‘Homelessness situation’ an issue for all

It was good to read the column by Zachary Winn about the “homeless” situation in the West End. Calling it the “Republican View,” however, is very much a misnomer. I have a business in the area and have talked to dozens of people who live and work in the area as well as many who have just been paying attention to the issue. Not having asked their political persuasion, I can’t verify they were not Republicans, but they have been unanimous in thinking the City of Ithaca’s ways of dealing with the people who live in this area is misguided, at best, and approaching a significant level of indifference and perhaps even stupidity in how it comes across to the public at large.

This is recent, as evidenced by the current group of council members, but also decades old, as a scan of Ithaca-based news outlets would show. A quick study of how other cities, large and small, have dealt with this issue would show a number of strategies that have been taken to address these issues, many of them new and unusual ideas. The City of Ithaca, however, continues to perfect the Ostrich method, in hopes that their term(s) of office will be over before people finally demand SOME action that actually deals with the reality of the problem.

Michael Carpenter

Ithaca