Re: Seattle homelessness up sightly in annual count/Operation

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I apologize again for not taking the time to post the news in Seattle  --
fortunately, Tom keeps up with it for me! :)

I was one of the people who went on the Count this year.  I noticed several
things that I heard others commenting on, too, but that weren't brought out
in the news article.

Many of the places where people have usually been found in the past were
empty this year.  In other, more outlying places, the count was up. The
homeless are definitely being pushed out of the downtomn core and into
outlying neighborhoods.

Most of the people our team (from WHEEL) counted were walking around.
Several spoke to us, saying that they were just walking to stay awake.
Many people sleep somewhere during the day -- even if it's the airport or a
corner chair in the library -- finding it safer than sleeping at night.

At least four people we passed, walking around at 4 AM, were visibly ill.

Many of the men we saw were in groups of two, three or even four.  Oddly,
most of the women we passed were alone, except one woman who was with a
man.

I was touched when several of the men we passed would shout at us, "Get
inside!  It's not safe out here!"

_________ 
WRITE ON!
~~ Anitra
http://www.speakeasy.org/~anitra/projects.html for a full list of websites
and webrings because if I list them all here, you will be SO mad at me ...

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