[News] State Rep. "Cleans Up" Homelessness.

• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2013-11-20 00:17

  Remarkably, this vigilante isn’t just some random Hawaiian, but five-term State Rep. Tom Brower (D).
  
  Noting that he’s “disgusted” with homeless people, Brower told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about his own personal brand of “justice”: “If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify, I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.” Brower has waged this campaign for two weeks, estimating that he’s smashed about 30 shopping carts in the process.
  
  “I want to do something practical that will really clean up the streets,” he explained

  
  
  http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/19/2966371/hawaii-homeless-smash/
• FallenDanny wrote on 2013-11-20 01:53
  Gotta love that twisted sense of justice, he could of just handed out backpacks or something.
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2013-11-20 02:10
  If he really wants to clean up the homeless problem, he should starts with research and solve the problem from the root, what he is doing is pretty much the equivalent of mopping floor dry when the water is still running.
• Hanna wrote on 2013-11-20 02:18
  This is awful, the homeless are not some kind of pest, they're living breathing people
• Kaeporo wrote on 2013-11-20 02:38

  Quote from Hanna;1171509:

  This is awful, the homeless are not some kind of pest, they're living breathing people

  
  
  Living breathing people are not so different from pests.
  
  I personally find his actions to be deplorable due to his apparent inability to demonstrate critical thinking skills.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2013-11-20 04:00
  Gotta love Hawaii's steps to solving homelessness. Hey guys! Let's fly these hobos somewhere else where it won't be our problem!
  
  Great Job Hawaii *rolls eyes*
  
  Can't be bothered to solve the problem properly I see. Oh ya, that's great, just smash all their possessions. That's the humane thing to do.
  
  I'm being really sarcastic at this point, just in case someone misses the point and jumps down my throat.
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2013-11-20 04:23

  Quote from Kingofrunes;1171533:

  Gotta love Hawaii's steps to solving homelessness. Hey guys! Let's fly these hobos somewhere else where it won't be our problem!

  
  
  Actually, there's nothing wrong with the plan itself. They are offering to send any homeless people who WANT to go on a free trip back to the continental US to be with their families so they can get support/work on not being homeless. Not really a bad thing, even if their motives may be less than honest. Of course, they still need to work on a plan for those that don't want to go/have no family to go to.
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2013-11-20 15:00

  Quote from Space Pirate Nithiel;1171540:

  Actually, there's nothing wrong with the plan itself. They are offering to send any homeless people who WANT to go on a free trip back to the continental US to be with their families so they can get support/work on not being homeless. Not really a bad thing, even if their motives may be less than honest. Of course, they still need to work on a plan for those that don't want to go/have no family to go to.

  
  
  What if their family is outside US? Will they pay for international flight?
• frncsjhnhawaii wrote on 2013-11-20 18:18
  The problem is that Hawaii is a gateway that funnels Asian drugs like crystal meth into North America, cost of living in Hawaii is among the highest of the states (home ownership and renting cost is a lot higher than the mainland), and social work is horrible across the nation due to low pay and low status. How to fix those problems, I don't know.
  
  The amount of homeless just feels larger because the state has so little space.
  
  About the state rep, he and many other politicians don't know struggle since they've lived their whole lives in an upper-middle class to wealthy bubble. They want to protect that bubble they live in so they'll do stupid shit like Brower or disarm its own citizens like Feinstein.
  
  About saving the tourism industry, the state is diligent when it comes to moving homeless off of state property so a lot of them have no choice but to go to tourist areas since gangs keep them out of the low income areas and the police keep them from setting up in the middle class and rich neighborhoods. Federal land is of course a no-go since the military have tight security as well. If panhandling is their game, the places with the most money flowing would be the tourist spots.
  
  Lastly, about sending the homeless to the mainland, many are just going back to where they came from. In a state that has a minority-majority (about 75% of population is a minority), things don't add up when the majority of the homeless are caucasian. You'll have to dig deeper through google but you'll find some things about mainland states sending homeless to Hawaii due to warm weather and low violence. The articles about Hawaii sending them back really cluttered up the search.
• Aubog007 wrote on 2013-11-25 10:10
  People are awful lately, dismantling whatever hopes they have to get through the tough times.
  
  I swear if that person decided his slogan would be "taking out the trash", i would be even more upset.
  Jesus, I was almost homeless and it was frightening.
• Odin wrote on 2013-11-27 17:08

  Quote from Space Pirate Nithiel;1171461:

  http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/19/2966371/hawaii-homeless-smash/

  
  
  He's destroying private property.
  
  Shopping carts belong to the stores using them, and it is theft to remove them from store property. So its already illegal for these homeless people to be using them.
  
  Smashing them like so is willful destruction of property, which is itself a crime and does nothing about the fact that at that moment he would be in possession of stolen goods.
  
  Politician making a scene? More like hardened criminal just begging to get busted.
  
  I spent a month homeless around this time last year. Though I wasn't completely without options, the fact is I spent the bulk of december living in my car. Honestly it wasn't terrible- although that was probably because I had a relatively decent car to retreat to when the snow started falling, and I had prepared it in advance with survival equipment and provisions.
  
  This guy going around taking away hope from people who are already living on the edge should be removed from office if not imprisoned for his crimes. Most areas have a government office specifically for sheltering the homeless and getting them back on their feet. As an elected official he should have arranged for them to be taken to such a facility instead of being destructive.