Dallas:Overnight stays ending at homeless center; new feeding restrictions

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/DN-dayresource_31met.ART.North.Edition2.e3883de.html

Tonight is the last night that homeless people can sleep at the city's Day Resource Center, and manager Rubben Henderson is encouraging them to go to private shelters in Dallas.

But he knows that will be a tough sell because many would rather sleep on the streets than comply with those shelters' rules, required check-in times and religious activities.

Many homeless have been banned from those facilities in the past for not following the rules, but some shelters are giving them a second chance.

Also on Wednesday, the city will begin enforcing changes to the food ordinance that require groups feeding homeless people to register and take food-handling classes. The most controversial change restricts groups to feeding homeless people in designated spots. The Day Resource Center will be one of those sites.

[JDPriestly]

1. Let them eat cake!

[dogday]

2. Piss Poor Policies For The Poor

Fuck em, they are poor, they have no place in the country according to this administration. :sarcasm:

[Journeyman]

3. Thank goodness the law, in all its majesty, forbids. . .

both the rich and the poor from sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets, and stealing bread. ~Anatole France

[katsy]

4. texas' new theme song....

<<<... Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em

That's what the Statue of Bigotry says
Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death
and get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard

Going to end up, on the dirty boulevard (snip) >>>

Dirty Boulevard by Lou Reed

So appropriate it can be the new pug theme song.

[DBoon]

5. or how about this one?

Efficiency and progress is ours once more
Now that we have the Neutron bomb
It's nice and quick and clean and gets things done
Away with excess enemy
But no less value to property
No sense in war but perfect sense at home:

The sun beams down on a brand new day
No more welfare tax to pay
Unsightly slums gone up in flashing light
Jobless millions whisked away
At last we have more room to play
All systems go to kill the poor tonight

Gonna
Kill kill kill kill Kill the poor:Tonight

Behold the sparkle of champagne
The crime rate's gone
Feel free again
O' life's a dream with you, Miss Lily White
Jane Fonda on the screen today
Convinced the liberals it's okay
So let's get dressed and dance away the night

While they:
Kill kill kill kill Kill the poor:Tonight

- Dead Kennedys

[katsy]

6. That says it all. n/t

[snappyturtle]

7. I think Dallas' new policy is............

scary! What are they really saying about the homeless? Starve them out? Force them into accepting religious viewpoints in pawn for their food? WHAT?? How does it help?

[w8liftinglady]

10. the sad thing is..there's a whole new group of homeless..

...the evicted.Dallas/fort worth leads the country in repos.

[enid602]

8. Dallas

I couldn't even lower myself to purchase a bottle of drinking water the last time I was on a stop-over at DFW. Best just to pretend that places like that don't exist.

[w8liftinglady]

9. Dallas has the busiest Publicly-funded hospital in The US

Parkland Hospital.I worked there for many years.That was my epiphany-when I transformed from a Libertarian to a Democrat.I had never seen SO MANY impoverished people,people with absolutely no health care,no way of getting their medicine,no psychiatric resources,no dental care,little food,no place to clean up,no hope.I was,and still am,ashamed of the way the yuppie dallas-ites ignore this.

[rainbow4321]

11. 1 in 4 Dallas area residents have no health insurance

Yet what is being built?? More and more for-profit hospitals..SO many
are being built/expanded. Yet Parkland, that was built when 51 yrs ago still has serious overcrowding and building/structure problems. And guess where all the homeless and uninsured patients from around Dallas end up going? Parkland. Even the uninsured from OTHER counties (and countries) land on Parkland's doorsteps
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http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/bus/stories/012206dnbusbuildingboom.237df53.html

For all the dirt flying at North Texas hospitals, Parkland Memorial Hospital president Ron Anderson says he's afraid that too few hospitals are building for the uninsured.

One in four Dallas area residents has no health insurance – one of the highest proportions of uninsured patients in the nation.

A Dallas County advisory committee has begun looking at how to replace the county's aging and overcrowded public hospital, but health care experts say Parkland can't bear the burden of caring for the rapidly growing uninsured population by itself.

"Hospitals shouldn't limit themselves to doing only what's profitable," Dr. Anderson said. "They must meet the community's health needs."
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http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-parkland_11met.ART.North.Edition2.13634d0a.html

Panel agrees with idea of replacing Parkland

Following the unanimous vote, Parkland officials were asked to come up with replacement options that the 13-member group could consider. The panel, which was appointed by the Dallas County Commissioners Court, will make recommendations to Parkland's board of managers later this year.

Such plans could include a proposal for a new 800- to 1,000-bed inpatient facility as well as one for a smaller central hospital with satellite inpatient facilities to handle trauma care and obstetric patients.

A hospital-funded study in November showed it would cost as much as $139 million in basic improvements to keep the aging facility operational for 25 to 30 more years. Such an investment would not bring the building into code compliance, it was noted.

Such compliance with state and federal codes would cost Parkland about 30 percent of its capacity, or 225 beds, Dr. Anderson said. Once renovated, most of Parkland's patient rooms would accommodate only one bed, instead of two, because of their small size.

[HippieCowgirl]

12. Dallas is trying to force the homeless out of town

By killing the shelters and making it harder for churches to feed poor people, Dallas is hoping that the homeless will move out into the suburbs so they don't have to deal with them anymore. Too many people complain about the mess. Literally. Lots of bitching and moaning about how much trash "those people" leave behind when they're done eating. Dallas honchos are also pretty pissed off about how the rich suburbs are refusing to set up public hospitals, build affordable housing or shelters of their own. In short, the million-dollar suburbs are forcing THEIR welfare, homeless & poverty problems onto Dallas' shoulders.

Parkland Hospital is overloaded because Plano, Irving, and Richardson refuse to build public hospitals with emergency rooms.

[rainbow4321]

13. You got it....Dallas can't get reimbursed for the homeless uninsured

Know what someone has to make in Collin County to qualify for the county's indigent program. Around $2000/YEAR.
"Make" more than that and you don't get squat from Collin County..and neither does Parkland when a Collin County indigent person goes there for treatment. Parkland can go to any other area county and say "reimburse us for treating your resident"...except neon red/repuke Collin County. Cuz unless the person/patient makes less than that $2000/year, the county won't reimburse Parkland.

http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/004892.html
"They said I made too much," said Wright, who would have to have earned less than $2,328 a year to qualify for indigent health care in Collin County.
Social workers in Plano, and Dallas County officials who say their public hospital is losing millions of dollars a year handling patients streaming in from their northern neighbor, have recently begun putting heat on Collin County to open its wallet and its heart.
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Here is a Collin County repuke's response to Collin County's homeless getting federal grant money..he is worried that Dallas County homeless will make their way to Collin County

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-homeless_31cco.ART0.North.Edition2.22d191e7.html

Collin County commissioner Jerry Hoagland said he agrees with helping Hope's Door because it serves domestic violence victims.

But he said the goal of trying to end homelessness is too large. He said the homeless have always been around and always will be. "If the rationale is to try to stamp out homelessness, I don't think that's ever going to happen," he said.

He said he worries the grants will cause more homeless people to move to Plano. He said many problems in Dallas and other cities can be attributed to the homeless population.

"I'm just fearful we're going to end up with same thing here," he said. "I don't believe it's the government's place to do everything under the sun for people."

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http://www.centraldallasministries.org/news/articles/DMN%20-%202006.01.22%20Homeless%20Population%20surges%20in%20Dallas%20County.pdf

Homeless population surges in Dallas County

A new count indicates that Dallas County's homeless population has increased dramatically to a record 9,124
The same database...found 5,410 homeless this time last year...<snip>