I don’t even know what to do with myself, reading this. It’s so fucking nightmarish. Why do we allow this hell to continue? That man should have been in a warm, safe bed. And he could have been if we didn’t hate our own people so much.
They had been trying to get them to shelter
Historically, the city sends social workers and outreach teams to encampments over a period of months before issuing a final order to evacuate. Those teams work to place people in shelters and, ultimately, permanently housing.
The city had been working with people at the encampment since April and had placed many into shelters, said Cathryn Vassell, CEO of the city’s homelessness organization Partners for Home. Atlanta announced an investment of $60m in new public funding – the largest amount in city history – to address homelessness last year.
Here’s a couple ideas for dealing with the housing crisis situation, one of the primary causes of the homeless issues in the first place. Since all we ever seem to do is fail at handling symptoms instead of of causes.
- Foreign companies cannot own private housing.
- Domestic companies cannot own more than say 2-3 private homes, this includes any companies that can be connected through another business or individual. This allows individuals to have second homes or a rental property but means rental businesses are dead, they handle larger condos and apartments. Separate homes are meant for families and individual households.
- Tax vacant housing at high rates to facilitate homes actually being loved in. We have largely enough housing for everyone to have a place, but a lot of it sits unused as bullshit real estate holdings.
- For larger cities, tax vacant retail and office space at a high rate and give incentives to remodel it for more housing. Have maximum vacancy time-frames to incentivize utilizing the spaces instead of just setting bullshit pricing no one will ever pay while “looking” for tenants year after year.
But none of this will happen. Because the oligarchs have their money invested in real estate holdings that don’t move or get and use, so they require little to no maintenance. It’s a large reason why half of NYC looks like a shit hole with boarded up retail spots for decades while a cupboard under the stars costs $1800/mo to rent.
Abolishing parking minimums, and, in fact, establishing parking maximums, would be a great, easy, and inexpensive step for most cities in the US. You literally can’t build dense walkable places like old main streets anymore because of zoning codes and (chiefly) parking minimums. If you’re like me, you probably assumed that these codes had their feet in good reasons for existing, but they actually don’t. Parking minimums are often based on numbers that are essentially snatched out of thin air and not evidence-based, and many other cities simply copy what other cities are doing. Aggressive exclusionary zoning often has its feet in racism, and it’s a big reason why only US cities seem to experience urban decay. This is something you can change! Go to your city council meetings, network with people there! Go to your city planning board meetings, read your city’s zoning laws, and go give them very specific shit about it! These offices are infinitely more accessible and responsive than state and federal legislators, and you might be surprised to find that some of them even agree with you! It doesn’t take much effort, it’s pretty much free, and the cops can’t stop you!
Of course nobody has been arrested or charged. Manslaughter? Murder? Come on, at least reckless endangerment? Not if the victim is homeless and the perp is the state, fuck no.
I swear bro, we’re going to fix homelessness, just give me one more dozer sweep, bro, I swear it’ll work this time, bro I promise we won’t kill someone again, please, just one more dozer sweep it’s got to work this time
This isn’t even the first time something like this has happened. To my knowledge, this exact same thing happened in Modesto a few years ago. I sincerely doubt those are the only two. Dozer sweeps aren’t cheap, either; I’m pretty sure the city could just house these folks for whatever they’re paying to do the sweep. This is purely about flexing on our most vulnerable population.
Is this a new way of dying that’s only possible in the USA?
Nah, death by bulldozer shows up in any modern industrialized country that really wants some people out of the way. For instance.
She wasn’t in a homeless tent, and saying that people also get bulldozed in warzones isn’t really the same thing.
The US routinely kill the unprofitable.
Achievement get! New death unlocked.
It does give off a “regional exclusive” energy.
Did the Atlanta city workers get training from the IDF?
They needed a bulldozer to take down a few tents? They couldn’t just hire a few folks to deconstruct the area? What the fuck.
Great passive voice: “Bulldozer did a bad thing”. Someone should hold that Bulldozer accountable.
They should’ve used the Yoda voice. “Bad thing, bulldozers did.” Rookies smh
Bell Riots were supposed to be last year
The Temporal Wars threw a–
You know what? It’s not even worth it. This is truly horrifying.
Yeah, I get it. Tents are really hard to get rid of. You have to use a bulldozer.
I think Georgia did this on purpose
