Moving The Homeless

Every city has homeless people, and my barrio has a few regulars who you see every day. They aways seem to sleep in the same place, unless the weather gets really cold and they go to a shelter. After a while they become as much a part of the barrio as the shops and the neighbors who actually have homes. As long as I've lived here there have been three guys living on some benches around the corner from me, in front of a beautiful old age home that I wrote about in a previous post. They each had a big shopping cart full of stuff packed into worn-out old suitcases and piles of plastic bags. One even had a car battery he hooked up to a radio so they could listen to football games. I'd see them every day, sitting on the benches drinking cheap booze and keeping each other company. They never bothered anyone and some of the residents of the old age home used to stop and chat with them.

Suddenly last week I noticed they were gone. It took a moment to figure out why--the city had removed their benches. Two of them moved across the street and are camping beneath the overhang of a bank building, and another moved next to a bench next to a nearby movie theater.

Why did the city evict these guys? They weren't bothering anyone, and it's not like they're going to disappear. They're still in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, now they don't get to enjoy the shelter of all the trees in front of the old age home, or get regular visits from the home's cats and elderly residents.

Why didn't the city just leave them alone?