##REMINDERS FOR EVERYONE
**PER THE RULES:**
* **NO OFFERINGS OF CASH, ETC.**
* **[BEGGING](https://redd.it/994p7j) WILL GET YOU BANNED.**
* **BE AWARE OF SCAMMERS AND PERVS, AND SEND ANY [HERE](https://old.reddit.com/report) AND/OR [HERE](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/reddit.com).**
**ACCEPT AT YOUR OWN RISK.** Welcome to the internet where—unless proven otherwise—everyone's lying about their race, gender, status, accomplishments, and all the children are FBI agents.
You have been forewarned.
— The Mods
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/homeless) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's a small city in the US southwest. There's somewhat of a mental health crisis there, both with the people suffering and with those who think they can do something about it by removing benches and implementing other punishment modalities.
It appears to be Silver City, New Mexico. I ran the photo through Google Image search, especially focused on the colorful and circular mural on the wall,.. that appears to be the rear-door of the "Space - A Studio Art Gallery" that is addressed at 110 West 7th Street, Silver City New Mexico 88061-5405 .. if you plug that into Google Maps and switch to "Street View" you can drive around to the rear of the building and see this exact location from the photo.
Your internet skills are indeed top notch but there are certain codes of conduct among people experiencing homelessness. One of them is to never blow up a good spot. Next time consider whether information might have been withheld for good reason. Another good reason is the idea that this should be everywhere, not just this particular overburdened small city. Again, good "detective" work.
Silver is a small city so Im sure word has gotten around by now to those who currently live there. And the city is pretty far from the nearest big city (Las Cruces). I think attention to this will only bring up a conversation about homeless ness that needs to happen outside that small town as well. I see no harm the Googler has done by revealing this. National media were likely to notice and spread the word soon anyway.
I'm glad these artists are embarrassing the city manager ~~mayor and city council~~, and effectively pointing out their cruelty. Not only these are shortsighted solutions, they are inhumane. (Updated)
It was actually the city manager who unilaterally made the decision. He didn't consult the mayor, the council, or any other entities with a modicum of intelligence. He justified the decision with lies and by slandering people experiencing homelessness. As a matter of fact, most of the bench users are housed. People actually used them, the people. So it kind of stirred up a hornet's nest when they were removed. The result - yes, the CM will be, or is already embarrassed. The public, well we have lots of new benches and even better, now people care more about effective solutions for homelessness. Hopefully that will translate into action.
I posted a longer comment but it appears to be Silver City, New Mexico. If you google image search that photo, it appears to be the rear parking area of the 110 West 7th Street business named "SPACE - A Studio Art Gallery".
Ok, so the benches are on private property, not in a public place such as a park, so not somewhere homeless people would go anyway.
Just wondering if this business allows homeless people living in their cars to park in their car park at night? From reading posts on r/urbancarliving people living in their cars really struggle to find places to park. Is the story just a publicity stunt, while excluding homeless people? Anybody in New Mexico reading this, go test them and let us know.
Not sure entirely,. I've certainly never been to this city. Seems rather small. (even Wikipedia seems to imply it's on a demographic decline: As of the 2010 census the population was 10,315. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,704.")
To me it seems like a bit of an odd (small) place to have a homeless problem. Even checking things like OpenRailwaymap .. there's a spur that goes near Silver City but from my quick glance doesn't really seem like a railway hopping throughway of much regularity)
A quick Google search reveals this article dated June 26, 2024,. so just a few days ago: https://www.scdailypress.com/2024/06/26/bench-removal-sparks-debate/
THere's also this: https://www.townofsilvercity.org/317/Rules-Regulations .. however the "No Sleeping Will Be Allowed on the Sidewalks and Benches" appears to go back to 2013 ?
My family is from this town, and we'll go there during the 4th of July. This is about a block away from "The Big Ditch" which is a drainage project constructed to avoid having the city destroyed by a flood, again. The ditch usually has a bit of water running through it, and has trees on either side (but not in the middle, since it floods and is like a river.) It's always cooler, and a nicer place to be to get out of the heat. It's like a big, evaporative cooler, that's 1-2 stories down from the main level of the city.
As a result of this, the ditch can end up extremely popular with homeless people. My father ran a monthly medical clinic for people unable to pay (he's a doctor) and I did medical assistant volunteer work for him for a year or two, taking basic vital signs for people and acting as his scribe. A lot of people would come in during the summer, to get out of the Arizona heat. Silver City has a big artist community, which tends to be pretty tolerant of homelessness. It's also fairly inexpensive and (when I lived there) it was always easy for high school students, and other people, to find work. It's like a way cheaper version of Santa Fe.
