I definitely don't feel sorry those that came from well to do families. Oddly enough I think the influx of homeless I have seen in the past 10-15 years coming into Providence are all from the suburbs.

Lots of people make really bad decisions for themselves at various points in their lives. But people who start out wealthier, with a stable family and support system, access to education and healthcare (including mental healthcare), are far more likely to be able to recover from those mistakes without serious consequences.

While I do have sincere empathy for certain homeless people such as handicapped, diagnosed mental illness, loss of employment, ageism, etc. There are a bunch of people that are homeless currently that have made really bad decisions for themselves that I really don't have any empathy for.

Lol no they don’t.

It's weird. When I voted, I saw many other names... Folks seem to think McKee was the only democrat running.

This is really the thing that needs fixing.

It is 2022! And how is it that reading comprehension is so poor. I know that the medical field categorizes addiction as a disease. Did you know researchers (people in medicine such as doctors) debate whether it is or not?

How is it 2022 and people still don’t recognize addiction is a disease? Like open a book.

I don’t know. Some of the people I know here have so little, and yet they have no empathy for people with even less. It’s so hard for people with a level head, no addiction, no mental illness, a family support system, a job, a home, friggen food… I can’t imagine what it’s like to have none of that. And then have everyone around you think you are the problem. Bananas.

You are almost providing a false equivalence. The qualifiying word "almost" in your statement appears to downplay the real differences between schizophrenics and addicts.

Some addicts are in very bad conditions and others not so much. A schizophrenic on meds is still not the same person as once before pre schizophrenia.

And a schizophrenic cannot just stop being mentally ill unlike the addict. An addict's illness differs in important respects form that of the schizophrenic or of someone suffering from alzheimer's or dimentia. Why are you to trying desperately to depict them as the same kind of phenomena?

First, I have not claimed addiction is not categorized as a disease.

Second, not all phenomena under the category of disease are the same. Addiction is not like aids, cancer or alzheimers. They are different types of diseases.

Third, you are not a doctor. You continually make that claim as a means to dismiss my claims but fail to realize the irony of that rhetoric strategy: it also dismisses your views!!!

Doctors themselves do not conflate addiction with other ailments labeled as diseases. Yet, here you are doing just that.

As we get closer to more major snow youll see an upwards trend of tickets. Presumably its so people get the message before they have plows unable to clear roads.

Speaking from personal experience a big part of a new program is how it’s rolled out to the community. I’m not surprised to hear it wasn’t well received in Warwick, I wouldn’t consider that part of the state to be progressive.

Nearly every city/town in the state now has a homeless population and could benefit from permanent housing. If housing is established they also have to also pair it with medical, education, and workforce opportunities.

I’m not talking about daytime parking. Overnight parking / go ahead. Call PVD. If there was ticketing just happening, the 3-5 cars that park on our no overnight street would get ticketed at least semi regularly. They don’t. Still waiting for you to call the Pd tho…. I mean they are basically saying they can’t be bothered enforcing the law why would they lie about that? It makes the street residents happy because the no overnight rule is stupid anyway.

When that has been attempted before (NyLo) the neighbors lost their minds.

Yes. I have known and lived with someone who took their meds. They were totally functional and lead a productive life, when they did not take their meds they did not have a productive life. Almost like a drug addict who isn't actively using can have a productive life and then when they are using can not. Shocking how similar they are!

A disease is a disease. You aren't a doctor. I know this because you are claiming drug addiction isn't a disease. And the differences between diseases doesn't magically make one not a disease. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it isn't a medical problem.

Edit: Love when people make grand statements and then block you because they can't be bothered to learn that they are wrong. The person arguing with me was ignorant, thinking that drug addiction can just be magically turned off. Addiction is a life long DISEASE.

You don't need to call for them to ticket. They drive around at night, the parking enforcement has a night shift. Why would they ticket "overnight" cars during the day? You ticket between 2-5, the same time they have for over a decade. No calls need to be made, they will drive through neighborhoods and ticket as desired.

And as we all know, the police are always entirely honest.

Lol blocked because they know Im right. Go figure.

As someone who has been homeless and is now very not homeless, your take sucks and you lack basic emotional intelligence and empathy. I hope you and everyone in your amazing family (where everyone helps each other, and nobody is unwell or mentally ill) stay healthy and never find yourself in a situation where you need help and there is none or you’re sick and uninsured or underinsured. Being housing unstable is not a choice, but being ignorant and arrogant is.

Oh puleeze. I’ve had a conversation with the police - on the phone - personally so I’m quoting. And yes I’ve lived here long enough too. You don’t want to believe me call the non emergency number right now and say hey / my neighbor is parking outside my house and it’s a no overnight zone can you give them a ticket? And see what they say. It’s ok we’ll wait…….

I'd rather the money go to Ukraine. The last thing a 40 year old fentanyl junkie ex-con wants is to pay bills.

Have you ever known someone who takes meds for schizophrenia?

They are not the same. And by failing to take it even once they fall into delusions. It is not pretty.

That differs in most respects from addicts.

How do you know what I am?

Do you think all phenomena labeled "disease" are the same? Try reading peer-reviewed articles in medical journals where doctors argue whether addiction is a disease at all. Or, read descriptions about the very real differences between addiction and the others diseases I listed

They shouldn’t be on the state house grounds they should go somewhere else.

You misread my post or I did not clarify my position.

As you just read in my latest post, I am well aware of the various causes of homelessness.

I withhold my empathy from certain cases. I am more compassionate about people suffering from mental illnesses outside of addiction.

When it comes to addiction, I am more of a case-by-case basis guy. For instance, I knew an addict whose family wanted to help him. He was from an upper middleclass family. He choose to stay on the streets. That differed from some of his addict buddies who had no where to go. Their situation was far worst. He could pass as a normal guy and used that to his advantage to enter and exist places and stores to steal to support his habit. The others couldn't exit and enter as they pleased.

You seem to think medicine isn't an effective solution for schizophrenia, which tells me you've never actually experienced living with someone with that disease. It lets them live a stable life, so long as they continue to follow through with it.

And if they stop, the stability will often come tumbling down. Just the same as when a drug addict falls off their plan. "Not taking a substance" isn't all it takes to be cured of drug addiction. Its a struggle - every day.

I know you aren't a Doctor, so I don't need to worry about that. I trust medical professionals when they call something a disease. Facts are facts, drug addiction is a disease. Treat it like every other disease and stop trying to act like its some special circumstance that only some medical professionals refer to as one.

There were many other candidates other than Mckee and Kalus. It's unfortunate that most RI'ers only saw them.

My point was in regards to you claiming that homelessness is caused by poor choices, and your lack of sympathy for those who live on the streets. Many (Not all, but many) people who are homeless are in that situation through no fault of their own, and we live in a country with far too little reliable options to pick yourself back up again and simply "get a job" in order to get approved for a mortgage and start your life again. If it were that simple then we wouldn't be in the epidemic that we're in right now.