© Andy Jacobsohn/Dallas Morning NewsA view of Tent City, the massive homeless encampment under Interstate 45, near downtown Dallas.
Tonight, countless numbers of homeless people will try to make it through another chilly night in large tent cities that have been established in the heart of major cities such as Seattle, Washington, D.C. and St. Louis. Homelessness has gotten so bad in California that the L.A. City Council has formally asked Governor Jerry Brown to officially declare a state of emergency. And in Portland the city has extended their "homeless emergency" for yet another year, and city officials are really struggling with how to deal with the booming tent cities that have sprung up:
There have always been homeless people in Portland, but last summer Michelle Cardinal noticed a change outside her office doors.But of course it isn't just Portland that is experiencing this. The following list of major tent cities that have become so well-known and established that they have been given names comes from Wikipedia:
Almost overnight, it seemed, tents popped up in the park that runs like a green carpet past the offices of her national advertising business. She saw assaults, drug deals and prostitution. Every morning, she said, she cleaned human feces off the doorstep and picked up used needles.
"It started in June and by July it was full-blown. The park was mobbed," she said. "We've got a problem here and the question is how we're going to deal with it."
Comment: One can only hope the latest ceasefire will bring some relief to these cities.