Kind of brings this classic from Hank Williams Jr to mind....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D82tO_M-Fh0

Get rid of the street people, turn them into field people. Get them on the otherside of Queensway. As long as you are willing to ignore the fact that these street people are the reasons why there is so much decay of the downtown, than you might as well urinate up a rope, and stop wasting our tax dollars on another group study crapola.

As long as there is a strong element of street people dominating the area, you will never get the people with disposable income coming downtown. Making the streets pretty and all that, is not going to get people downtown.

I'm a relatively tolerent person, but I would not walk downtown at dusk with my wife. Get all of the social program like housing, needle exchange and all of that crap out of the core, and the street people will leave.

The city is responsible for the welfare of the homeless to a certain degree. Well change the old city yard downtown, and turn that into a social housing program. I would be all for the idea of spending millions of dollars in that area. Stop coddling these people, and treat them like everyone else. Fifty years ago, people that had mental health issues dealt with it, in order to survive. Well, suck it up and deal with your problems and stop blaming everyone else.

So build a huge fenced in compound with two hundred rooms. Cafeteria, to feed them, Social programs for those who wants to help themselves. Usefull educational programs to improve them. if you want to help them, help them help themselves. it would be cheaper for the tax payers, it would be better for them.

Have the BC government buy into the program.

Ooops, they can come and go as they please from the compound

A response to He spoke;

Yeah and after the homeless, we can round up the poor, the old and the infirmed and build a compound for all the useless eaters.....

UHUH....You realize that many people in the North have gone through hard times and have leaned on the system for a little help. It might have been daycare, but it was help they've leaned on.

Your idea is a non starter from my opinion, but if it the prevailing view in Prince George, it says alot...

Actually, you can be poor and not end up on the streets, you manage.

You can be old, and end up on the streets. I know a lot of people who has worked hard in there younger days, and paid off their mortgage and are living comfortably.

The infirmed are taken care of in other programs.

Yep a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet. Thus wouldn't we be doing them a service by providing them an area where they know they can sleep, eat, hangout, and if they choose they can improve themselves.

Take a look at the course of events in the area of Main and Hastings in Vancouver.

There is your test bed for what happens, how to deal with it, what to expect.

This is nothing new. George street has been skid street since the first days it was built.

"As long as there is a strong element of street people dominating the area, you will never get the people with disposable income coming downtown. Making the streets pretty and all that, is not going to get people downtown."

And there is your mission statement, in a nutshell.

The reasonable man is correct to the T. We spend so much time worrying about hurting there feelings, and want to provide for them so that you can feel good about yourself. Well, they are people too, they want a roof over their head, food to eat, and place to call home. Provide that to them, and they will be happy as clams. Those who wants to break out of that cycle, will reach out and ask for direction. That is why it has to operate under a social program to reintergrate them back into getting back on their feet and submersed into the community.

It is no great science, do whats best for them, not what would make you feel good.

Northboy, He spoke is right.
Years ago, the poor (me included) still maintained our dignity and behaved in public within the social mores of the time. Now it is just a Gong show! Northboy, take a walk down any alley downtown during the day as well as end of Third, George and Dominion and end of 4th also day, night, weekend and open your eyes!
The solution is a good one.