transient out of Minerva’s last week that city leaders would understand that by spending money on public safety up front you save taxpayer’s money in the long run? Nope.

Councilor Pat Costello asked why the city should be involved if that funding will take care of most of the project.

In 2008, the Project Safe Home pilot program offered permanent housing to 20 individuals. The county operates Dakota House on North Minnesota Avenue, which is being used for the project.

The project cut annual homeless services costs in half – from $32,000 per person to provide health care, detoxification, other county services and to jail homeless people who ran afoul of the law, to $16,260 per person for pilot program participants.

See, when our Councilors talk about living in a ‘Blessed Community’ they are talking about the one they envision, and it doesn’t include helping the homeless, because as far as they are concerned, they do not exist.

Councilor Greg Jamison said his constituents tell him they support helping homeless families instead and told Brown he would need to be convinced the center could help those families.

Huh? Because only homeless people who reproduce are important? They are ALL important. Greg is starting to sound like his old man on this issue. Like I said, this is about more then helping people, it is about public safety. Or maybe Mayor Munson enjoys getting punched by homeless people? Funny how they won’t blink an eye for $170,000 crappers at McKennan Park or Million dollar windows at the Pavilion, but when it is time to spend money on public safety, it turns into some huge f’ing pissing match.  Guess what, it is okay to spend tax payer money on public safety. Especially when it proves to save us money in the long run and keep us more safe.

They really are dumber then I thought.