The problems of housing all homeless services in the downtown area… plus other news…
Hyannis – One of the major problems with housing most of the region’s homeless services in the downtown Hyannis area is that there are often major conflicts with other legitimate interests…
… mainly private businesses and schools.
So what happens when a group of homeless, some highly intoxicated, need a place to “hang out?” Door steps and benches in front of business establishments become perches for the many weary HyTown wanderers and urchins…
At Hyannis News we have a healthy appreciation for the homeless and their circumstances. Most friends of HN have grown up in the downtown areas and have first hand experiences, both good and not-so-good, with those less fortunate who live on the streets amongst us… Don’t ever accuse true Hyannis News supporters of not having a special soft spot in their hearts for the less fortunate…
… but enough is enough!
Downtown Hyannis has become a dumping ground for the region’s problems… and we’ve shouldered the responsibility of caring for the region’s less fortunate for decades. Anecdotally, we’ve found that the large majority of homeless people that wind up on our streets come from other Cape towns and as far away as the neighborhoods of Greater Boston.
How is that fair? HyTown’s shoulders have always been big and generous when it comes to the needy… but how is it fair for the people who experience the negative side of having such a large local homeless community, along with all its problems and issues?
Take a close look at the above photo. These are not necessarily “bad people,” they have problems and needs… But take an even closer look at the photo and you will notice an entrance way to a local commercial building… they too have their own set of problems and needs.
In the case of the above photo, the owners, or interested parties, at the above commercial property had tried to communicate with the homeless to get them to respect their property and not congregate and take over the steps to their main entrance… and as is often the case, communications broke down and the private business people were forced to call police to get the group to move along….
“What we have here, is a failure to communicate…”
… or something like that.
But the bigger issue is that this type of interaction, the ones where police need to be called to move along or deal with groups of often intoxicated homeless people, is an all day long problem… seven days a week in the downtown area.
Based on the reality that most of these people are from other towns…. I’ll ask again… How is it fair for the people of Hyannis to be the ones shouldering this responsibility?
I don’t quite know the answer yet, but I do know it’s a growing perennial problem that only seems to get worse as the decades wear on.
Another question, if the people of inner HyTown must continue to shoulder the burdens and responsibilities related to the perennial outpatient care of the homeless and other less fortunate peoples, shouldn’t we be granted funding from the other areas from where these individuals originally came? We’re starting to see that in cases where drunks get dropped off at the hospital from other towns… so, should other areas also be responsible for the care and/or funding of their own homeless?
In other news:
A citizen called the YPD and helped them nab a man driving under the influence of illegal drugs…
After a phone call on Saturday, May 16th, Yarmouth Police dispatched Patrol Officers Brian Carchedi and Gordon T. Gibbons to look into a complaint of man driving a gray Chevrolet Malibu erratically into curbing and oncoming traffic…
Officers caught up to and stopped the Malibu and conducted a field investigation into the complaint… based on observations and evidence gathered during the investigation, officers placed Joseph D. Gallo, age 28, of 22 Kathy Ann Road in South Yarmouth under arrest for OUI Drugs, Operating a Motor Vehicle So As To Endanger, Marked Lanes Violation, and Possession of Class B Illegal Drugs…
In other news:
A 20-year-old South Yarmouth man was arrested for his 2nd offense drunken driving charge after crashing into building on Old Main Street…
On Friday, 5/16/2014, YPD dispatch received a 911 call stating a red Jeep Grand Cherokee had just crashed into the Cultural Center of Cape Cod located at 307 Old Main Street…
Patrol Officers David S. Dickey, Richard Fichter Jr., and Mark F. Noone, along with Sergeant John K. Fallon responded to the scene…
The driver, Ricardo M. Montejo, Jr. of 26 Wampanoag Road in South Yarmouth was arrested for OUI Liquor, 2nd Offense, Operating a Motor Vehicle Negligently So As To Endanger, and Marked Lanes Violation…
5/20/2014
Robert Bastille,
P.S. – Tonight's HyTown Vignette is brought to you by the late great Muddy Waters... [Crank it]
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