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What Do You Know Good?

Chris Lowry

Aug 21, 2023

But what do I know, I said.

It was tinged with sarcasm, which is sometimes lost on the pragmatic.

Then do something about it, she shot back.

I was talking about yet another homeless person standing on the side of the road with a sign.

His said he needed beer, and booty and drugs.

He had a toothless smile and ribs you could count.

And the back of a sign he spun around that read, At least I’m not lying.

They are on a lot of corners in Little Rock.

The homeless.

And we have two ten story buildings in downtown that have stood empty for decades.

Thirty years, or more.

Not Main Street, but further south of Main.

One was a State Run Hospital until some enterprising politician decided to give a tax break to the Walton’s and cut services there.

The other has been empty so long I don’t recall what it was used for.

Shuttered in the 70’s, though shuttered is the wrong word.

They just locked the doors and have to go around every now and then and board up the windows where they’ve been ripped off.

Because the homeless are using it for shelter.

I said we should take those buildings and use them to house the homeless.

Put medical and counseling and other services in the first floor, all one spot.

Locks on every door, mattresses, showers a place where guys like toothless joe could get help.

She asked who would pay for it?

I sighed.

Taxes.

Taxes on the house and cars went up in AR this year.

So did insurance.

Because of tornados and bad drivers and the execs at the Insurance companies need to pad their bonuses since the stock market took a dive.

(there’s only one real reason, and it ain’t the weather or drivers)

I reminded her that toothless joe and the several hundred other unhoused persons roaming around the city get dropped off at hospitals all the time and the state gets the bill.

Having it all in one central location would probably save money, AND if they weren’t on every corner, it might draw more tourists to town, or even locals to downtown for dinners, and shows and more tax dollars.

If they didn’t have to deal with panhandlers.

Toothless was not aggressive, but we’ve had a few encounters.

“Hey man, give me a dollar. No? F- you, then.”

“Can you bless me?”

Different versions of those.

And man, do I know down on your luck.

I sympathize.

I don’t empathize as much as I should, maybe.

But I do know feeling a little hungry.

And I do know hustling to make a buck.

Except…

Since the ACLU said panhandling was protected by the First Amendment, it seems to have exploded in use and popularity.

Despite the increase in donations to charities that feed the homeless.

The increase in street corner wishmongers also has a timeline that matches the opioid crisis, funny enough.

The charities don’t give out prescriptions for Oxy.

That’s what doctors do.

They get kickbacks from the pharma companies, get sued for malpractice (we hope) and charge more for their services.

Another cause with an effect you are paying for.

Other people making dumb decisions that cost you.

Which might be the story of life.

But, if there was one place where the homeless could go to sleep, to feel safe, to get help and get on the road to recovery, while getting counseled and taking classes or training, it might make things easier.

She said I wanted them out of sight, and out of mind.

I wondered if there was some truth to it.

Probably.

She said it wouldn’t take all of them off the corners cause people have to want help, and Toothless had options even now, even if they were scattered around the city.

Maybe my one spot shop wasn’t the solution I thought it was.

She was right.

It might not be the right answer.

Smarter men and women than me are looking at this problem.

Men and women in the government getting six figures a year in Dept of Human Services to examine and work and mitigate the problem.

The rehab the abandoned building and turn it into a solution had probably been discussed and tabled.

Or it never crossed their mind to do it.

Because their solution is a tiny home village five miles outside of downtown.

Way out of sight, if not far from the mind.

A spot in the trees in a poor neighborhood being built by a developer with ties to the DHS.

It’s an answer and an experiment and I hope it works.

But hell if I know.