urbanSTL

downtown2007 wrote:Worse? Have you actually spoken to a homeless person who has stayed there? When it comes to being homeless it doesn't get any worse than staying at Larry's place where people are drunk, shooting up, and having sex all night.

Thank goodness knights in shining armor like you have arrived to throw them on the street for their own good!

^Were knights in stocking caps. Hipsters dont wear armor...unless we are wearing it ironically. Come on man

bigmclargehuge wrote:^Were knights in stocking caps. Hipsters dont wear metal. Come on man

My mistake, brother.

Greatest St. Louis wrote: As of 2013, there were about 180 chronic homeless human beings:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt ... e8055.html

Going into 2015, I guess we should add about 300 to that number.

Math wasn't always my strong suit, but I don't see this number decreasing anytime soon.

The number was 300 in 2005. It's 118 today due to a very successful program.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metr ... e56fd.html

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 300 people that the NLEC serves ARE chronically homeless. The NLEC doesn't put people "back on their feet". It gives them a place to stay. Night after night after night. They're still homeless.

Many of those 300 will now leave the city. Some may hang around. Maybe the number rises a bit again. But now they'll have the opportunity to be a part of the successful program.

This is a good thing.

As if that opportunity didn't exist for them before? You're implying that this homeless shelter wasn't serving a need. Would you make that argument to the 300 people who called this place their home?

Leave the city? Ah, so closing the facility in the hopes that the homeless human beings will just up and go away.

Let's see how that strategy plays out.

Time will be the true judge of this ruling handed down today.

Keep telling yourself this is a "good thing" if it makes you feel good about it.

The homeless shelter was serving a very temporary need without any effort of addressing the problems that led to the need. I wouldn't have an issue telling that to the 300 people. But Larry Rice would. There are multiple services in St. Louis that help get the homeless back on their feet. But the NLEC does not direct it's "clients" to them.

Yes, leave the city. Because we can't—literally can't—supporting the entire southern midwest homeless population. Every community has a responsibility to help solve the crisis of homelessness, and STL is doing wonderful things in that regard. Other locales need to be responsible as well. This may encourage it.

I'm not telling myself it's a good thing. I'm telling you, and anyone who is curious that it's a good thing. Not because it makes me feel better. But because... it's a good thing.

Finally fixing up the issues at the NLEC will have a larger positive impact on downtown than any fortune 500 company moving their HQ downtown. It's the elephant in the room that, until now, no one wanted to touch. Things are looking up.

I'm glad the threads here are basically immortal. It will be interesting to check back here in a year or so to see what people's perspectives are.

Greatest St. Louis wrote:I'm glad the threads here are basically immortal. It will be interesting to check back here in a year or so to see what people's perspectives are.

You really feel like what's going on a NLEC is all well and good? Cause you're damning everyone who's criticizing them.

moorlander wrote:

Greatest St. Louis wrote:I'm glad the threads here are basically immortal. It will be interesting to check back here in a year or so to see what people's perspectives are.

You really feel like what's going on a NLEC is all well and good? Cause you're damning everyone who's criticizing them.

All well and good? No, I don't. I've been inside there.

But I'm also not kidding myself with vague hopes that these human beings being thrown onto the street will disappear, or that more people will suddenly step up and take more responsibility now that NLEC is closing.

I don't see anyone suggesting throwing the homeless out on the streets?

This is a wake up call to the NLEC that they are operating an illegal and unsafe facility.

roger wyoming II wrote:I agree with that but I think it is naïve to believe that shutting down NLEC will be a great thing if there is no effective plan to fix the supply side.

I think you have it backwards... NLEC is the supply side. Supplying beds, and generating demand.

One incident that sticks out in my mind. When I was a kid we were in Downtown from West County and were pan handled, and my liberal dad said something like "Larry Rice's homeless shelter is just a few blocks away, you can get some help there." And the guy laughed at him and said, "You don't know what you are talking about, but I bet it makes you feel good."

I think this would apply to most STLtoday commenters on this issue.

This is a big victory and finally St.Louis stands up to this bully.. I could careless what others have to say about my post. Larry Rice has done nothing but given St.Louis trouble. That place in itself is a hazard and a disaster waiting to happen. The most alarming part of it is that he doesn't even try to acknowledge that its been a nuisance to that area of downtown for quite sometime. The place has a hotel license and only has 32 beds but as many as 300 homeless are crammed into that building. Now you can't say that thats not a disaster waiting to happen and if something majorly destructive were to happen who would he be blaming? The city of St.Louis. Larry Rice only see's it his way and thats all it will ever be. I have no issues with homeless but they deserve better than what they do get and so do the residents who try to make that area their homes. Also Larry Rice needs to quit bringing up race cause thats exhausted itself with me and is nothing but yesterdays news and also quit using the homeless as your trophy to pedestal around. Yes i agree he's provided a need however at what cost to the city from the murders stealing destruction harassment loitering urinating and beyond has it caused? . If some of you don't like the ruling then i suggest you move Larry Rices and his train wreck crew to your neighborhood..

