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From a formerly homeless friend’s Facebook:

Was walking thru the center city park…seems like it has turned into an alcoholic playground. Everywhere i turned there were cups being filled with brown bag specials….i would love to sit and toast in the park…but then again its scorching heat…..pray with me for our homeless friends….i saw a lady at the library with a gash in her head..sitting in the sun…prayer breaks the devils spirit and saves lives.

This is sad. Physical and/or sexual violence is a leading cause of homelessness among women and children, and homeless women are more likely than housed women to be victims of violence. I will be praying for the lady at the library.

Read more on Center City brown bagging and homeless violence…

Recently, my girlfriends and I stopped by Center City Park after having dinner downtown. We ran into some of my homeless friends, and I introduced everyone and we hung out for a while and talked. Then one of my homeless friends pointed out that one of my girlfriends was kind of sitting off by herself a bit. She’s a little shy around people that she doesn’t know. He jokingly called her “the diva.” And when I saw him at the park this week, he immediately asked me, with a big smile, where my friend “the diva” was.

Read more on Basil from the diva’s garden…

I drove kid #1 to the courthouse for jury duty, and I have a couple of hours until my first client appointment, so I’m working outside at Center City Park. I have coffee and they have free wifi. It’s a beautiful morning. Several of my homeless friends were already here when I arrived. As I look around now, there are more, sitting on benches all around the park, patiently waiting out the day.

Read more on Center City Park: Homeless in the morning…

Via email (from a currently homeless reader):

“…a homeless person… was ticketed last night at Center City Park for illegal panhandling. He has no panhandling permit and he was well outside of the approved hours for panhandling according to the bike patrol officer that noted he observed [the homeless person] hit on everyone in the park for money.”

Read more on PoPos Pop Park Panhandler…

Center City Park’s operations manager, Johnny Burris responded today to this post about security at the park. Burris says:

To my knowledge, no one from the City or any other entity has asked Lankford Security to “gather information” on who is using the Park or to perform any other work at the Park. On some occasions, Center City Park, LLC has hired and paid Lankford Security for extra security at the Park. However, neither Lankford nor any other outside security service has worked in the Park in several months.

Read more on A Walk In The Park…

Via email, from a homeless friend and reader:

2007-07-30. Oh, you will be interested to know that Lankford Security, who has a contract with Greensboro to patrol the Governmental Plaza and the Gaylon Depot, sent an armed guard at 23:15 to Center City Park for a walk-through. He did not make anyone leave, so I assume he was there to gather information on who was still at the park. A the time, there were some homeless, maybe six or seven, and some kids and families and couples using the park as if it were still open hours.

Read more on Securing City Center Park…

Because of this, I wasn’t going to mention that I’d seen some of my homeless friends at Center City Park. But then Clarey wrote about it in YES! Weekly, so I guess the secret’s out. Hopefully, homeless folks will be able to continue to enjoy the park, despite the Orwellian signage. If not… Well, there will be more posts. And they won’t end with one of these:

Read more on Homeless In The Park…

Despite lots of folks’ coordinated and best efforts to run them all off, there are still homeless people downtown, and so, you know, uh oh…

(click photo to enlarge)

(click photo to enlarge)

Read more on Center City Park Euphemisms for Homelessness…

One of the most common problems I hear about from unsheltered homeless people in Greensboro is the lack of access to a bathroom. No home = no bathroom. Often, homeless people are barred from using bathrooms in businesses. So they have to go outside. And that frequently leads to a citation from police, or even jail time.

Read more on Bathrooms for the Homeless for $250,000? Or Less……

A friend mentioned watching out the office window as city workers install $700,000 worth of sidewalks at the new Center City Park. And comparing that to the $600,000 that the City will spend this year on homeless services. Which is $100,000 less than they’re spending on that sidewalk. Ponder that…

Read more on Sidewalks Edge Out Homeless Folks By $100K…