Editor,
The article read like we should feel guilty and responsible for the homeless.
I’m not from Laguna Beach. I traveled the west coast the last eight weeks with a friend of mine in a van. Wow, driving the “1” was the best way to appreciate the coast.
Chrys at Greeter’s Corner made our visit memorable in the best possible way.
The drawback for budget travelers is that there are no accommodations for them.
We tend to sleep in the van, quietly in a neighborhood and not disturb anyone or even make our presence known…and we did that for the full eight weeks.
When we arrived in Laguna Beach it was the night of the second day without a shower.
No way we’re going for a third. Now here we are, budget travelers who cause no problems but spent at least $100 in the less than 24 hours we were there; $60 plus at Greeters Corner, Albertson’s, some cafes and main street shops.
But when it comes to showers…nothing.
We had to become creative and ask a gym to spare us a $5 shower, no gym use, just a shower. Nope. $15 each.
We tried a different gym, Art of Fitness, in hopes they might be more reasonable. Nope. They wanted $15 each as well.
We figured we were there and $15 seemed to be the going rate for daily gym use. Plus, we really needed the shower.
Now my issue is with your homeless. You want to focus on them and cater to them?
They offer nothing but annoyance and you want to reward that? How about a $5 shower facility?
If a homeless person can’t front $5, they are not contributing to society enough to earn $5 to keep clean. They have no self worth.
Take a trip into the ghettos where your tax dollars give back to the “unprivileged” and see how they “give back” and fail to appreciate the free stuff. Crime, breaking the very stuff you gave them, noise etc…
Take a trip to the Tenderloin of San Francisco and watch a guy pee against a pole in the middle of the sidewalk and then offer him a free apartment.
Get your priorities straight!
Create a shower building on the beach and charge $5. Those who care about themselves will take advantage of it, shower up and look for work in a clean presentable manner.
Those who don’t…they don’t need taxpayer money.
Give back? I don’t recall taking anything.
Dave Walsh, Boston
For an itinerant van dweller, you sure seem to have a lot of the answers. First, show me one small beach town that makes $5 public showers available. I’ve never heard of such a thing, and there’s probably good reason for that. If privacy is not important to you and you don’t mind wearing swim shorts, you could’ve use the showers at Main Beach, or sprung for a few bucks and used the showers at the public swimming pool and had a swim to boot (after your shower, one would hope).
Now, as for your sweeping statements about the supposed worth of the homeless: in the eyes of our Police Department you, as an overnight van camper, would’ve been seen as one of these people. The kind who, in your words, offers nothing but annoyance and contributes nothing to society. It’s so funny to me how people who think they have all the answers, as you do, are quick to take an entire segment of society, dehumanize and demonize them. It’s ironic that you would’ve been in the same group.
Oh, so you saw a homeless person pee in public in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. I guess that makes you an expert on how he got there and why he does that. I’m sure if he just had a shower and looked for a job, his life would straighten right out. Before you pop off with a letter to the editor, you should learn something about homelessness. It is not a simple problem.
Be careful how broadly you paint people with your brush, Boston bloviator.
Thanks for the suggestion about creating a building that offers five dollars showers to the public. We’ll get right on that.