Also this shouldn't only be a downtown St.Louis shelter the region needs to help out as well if you are going to ship the homeless to downtown then they need to pony up some money to help keep a good clean safe and quiet facility going. Larry Rice has been flirty with danger for far too long and I'm glad the city has finally recognize that..

I do when they actively take steps to make life worse for hundreds of fellow human beings, all so they can feel a little more validated about "cleaning up" their neighborhood.

You really think Rice is making life BETTER for hundreds of fellow human beings? So as long as they have a sh*t soaked mattress to sleep on your high horse is satisfied. Good to know.

I'd like better than just the bare minimum for these people and other agencies do a much better job at actually helping people than Rice.

The thing that is being completely ignored, moral arguments set aside, is that Rice is breaking the law

New Life's occupancy permit allows it to have a maximum of 32 beds. Many nights, it allows upwards of 300 people to stay in the shelter.

If Rice could clean up his act and recognize he has to follow the rules, I'd be all for letting him stay. However, he's proven time and again it's his way or no way. Why is a "church" above the law?

I trust the yuppies and whatnot will house the homeless now that they have forced out Rice because of their property values.

And yes, that is absolutely what this is about. You people place a higher value on pretty buildings and high property values than desperately homeless people having a warm place to not freeze and die at night.

Truly ***** despicable.

olvidarte wrote: If Rice could clean up his act and recognize he has to follow the rules, I'd be all for letting him stay. However, he's proven time and again it's his way or no way. Why is a "church" above the law?

Churches aren't above the law, and some aren't happy that Rice thinks he is. This is an excerpt from an email from the dean of Christ Church Cathedral a few blocks away from NLEC, which runs its own homeless ministry:

"The ruling is reasonable because it is asking NLEC to obey existing laws and play by the same rules as Christ Church Cathedral and everyone else. They have a permit for 32 beds – either live into that capacity or apply for an increase through the proper processes."

As someone who has given to NLEC, I was totally appalled by the condition of the building when I visited to drop off the sandwiches we made and the money we collected several years ago. I can only imagine that it has gotten worse, and from the stories I have heard from the people on this forum, I can't help but agree that NLEC needs to seriously shape up or Larry Rice will need to find a new place to take advantage of homeless people.

The demand isn't going to go away with NLEC; shutting down Rice is, like, the easiest 20% of a solution.

Anglophile wrote:Why don't we just dump them all in your neighborhood? Let them pee on your house? Let them harass you for cash, cigarettes, beer, or anything else you could possibly give them every time you walk out your door? The "yuppies and whatnot" in downtown St. Louis have put up with WAY more than their fair share of the homeless problem and have done a WAY better job of it than any other yuppies in St. Louis.

I work and spend significant time in the neighborhood.

YOU moved in to THEIR neighborhood, not the other way around. YOU are the bad neighbors.

1. Grow up in Chesterfield
2. One day decide you want to be "hip" and "urban"
3. Don't like dealing with the trash you see as below you, so get the city to do your dirty work and kick them out
4. Profit

MarkHaversham wrote:The demand isn't going to go away with NLEC; shutting down Rice is, like, the easiest 20% of a solution.

Yep, and 20% is being generous.

Truly hilarious, people in this thread implying that homeless shelters "create demand."

It's like their lives are a high school economics class.

Aesir wrote:
I work and spend significant time in the neighborhood.

YOU moved in to THEIR neighborhood, not the other way around. YOU are the bad neighbors.

1. Grow up in Chesterfield
2. One day decide you want to be "hip" and "urban"
3. Don't like dealing with the trash you see as below you, so get the city to do your dirty work and kick them out
4. Profit

1. Working a spending time there is different experience from living there

2. Downtown wasn't always "their" neighborhood.

3. Are you saying that all of the middle-class people who have invested in downtown should pack up and leave? I think a few dozen more abandoned buildings would suit the area swimmingly!

Aesir wrote:

Anglophile wrote:Why don't we just dump them all in your neighborhood? Let them pee on your house? Let them harass you for cash, cigarettes, beer, or anything else you could possibly give them every time you walk out your door? The "yuppies and whatnot" in downtown St. Louis have put up with WAY more than their fair share of the homeless problem and have done a WAY better job of it than any other yuppies in St. Louis.

I work and spend significant time in the neighborhood.

YOU moved in to THEIR neighborhood, not the other way around. YOU are the bad neighbors.

1. Grow up in Chesterfield
2. One day decide you want to be "hip" and "urban"
3. Don't like dealing with the trash you see as below you, so get the city to do your dirty work and kick them out
4. Profit

Just because someone was there first doesn’t mean they have exclusive rights on the neighborhood and can do whatever they want. Neighborhoods change as time passes.

You are being pretty stereotypical assuming that many move into the hood from places like Chesterfield. There really aren’t that many people from West Co living down here but feel free to drum up whatever narrative you want. There are many that have lived in other cities that say this shelter would never be allowed or would have been closed immediately in other cities.

From STLToday: How the homeless end up at Larry Rice's shelter