So, if you walk around Silver City, and go to the Big Ditch, you might see a substantial homeless population.
9700 seems really high... I bet that includes pinos altos, hurley, Bayard & Santa Clara. Yes, the population here is in decline due to the closure of the Tyrone mine and the general late stage capitalism dystopia that's affecting many rural cities and towns. The population is also aging out, at 43 I'm the youngest member of the local gem and mineral society...
There is a seasonal ebb and flow of folks in need.
There's one city council member on board with making paradigmatic changes. He's introducing legislation to fund mental health crisis workers and has worked tirelessly for supportive housing. Unfortunately, realtors have most of the other local politicians in their pockets. They are the ones who are most adamantly against effective solutions. They're well practiced at shooting themselves in the foot.
Nice use of wording to pull at emotions rather than state what was going on and why.
"Town Manager Alex Brown told the Daily Press during a short break in Tuesday’s meeting that the bench removal was partly because the town does not have enough staff to keep the benches clean when people urinate or defecate on them. He said the staff who removed the benches had to peel their gloves off the benches because they were so filthy.
The bench removal was also a solution to complaints from downtown businesses.
“The last two months, we’ve been having the business community downtown, business owners, come in and complain and ask for help, and we haven’t done anything, so they keep doing it,” Brown said. “How long do we talk about it and not do anything?”
Both Brown and District 4 Councilor Guadalupe Cano said removing the benches has decreased the number of complaints to the town about people causing problems downtown.
“It appears to have worked in some ways — but of course, everything changes, and I can put them back just as fast as I took them,” Brown said.
Cano, in her councilor comments early in the meeting, said over the last three months she has received at least 10 phone calls per day about downtown issues.
“I did notice that immediately, the calls stopped” after the benches were removed, she said. “The same merchants that had been calling me were not complaining as much.”
She said town maintenance staff had counted benches downtown and reported there are still 16 available, and that several businesses had placed their own chairs or benches either outside or inside their businesses.
Cano also said the New Mexico Department of Health had expressed concerns about communicable diseases being spread, and decreasing the number of benches would help prevent that."
The town should have been consistent in its response, and perhaps more measured, but it sounds like "small town doesn't have resources to continuously clean places where the homeless sleep/camp" and was indeed trying to placate business owners there who contribute to the town's economy. Benches and chairs were put out privately by others. Some interviewed view it as a hindrance to people socializing or as a hindrance to people whose mobility is impaired.
Were people really socializing or resting that much around dirty benches and sleeping people?
Well I be damned. You mean this wasn’t a well thought out plan to punish the homeless people? Thanks for the information. I didn’t believe the punishment BS when I read it.
Well golly, you mean there are not trees that emit sticky sap, or insects such as aphids and caterpillars that excrete honeydew or silk which are both sticky? Yes, let's blame all that sticky residue on people without homes, rather than natural occurrences.
That will explain why my backyard furniture is sticky sometimes and I have to clean it. Yes, there are people without homes of Their Own coming to sleep in my backyard at night, and they always disappear Without a Trace before I ever wake up. They're making my furniture all sticky, not the caterpillars and other insects that live in the trees around my backyard, and certainly not the China berries that fall off and leave their waxy stuff everywhere. Nope, it's people who don't have their own homes sleeping in my backyard and magically disappearing without me ever seeing them that are causing all of this. Yeah, yeah, that's it.
/end sarcasm
The benches weren't dirty and people didn't sleep on them. They were mostly used for socializing by locals, shoppers, and tourists. The reasons for removal they stated in this article were bunk.
This did this to my group, only we had some with is who were slobs.
I mostly sleep on grass anyway. I'm exhausted now tho. Have only slept couple hours a night lately.
How woke. Actually, parks and public spaces - and the benches in them - are chiefly for taxpayers and their families. Moreover, they're to actually *sit* on - not sleep on or set up camp. These distinctions matter.
##REMINDERS FOR EVERYONE **PER THE RULES:** * **NO OFFERINGS OF CASH, ETC.** * **[BEGGING](https://redd.it/994p7j) WILL GET YOU BANNED.** * **BE AWARE OF SCAMMERS AND PERVS, AND SEND ANY [HERE](https://old.reddit.com/report) AND/OR [HERE](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/reddit.com).** **ACCEPT AT YOUR OWN RISK.** Welcome to the internet where—unless proven otherwise—everyone's lying about their race, gender, status, accomplishments, and all the children are FBI agents. You have been forewarned. — The Mods --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/homeless) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The underside of each bench says, "By the people, for the people."
