Nathan Phillips Square Homeless Issue

[Justin10000]

They don't have the right to sleep in public spaces though. A bench isn't meant to be used as a bed. If I were to sleep on a bench in the city, wearing regular clothing and a cop passed me, I'd be asked to leave.

They have every right to sleep on park benches, just the many non-homeless people that I have seen take a quick nap on park benches. Cops are not going to waste time kicking someone off a bench, so do not act as if it would happen to you. It's a PUBLIC space, and EVERYONE has a right to use it, even as a temporary bed at night.

(Why the hell am I arguing with someone named "Nads gone bads")??

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

(Why the hell am I arguing with someone named "Nads gone bad")??

Funny!
I have a friend literally with nads gone bad, it's called Epididymitis (I Googled and read about it on Tuesday). Poor, poor guy.

 

[Ak2809]

Funny!
I have a friend literally with nads gone bad, it's called Epididymitis (I Googled and read about it on Tuesday). Poor, poor guy.

Why did I have to google this

 

[Nads Gone Bads]

Probably not. I often see people napping in the park. I've never seen the police bothering them (and our park is regularly patrolled by mounted police).

I meant at night. It may be acceptable downtown because there are plenty of homeless. If I tried sleeping on a bench in the burbs and a cop noticed me, no way in hell would he disregard me.

 

[Nads Gone Bads]

(Why the hell am I arguing with someone named "Nads gone bad")??

You're not. It's 'Nads Gone Bads.' I believe there is a difference.

 

[Urban Shocker]

I meant at night. It may be acceptable downtown because there are plenty of homeless. If I tried sleeping on a bench in the burbs and a cop noticed me, no way in hell would he disregard me.

It's all one big city now, dear.

 

[PinkLucy]

I saw someone sleeping on a bench this morning as I walked my dog through the park, and it made me wonder. Is there actually a law that prohibits bench sleeping? And just what are benches for? Must one only sit on them? What about chairs and chesterfields? People sleep on those yet they were designed for sitting. So why not benches?

I would be ticked at someone, homeless or not, sleeping on a bench if it were busy and there wasn't room for everyone to sit, but really, if there's space and someone wants to stretch out -- or has no other place to stretch out -- is that really a problem?

It's just never been something that has bothered me.

What does bother me, however, is public urination. There are some very smelly spots and associated health risks.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Masses of Torontonians used to sleep in parks during heatwaves during the early decades of the last century if they didn't have household fans, and before there was air conditioning. People used to sleep in our parks on hot nights as late as the 1960s, I believe.

I think we're too civilised a city to victimise people for snoozing in public. We'll leave that approach to uncouth Parisians - I was hassled by an officious, uniformed park guardian in an obsessively manicured public garden there in the late 1970s for reclining gracefully on a park bench and looking charmingly louche while I waited for a friend to emerge from a movie theatre where he'd gone to see In The Realm of the Senses.

 

[GenerationW]

What does bother me, however, is public urination. There are some very smelly spots and associated health risks.

Bingo! Sleeping on a bench or in a park is trivial compared to public urination.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Bingo! Sleeping on a bench or in a park is trivial compared to public urination.

Well tell that to the thousands of late night weekend drinkers in Little Italy, the Entertainment District, Church-Wellesley Village, Yorkville, Queen West, The Beach, The Danforth, Yonge-Eglinton etc etc etc and stop picking on the defenseless for damn sake, I'm getting sick of it. The week of Pride I saw a girl taking a dump in the backyard of my building behind Cawthra Park against a garbage bin with two dozen porta-potties maybe 40 feet away at the back of the park. She wasn't homeless either.

 

[PinkLucy]

When I made my original comment, I was NOT talking just about the homeless. Just to be clear.

 

[DTowner]

It's all one big city now, dear.

Maybe on paper...

 

[Nads Gone Bads]

It's all one big city now, dear.

I know that. I meant that since the homeless population is much larger downtown than the burbs, thus homeless sleeping in parks and on benches is more accepted. Though there is one homeless guy that lives in my area. I actually caught him taking a dump in a nearby ravine, with scattered pudding containers around him.

 

[Nads Gone Bads]

Maybe on paper...

What do you mean by that?

 

[Nads Gone Bads]

I saw someone sleeping on a bench this morning as I walked my dog through the park, and it made me wonder. Is there actually a law that prohibits bench sleeping? And just what are benches for? Must one only sit on them? What about chairs and chesterfields? People sleep on those yet they were designed for sitting. So why not benches?

I would be ticked at someone, homeless or not, sleeping on a bench if it were busy and there wasn't room for everyone to sit, but really, if there's space and someone wants to stretch out -- or has no other place to stretch out -- is that really a problem?

It's just never been something that has bothered me.

What does bother me, however, is public urination. There are some very smelly spots and associated health risks.

Chesterfields aren't located in public spaces. Benches weren't designed to be slept on. If so, they'd be better designed for one's back.