A sit-lie law is an invaluable tool to address health and safety concerns created by intoxicated, yelling, borderline disorderly, or passed out individuals on the sidewalks and streets. Disturbing the peaceful enjoyment of the majority of society is not a right, it's usually a symptom of a disorder or an addiction. Laying sprawled out on a sidewalk is a call for help and should be treated as such by public employees like the police.

It is a clear indicator of our society's moral degradation and lack of concern when people are literally falling to the curb. Laying on a sidewalk is not a right that should be supported, encouraged, and is certainly not comparable to the brave actions of protesting individuals exercising free speech. Citizens should always have a right to peaceful protest, sit-ins, etc., but that's not what the sit-lie law aims at preventing and it would be insulting to compare the two as one and the same.

It's time for us to focus our attention on the root of the issue of why we have people on the streets. We need to invest more money into public health care to help those with illnesses and addictions, raise minimum wages to livable wages, and encourage healthy living and environments.

Timothy I'm with you on the ones you speak of.

I wonder what the cure for the gutter punks is, though? As a Downtown resident, they are the ones who are truly a problem in terms of harassing others and breaking laws. I have spoken with a few on what they're trying to do to better themselves, and hardly any give a shit. They simply ask for change for beer or cigarettes or the like, even when having questions directed toward them from someone in a place of care (I honestly want to help).

I have asked myself a lot of times what it takes to get to that place in life, and I've asked the same of the gutter punks.

I can tell you that the few I've spoken to don't give a shit about really anything at all except their next fix. And pocket change.

Apparently the Mayor is fighting failure with failure. All that leaves is burnt ground.

Without trying to be too broad or general, I would assume most "gutter punks" (I know the type, I live and work downtown too), still fall in one of the categories I mentioned. Either they have an illness, an addiction, or they're unable to find a job that pays enough to live on. Often all of the above is ticked and of course each keeps the others rolling down hill until something intervenes. If it's a cop picking them up off the street, getting them into detox, and then the detox staff helping them into a shelter and counseling, that just might be the best thing for them.

As for the pocket change. I always say "I don't give my money away". I work full time helping people in these types of situations. I'm not about to be an enabler.