Okay this got me right in the heart. I love it.
I love this type of fighting back, this is beautiful. I would also love to know where this is.
It's a small city in the US southwest. There's somewhat of a mental health crisis there, both with the people suffering and with those who think they can do something about it by removing benches and implementing other punishment modalities.
Thank you so much for sharing.
r/tacticalurbanism
It appears to be Silver City, New Mexico. I ran the photo through Google Image search, especially focused on the colorful and circular mural on the wall,.. that appears to be the rear-door of the "Space - A Studio Art Gallery" that is addressed at 110 West 7th Street, Silver City New Mexico 88061-5405 .. if you plug that into Google Maps and switch to "Street View" you can drive around to the rear of the building and see this exact location from the photo.
Your internet skills are indeed top notch but there are certain codes of conduct among people experiencing homelessness. One of them is to never blow up a good spot. Next time consider whether information might have been withheld for good reason. Another good reason is the idea that this should be everywhere, not just this particular overburdened small city. Again, good "detective" work.
In other words, please delete this information so the city or whoever doesn’t go out swiping the new benches.
Silver is a small city so Im sure word has gotten around by now to those who currently live there. And the city is pretty far from the nearest big city (Las Cruces). I think attention to this will only bring up a conversation about homeless ness that needs to happen outside that small town as well. I see no harm the Googler has done by revealing this. National media were likely to notice and spread the word soon anyway.
One of the many reason I love the arts and artists.
I'm glad these artists are embarrassing the city manager ~~mayor and city council~~, and effectively pointing out their cruelty. Not only these are shortsighted solutions, they are inhumane. (Updated)
It was actually the city manager who unilaterally made the decision. He didn't consult the mayor, the council, or any other entities with a modicum of intelligence. He justified the decision with lies and by slandering people experiencing homelessness. As a matter of fact, most of the bench users are housed. People actually used them, the people. So it kind of stirred up a hornet's nest when they were removed. The result - yes, the CM will be, or is already embarrassed. The public, well we have lots of new benches and even better, now people care more about effective solutions for homelessness. Hopefully that will translate into action.
Thanks for more detailed info.
got a solution?
There are solutions on the table and now they are much more likely to be funded.
https://www.samhsa.gov
Where is this?
I posted a longer comment but it appears to be Silver City, New Mexico. If you google image search that photo, it appears to be the rear parking area of the 110 West 7th Street business named "SPACE - A Studio Art Gallery".
Ok, so the benches are on private property, not in a public place such as a park, so not somewhere homeless people would go anyway. Just wondering if this business allows homeless people living in their cars to park in their car park at night? From reading posts on r/urbancarliving people living in their cars really struggle to find places to park. Is the story just a publicity stunt, while excluding homeless people? Anybody in New Mexico reading this, go test them and let us know.
Not sure entirely,. I've certainly never been to this city. Seems rather small. (even Wikipedia seems to imply it's on a demographic decline: As of the 2010 census the population was 10,315. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,704.") To me it seems like a bit of an odd (small) place to have a homeless problem. Even checking things like OpenRailwaymap .. there's a spur that goes near Silver City but from my quick glance doesn't really seem like a railway hopping throughway of much regularity) A quick Google search reveals this article dated June 26, 2024,. so just a few days ago: https://www.scdailypress.com/2024/06/26/bench-removal-sparks-debate/ THere's also this: https://www.townofsilvercity.org/317/Rules-Regulations .. however the "No Sleeping Will Be Allowed on the Sidewalks and Benches" appears to go back to 2013 ?
My family is from this town, and we'll go there during the 4th of July. This is about a block away from "The Big Ditch" which is a drainage project constructed to avoid having the city destroyed by a flood, again. The ditch usually has a bit of water running through it, and has trees on either side (but not in the middle, since it floods and is like a river.) It's always cooler, and a nicer place to be to get out of the heat. It's like a big, evaporative cooler, that's 1-2 stories down from the main level of the city. As a result of this, the ditch can end up extremely popular with homeless people. My father ran a monthly medical clinic for people unable to pay (he's a doctor) and I did medical assistant volunteer work for him for a year or two, taking basic vital signs for people and acting as his scribe. A lot of people would come in during the summer, to get out of the Arizona heat. Silver City has a big artist community, which tends to be pretty tolerant of homelessness. It's also fairly inexpensive and (when I lived there) it was always easy for high school students, and other people, to find work. It's like a way cheaper version of Santa Fe. So, if you walk around Silver City, and go to the Big Ditch, you might see a substantial homeless population.
