By Perly Viasmensky
It doesn’t matter how much we try to understand the homeless situation, we still cannot cope with their lack of respect for others — others’ lives and their property. The sad part of the situation is that we don’t have any resources for where to go to get help in case of an emergency.
There is a young woman working alone in one of those so-called “essential” businesses, so essential that they haven’t seen a customer in a six week period. A homeless man with a knife approached her outside her office, threatening her. She rushed inside and called 911; the emergency operator told her she was being transferred to 311, because it was not an actual emergency call.
Not an emergency call? What does Metro Police believe an emergency is? Does the woman have to wait to be stabbed and killed and then when someone else calls they’ll send 17 cars to investigate?
Finally, they sent a patrol car, but by that time the man was long gone. The following day, a group of homeless people of more than eight with shopping carts piled to the top were in a big reunion as if they were holding a “Homeless Union Meeting” in the parking lot of the same business. At this time a homeless woman walked into the office of the business, probably knowing that the owners of the business were not in at the time, and told the young woman that was threatened by the man with a knife the day before, “You have it coming, little girl; you have it coming big time.”
At the same time a patrol officer drove around to the group camping and socializing as if they owned the place. The young woman walked up to the Metro officer and pointed to and identified the woman who had just threatened her, explaining to him what the situation was.
Can any of you reading this column do anything to protect the young woman? That’s the exact attention paid to the young woman’s complaint by the Metro officer. It’s like either the police are afraid of homeless people gathered in big groups or they are hoping for a big crime to occur.
Yesterday morning when the young woman opened the office for business, she found that all the equipment’s back doors already cleaned and disinfected for rental were open and full of junk, pillows, blankets, urine and the rest which is not proper to discuss here.
What proof does anybody have that any or all of those items were not infected with the coronavirus? Why should that young woman or anybody else for that matter have to be exposed to any possible disease carelessly and yet deliberately (by their lack of regard and respect for others) left behind in their belongings and their excretions? Must those of us who get “invaded” (yes) by the homeless have to put up with the very real possibility (even probability) of getting infected by someone we don’t even know?
If you ask any of those people why they don’t go to a shelter that the city so graciously has set up for them, you are going to hear the same response — “We don’t like to be supervised by anyone.”
If Metro officers are afraid of all those parasites of society (not because they’re homeless, but because they have no regard, no concern, and no respect for others), then the City Councilwoman needs to take action—or is her job just too big for her?
Government officials are of the opinion that the economy needs to be reopened fast and I believe they mean businesses because the economy is not going to be improved any time soon. Maybe the real meaning of their statement is to open up things to allow more of the homeless in so they can continue to be pampered, and the rest of us will just have to pray we won’t get infected by a mysterious virus or whatever else they leave behind.
* * * * *
Perly Viasmensky is the General Manager of the Las Vegas Tribune. She writes a weekly column in this newspaper. To contact Perly Viasmensky, email her at pviasmensky@lasvegas tribune.com.
It doesn’t matter how much we try to understand the homeless situation, we still cannot cope with their lack of respect for others — others’ lives and their property. The sad part of the situation is that we don’t have any resources for where to go to get help in case of an emergency.There is a young woman working alone in one of those so-called “essential” businesses, so essential that they haven’t seen a customer in a six week period. A homeless man with a knife approached her outside her office, threatening her. She rushed inside and called 911; the emergency operator told her she was being transferred to 311, because it was not an actual emergency call.
Not an emergency call? What does Metro Police believe an emergency is? Does the woman have to wait to be stabbed and killed and then when someone else calls they’ll send 17 cars to investigate?
Finally, they sent a patrol car, but by that time the man was long gone. The following day, a group of homeless people of more than eight with shopping carts piled to the top were in a big reunion as if they were holding a “Homeless Union Meeting” in the parking lot of the same business. At this time a homeless woman walked into the office of the business, probably knowing that the owners of the business were not in at the time, and told the young woman that was threatened by the man with a knife the day before, “You have it coming, little girl; you have it coming big time.”
At the same time a patrol officer drove around to the group camping and socializing as if they owned the place. The young woman walked up to the Metro officer and pointed to and identified the woman who had just threatened her, explaining to him what the situation was.
Can any of you reading this column do anything to protect the young woman? That’s the exact attention paid to the young woman’s complaint by the Metro officer. It’s like either the police are afraid of homeless people gathered in big groups or they are hoping for a big crime to occur.
Yesterday morning when the young woman opened the office for business, she found that all the equipment’s back doors already cleaned and disinfected for rental were open and full of junk, pillows, blankets, urine and the rest which is not proper to discuss here.
What proof does anybody have that any or all of those items were not infected with the coronavirus? Why should that young woman or anybody else for that matter have to be exposed to any possible disease carelessly and yet deliberately (by their lack of regard and respect for others) left behind in their belongings and their excretions? Must those of us who get “invaded” (yes) by the homeless have to put up with the very real possibility (even probability) of getting infected by someone we don’t even know?
If you ask any of those people why they don’t go to a shelter that the city so graciously has set up for them, you are going to hear the same response — “We don’t like to be supervised by anyone.”
If Metro officers are afraid of all those parasites of society (not because they’re homeless, but because they have no regard, no concern, and no respect for others), then the City Councilwoman needs to take action—or is her job just too big for her?
Government officials are of the opinion that the economy needs to be reopened fast and I believe they mean businesses because the economy is not going to be improved any time soon. Maybe the real meaning of their statement is to open up things to allow more of the homeless in so they can continue to be pampered, and the rest of us will just have to pray we won’t get infected by a mysterious virus or whatever else they leave behind.
* * * * *
Perly Viasmensky is the General Manager of the Las Vegas Tribune. She writes a weekly column in this newspaper. To contact Perly Viasmensky, email her at pviasmensky@lasvegas tribune.com.
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