I have a certain sympathy for homeless people.  Some people simply can’t cope, and wind up sleeping in the woods, parks or wherever.  I think society does owe them something.

In my area an abandoned National Guard facility is being converted into a large shelter for them.  Good idea.  To get them there we will have a shuttle bus from downtown.  And back.  An OK idea, I guess.

However, the City Council has decided the homeless have other rights, including the right to not be hassled by cops for sleeping somewhere.  And they now allow these people to sleep in parks, under bridges, on the grass on highway interchanges, wherever there is room for a tent.  So far, so good, I guess.

However, these people eat, pee and crap.  And they don’t go far to do that.

I have to get a permit to work on my house, for reasons of the public good.  Safety, to stop the spread if cholera, typhus, and so on.  It is deemed to be in the public good.

And these folks pee and crap wherever.  Anywhere.  Apparently their crap doesn’t stink.  If there seems to be a permanent encampment of 15 or 20 the City will drag out a portable toilet.  Until then they are on their own.

Now the City fathers say they are doing the best they can.  I agree.  And we should elect people who can do better.

(Personally, I think this is a self-limiting matter.  It won’t be too long before the stench will force a correction.)