My point was that my personal compassion for the homeless is much, much better in the abstract. Write a check during the holidays? Sure, no problem. However, I find it more difficult when that theory meets reality. Precisely, at the exact point when the smell of human excrement and the persisent (likely tubercular) cough comes into play. In my experience being panhandled, there aren't too many Eliza Doolittles out there, just waiting to be discovered. You think Wall Street is crooked? Of course; sure. You think the homeless are somehow ennobled by their poverty? I know by sight about twenty guys who just need $2 to fill their gas tanks to get back home to their wife & children tonight. They've been needing that $2 for months now; their family must really be worried about them by now. I'm not comfortable with myself, whenever I politely refuse the pleas of the homeless. They are my fellow man; I start mentally counting up how much of my savings I really need, ask myself why I spent more on a car than I needed to. But I'm not inviting them in for a hot cup of cocoa and to sleep on my couch, either.
Homeless people out in public areas can be a problem, but do we really need a law for this? How is arresting people who are kind enough to help the poor and starving helping anyone. If Philly is going to give them a spot indoors to feed the homeless anyway, what is the point of creating the law. Just work with the people instead of creating barriers.
Too lazy to google the studies but there are other reasons why cities ban feeding large groups of homeless people. It's not because theyre evil government/corporate/rich etc. People get reactionary when they read these newspaper articles that really don't have the time or space to lay everything out.
