Did you visit the Bay Area while in the Navy?Tsyroc wrote:
Oakland and especially Berkley curred me of my willingness to hand out "spare change". Ocassionally there were a few real homeless people (calused hands, matted hair etc...). It was so bad in Oakland that the Burger King near the main Bart Station had to have a security gaurd to keep people from coming in and asking for money while you're eating. I had this guy come up and sit down across from me in the booth. He wanted to shake my hand (hey, I'm using that clean hand to eat you moron) and ask me for money.
San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Santa Cruz all have high homeless populations. Part of the problem is the "poverty pimps" in these cities that make a living by peddling solutions for the homeless that do little to actually help them.
Oakland has improved some over the years but it is still a ghetto in the lowlands.
Im surpised there are homeless populations in Arizona. How hot does Tuscon get in the summer?