Our Homeless are Cleaner? (Atlanta, Harlem: live, moving, train)

[RoslynHolcomb]

I was talking to a friend who lives in Baltimore. She loves her job, but really hates the city. We were commiserating a bit, and she said that here in Atlanta our homeless are cleaner than they are in Baltimore. Now, I've been to Baltimore; I've seen their homeless people and they are pretty dirty. Then again, I thought the homeless are universally dirty everywhere. (Wouldn't it be great if the folks who do coin-operated laundromats would put in coin-operated showers? I would imagine that simply having clean clothes and a clean body would do wonders for them.) However, I haven't had the pleasure of seeing homeless people in Atlanta. So I thought I'd bow to your greater knowledge (Especially AtlantaGreg). Those of you who've seen homeless people in both cities, is she correct? And if she is, what could account for the disparity? I was thinking climate, but the weather there is fairly similar to Atlanta's. What do you guys think?

(Yes, this is firmly tongue in cheek, but I still think it's funny.)

[coolyfett]

IMO Miami's bums are pretty high class. they travel with cots...and the cots are like a foot off the ground. One bum in Miami had a card scrapper!!! I kid you not! I lost it when I seen that. Hi Tech bums and this was in 07.

[teasol]

Well having lived in Baltimore City, not the suburbs (white marsh, owings mills, etc.) I can say the bums are pretty scary in Baltimore. I also lived in New York (Harlem, Bronx, Brooklyn) and the thing that I found there is that, in New York, the bums, druggies, whomever, live on the subway. I saw a homeless person trying to get on the Marta and the marta police was all over him. As much as people complain about the Marta here in New York, I am pretty sure you have never seen someone smoke crack on the Marta, well I have seen someone smoking crack on the A train in New York.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

I haven't had the pleasure of seeing homeless people in Atlanta. So I thought I'd bow to your greater knowledge (Especially AtlantaGreg). Those of you who've seen homeless people in both cities, is she correct? And if she is, what could account for the disparity? I was thinking climate, but the weather there is fairly similar to Atlanta's. What do you guys think?

I haven't been to Baltimore enough to really have paid attention, but I will say this - Atlanta's bums downtown are CRAZIER than those in Pittsburgh, Charleston WV, and Charlotte, and more brazen than most in NYC. Note I use the word "bums" because what we have here isn't actually a problem with true homeless people who simply need assistance due to unfortunate luck in their lives. We have professional bums.

Cleaner, though? I try not to do sniff tests when I'm traveling.

[RoslynHolcomb]

Okay, why does the phrase "professional bums" make me giggle? I get a visual of people going to training seminars on "Bumology." I need to go to bed.

[teasol]

I don't know Atlantagreg, I have to say that NYC bums are way more "brazen". I have seen them yell in peoples faces, practically scare them to death to get what they want, and thats on the subway. Imagine trying to walk in between moving cars (subway) just to get away from a ranting raving lunatic trying to get your money. You can sit in a subway car and smell them get on the train. I worked around the corner from a church that had a homeless shelter in it and they had to close it down because they harassed all of the people who worked in the area.
When I came across the bums here in Atlanta, I would cut them off with a quick "NO", in NYC that would have been answered with all kinds of four and five letter words.