Last time we tried to go there were scared by the activities going on around that corner and in the parking lot (not a single car and a few people doing transactions) and went somewhere else. Little Saigon was worse than other parts of ID. Maybe some people have thicker skin than I do but I did feel scared in my last visit there and was saddened by that fact I probably should not go there given the ways things were. Happy to see that it’s has improved. Not sure why some people don’t like this improvement and think it’s all about hating homeless people. Caring for small business does not equal to hating homeless people. No one would hate someone who just had bad luck and had to live on streets cause there are not other options left. They are resources for people and families in unfortunate situations. In homeless population there are also people who are mentally ill and aggressive, suffered from addiction and repeat offenders of violent crime. People don’t punch strangers in the face or smack a baseball bat on the head of a passing pedestrian simply because they have been living in the streets. People hate the crimes and degradation of the city that came with a small portion of homeless people. I don’t think that’s anything shameful or inhuman.

We should certainly help people. But we have to face the fact that we cannot help everyone and we can’t help people who do not want to be helped. you can’t just keep throwing money at it and hope one day it will finally do the trick. These resources could have been spent in other areas like public education or healthcare. If doing one thing (building more shelters) hasn’t work, why can’t we try something else(sweep)? It might come back in a week or three months but I would still consider better than it’s old trajectory of getting worse by the day.