9700 seems really high... I bet that includes pinos altos, hurley, Bayard & Santa Clara. Yes, the population here is in decline due to the closure of the Tyrone mine and the general late stage capitalism dystopia that's affecting many rural cities and towns. The population is also aging out, at 43 I'm the youngest member of the local gem and mineral society... There is a seasonal ebb and flow of folks in need.
Great initiative. But we need a momentous paradigm shift.
There's one city council member on board with making paradigmatic changes. He's introducing legislation to fund mental health crisis workers and has worked tirelessly for supportive housing. Unfortunately, realtors have most of the other local politicians in their pockets. They are the ones who are most adamantly against effective solutions. They're well practiced at shooting themselves in the foot.
Silver City is so awesome. I moved to the area last year and absolutely love it.
i love this, God bless their soul
Go artists!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I love this kind of middle finger. Fuck man we are punished enough give people a damn place to sleep! Love love love this
Fuck yea!
Nice use of wording to pull at emotions rather than state what was going on and why. "Town Manager Alex Brown told the Daily Press during a short break in Tuesday’s meeting that the bench removal was partly because the town does not have enough staff to keep the benches clean when people urinate or defecate on them. He said the staff who removed the benches had to peel their gloves off the benches because they were so filthy. The bench removal was also a solution to complaints from downtown businesses. “The last two months, we’ve been having the business community downtown, business owners, come in and complain and ask for help, and we haven’t done anything, so they keep doing it,” Brown said. “How long do we talk about it and not do anything?” Both Brown and District 4 Councilor Guadalupe Cano said removing the benches has decreased the number of complaints to the town about people causing problems downtown. “It appears to have worked in some ways — but of course, everything changes, and I can put them back just as fast as I took them,” Brown said. Cano, in her councilor comments early in the meeting, said over the last three months she has received at least 10 phone calls per day about downtown issues. “I did notice that immediately, the calls stopped” after the benches were removed, she said. “The same merchants that had been calling me were not complaining as much.” She said town maintenance staff had counted benches downtown and reported there are still 16 available, and that several businesses had placed their own chairs or benches either outside or inside their businesses. Cano also said the New Mexico Department of Health had expressed concerns about communicable diseases being spread, and decreasing the number of benches would help prevent that." The town should have been consistent in its response, and perhaps more measured, but it sounds like "small town doesn't have resources to continuously clean places where the homeless sleep/camp" and was indeed trying to placate business owners there who contribute to the town's economy. Benches and chairs were put out privately by others. Some interviewed view it as a hindrance to people socializing or as a hindrance to people whose mobility is impaired. Were people really socializing or resting that much around dirty benches and sleeping people?
Well I be damned. You mean this wasn’t a well thought out plan to punish the homeless people? Thanks for the information. I didn’t believe the punishment BS when I read it.
Well golly, you mean there are not trees that emit sticky sap, or insects such as aphids and caterpillars that excrete honeydew or silk which are both sticky? Yes, let's blame all that sticky residue on people without homes, rather than natural occurrences. That will explain why my backyard furniture is sticky sometimes and I have to clean it. Yes, there are people without homes of Their Own coming to sleep in my backyard at night, and they always disappear Without a Trace before I ever wake up. They're making my furniture all sticky, not the caterpillars and other insects that live in the trees around my backyard, and certainly not the China berries that fall off and leave their waxy stuff everywhere. Nope, it's people who don't have their own homes sleeping in my backyard and magically disappearing without me ever seeing them that are causing all of this. Yeah, yeah, that's it. /end sarcasm
The benches weren't dirty and people didn't sleep on them. They were mostly used for socializing by locals, shoppers, and tourists. The reasons for removal they stated in this article were bunk.
This did this to my group, only we had some with is who were slobs. I mostly sleep on grass anyway. I'm exhausted now tho. Have only slept couple hours a night lately.
How woke. Actually, parks and public spaces - and the benches in them - are chiefly for taxpayers and their families. Moreover, they're to actually *sit* on - not sleep on or set up camp. These distinctions matter.
So what is your solution then?
They should remove all the homeless people. This city Is infected and it's spreading
i don't know, im guessing they didn't put them next to their spaces.
It's unclear what you are trying to say here...
oh well...