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A Short Story from the County Board Meeting in Arlington, VA
Two kids are testifying about why this Arlington shelter is a bad idea — cursing, 2nd hand smoke. Their parents should be horse whipped.
— Michael Neibauer (@NeibsWBJ) December 14, 2011
These two pre-10yo girls just told the Arlington board that they may take the wrong path in life if they have to live near homeless people.
— Michael Neibauer (@NeibsWBJ) December 14, 2011
Arlington Board agrees to buy (or seize) 2020 14th St. N, to serve as office space and homeless shelter.
— Michael Neibauer (@NeibsWBJ) December 14, 2011
But that's like seven blocks from the Apple Store!
The only thing that does not change is how much and how quickly Arlington changes.
@dntsqzthchrmn But just far away enough next time I go to Delhi Dhaba.
A few weeks back I run into a 20'ish kid in a parka about 1AM when I'm getting smokes from 7/11 by the train station. He says he was locked out of the station at midnight and needs to wait until morning and that he's a diabetic and would I buy him some donuts. So, I buy him his chocolate donuts (a dozen Dolly Madison's), and tell him if needs to crash he could crash on a chair at my place (this is Chicago and it was freezing out). He's like, "no, no , I'll be fine" and I then explain that there is a shelter if he walks about 10 blocks straight south from where we are at.
Anyways…
@zidaane I think "holy fuck" is an appropriate response here.
@zidaane Never trust a diabetic who asks for donuts.
Serves his Grandfather right for not buying him a donut.
@zidaane THAT IS A TERRIBLE STORY!!!
@Choire Sicha Definitely made me rethink my CouchSurfing status.
@zidaane The lesson, as always: never do nothin' for nobody.
I'm just glad I didn't realize I lived four miles from Camden when I was an uninformed adolescent conservative.
What sort of lesson would kids learn if they saw homeless people every day???
@deepomega I'm pretty sure it's "being homeless is awesome, Big Government gives you this shelter for free!"
Northern Virginia is a uniquely terrible place in that I know of no location so dependent on the government for its livelihood that also despises anything government does, especially to assist anyone or anything that is not their paycheck.
@NeonTrotsky I was considering going back to NoVa to work on the 2012 campaign, but I don't think I could take another Republican defense contractor yell at me about "government spending!" in that hot ass summer weather.
@Helio Gotta love the anti-government high-and-tight crowd.
@Helio And the mosquitoes. Jesus fuck the mosquitoes.