Another "Progress" CIty amenity

My friend, John in Northside, was quick to point out the amenities city life offers over the bland suburbs but he forgot some....

Yeah, really. In addition, to the opera, symphony, art museums, pro sports teams, you also have aggressive panhandlers....

Barbara Bradley, an editor with the Memphis Commercial Appeal, moved into the River City’s reviving downtown about a year and a half ago, loving its “energy and enthusiasm.” But a horde of invading panhandlers has cooled her enjoyment of city life. Earlier this year, she recalled in a recent column, as she showed some visitors around the neighborhood, “a big panhandler blocked the entrance to our parking area and demanded his toll.” Now a nervous Bradley avoids certain downtown areas, locks her car when fueling up at local gas stations, and parks strategically, so that she can see beggars coming before getting out of her car. “When I hear someone call out ‘ma’am, ma’am’ anywhere in downtown or midtown, I run.”

I know when Mrs. Gekko and I are out running errands, the first thing I always tell her is "be careful when you go to West Chester. You may get accosted by a bum" or "Honey, please make sure your doors are locked when you drive through Mason. I don't want a squeege guy car jacking you".

How is it that all of our glorious cities, run by "progressives", have all these bums in them?

Look, I think we can all agree that homelessness is not a good thing and yet the most progressive city in the country, San Francisco, is littered with it.

Now these really smart "progressives", who run that city, annually spend $104 million on homeless programs. Has it alleviated homelessness in the city of San Francisco? The last time I visited there, I got to watch several guys eat out of trash cans and step over them while they were passed out on the side walk. So I'll answer no, it hasn't helped. In fact, it's gotten worse

Now, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Dublin, Ohio spends -0- on their homeless community. And guess what? I don't think I've ever seen a guy hauling around a grocery cart in that bastion of republicans.

Why is that?

Could it be that all these programs designed to help the homeless, are simply enabling people to live this lifestyle?

But then again, they are "progressives". They are much smarter than all of us yaahoo's in the suburbs.

And we also don't have droves of homeless people all over the place.

What's so "progressive" about homelessness?