I have been watching this in the local papers here lately. This is really specifically aimed at the Main downtown and Montrose area libraries. I have frequented both of the libraries over the years, since I was a kid. I have spent plenty of time in these libraries and some of the things I have bore witness to are without question, just plain wrong. Everyone here that has worked in a public library seems to be pretty dead on with some common experience/understanding in the dilemmas that public libraries face and are forced to make due with their hands tied. I won't bullshit over this, though not completely I would say these rules main target is the Houston homelss. Everyone should be allowed to use the public library for reading, research, or anything else you can utilize there but public libraries are not for eating, sleeping and taking baths. The library should have the right to tell people you can't do that here, please read a book for christ's or leave. On the hygiene, offensive behavior issue I think its a slippery slope they are embarking upon with the legislation, but if you can regulate/ban indoor smoking, based on encroachment of an individuals rights, then you should be able to tell people "Sir, you just shat your pants. Please leave and return when your wearing a fresher pair, Thank you."
The Houston homeless, well the city is really quite shitty to them. Right before the Houston Super Bowl, the city rounded up all the homeless they can and told them they would buy them all one way tickets to anywhere they want to go that isn't Houston. How shitty is that? They just try to make the city look pretty for tourists, so they make them someone elses problem. Houston does really need to do more for the homeless here than they do currently.
Critics say new library rules target homeless Changes follow complaints on such things as bathing in the restrooms By JOE STINEBAKER Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
The Houston City Council passed a series of library regulations Wednesday that at least two council members labeled a thinly veiled attempt to discourage library use by homeless people.
Library officials said the regulations are needed to discourage people from using the libraries as temporary shelters, restaurants or changing stations. The ordinance prohibits, among other things, sleeping on tables, eating packaged food, using restrooms for bathing and "offensive bodily hygiene that constitutes a nuisance to others."
Sandra Fernandez, the library's public relations manager, said library officials have received numerous complaints from patrons about inappropriate use of library facilities.
But council members Ada Edwards and Addie Wiseman voted against the proposal, saying library officials were trying to discourage homeless people from using the libraries.
"It's a direct attack at homeless people, and we can't continue to criminalize homeless people," Edwards said. "I understand what they're trying to do, but when you start targeting a community like the homeless, I think that's poor policy."
Wiseman said library officials were clearly trying to address problems with homeless people without saying so. She said the regulations could discourage out-of-town visitors and mothers with young children.
"I think if we're trying to address an issue with the homeless, we need to be up front about it," she said.
Mayor Bill White said after the council meeting Wednesday that some conflict between library patrons and the homeless may be inevitable, but that there have been frequent complaints about such abuses as people stripping and bathing in the restrooms.
Several downtown library patrons said Wednesday that they think the new regulations clearly are aimed at the homeless.
"I know that what they're doing is targeted at homeless people, no matter how you sugarcoat it," said Patricia Keith-John, of Houston, who uses the library about twice a week. "Just be honest and say you're aiming this at the homeless. Being a black American, I can sympathize with somebody being segregated out. Offer us an alternative (for the homeless) if you really care about the city."
A man who didn't want to be identified but said he was an "almost daily" patron of the library agreed that library officials wanted a way to remove homeless people.
"I think it's against people who have no place to go and no place to sleep," he said. "They're nudging homeless people out from everywhere.
"As long as they don't solicit me for food or money, I don't care."
[email]joe.stinebaker@chron.com[/email]
RESOURCES LIBRARY RULES
These are highlights of rules for library behavior adopted by the Houston City Council. Prohibited on any library property: ??? Asking for money or attempting to sell items ??? Spreading out contents of bags or leaving bags on library property ??? Staring, harassment or other behavior that reasonably can be expected to disturb others Prohibited in library buildings: ??? Sleeping, laying head or feet on furniture. ??? Changing clothes, bathing or shaving in restrooms ??? Bodily hygiene that constitutes a nuisance ??? Bringing in bedrolls or backpacks more than two feet in length or height; bringing in more than two bags of any kind
Comments
On the hygiene, offensive behavior issue I think its a slippery slope they are embarking upon with the legislation, but if you can regulate/ban indoor smoking, based on encroachment of an individuals rights, then you should be able to tell people "Sir, you just shat your pants. Please leave and return when your wearing a fresher pair, Thank you."
The Houston homeless, well the city is really quite shitty to them. Right before the Houston Super Bowl, the city rounded up all the homeless they can and told them they would buy them all one way tickets to anywhere they want to go that isn't Houston. How shitty is that? They just try to make the city look pretty for tourists, so they make them someone elses problem. Houston does really need to do more for the homeless here than they do currently.
This is from the Houston Chronicle.
Lifted from: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/metropolitan/3157713
April 28, 2005, 12:49AM
Critics say new library rules target homeless
Changes follow complaints on such things as bathing in the restrooms
By JOE STINEBAKER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
The Houston City Council passed a series of library regulations Wednesday that at least two council members labeled a thinly veiled attempt to discourage library use by homeless people.
Library officials said the regulations are needed to discourage people from using the libraries as temporary shelters, restaurants or changing stations. The ordinance prohibits, among other things, sleeping on tables, eating packaged food, using restrooms for bathing and "offensive bodily hygiene that constitutes a nuisance to others."
Sandra Fernandez, the library's public relations manager, said library officials have received numerous complaints from patrons about inappropriate use of library facilities.
But council members Ada Edwards and Addie Wiseman voted against the proposal, saying library officials were trying to discourage homeless people from using the libraries.
"It's a direct attack at homeless people, and we can't continue to criminalize homeless people," Edwards said. "I understand what they're trying to do, but when you start targeting a community like the homeless, I think that's poor policy."
Wiseman said library officials were clearly trying to address problems with homeless people without saying so. She said the regulations could discourage out-of-town visitors and mothers with young children.
"I think if we're trying to address an issue with the homeless, we need to be up front about it," she said.
Mayor Bill White said after the council meeting Wednesday that some conflict between library patrons and the homeless may be inevitable, but that there have been frequent complaints about such abuses as people stripping and bathing in the restrooms.
Several downtown library patrons said Wednesday that they think the new regulations clearly are aimed at the homeless.
"I know that what they're doing is targeted at homeless people, no matter how you sugarcoat it," said Patricia Keith-John, of Houston, who uses the library about twice a week. "Just be honest and say you're aiming this at the homeless. Being a black American, I can sympathize with somebody being segregated out. Offer us an alternative (for the homeless) if you really care about the city."
A man who didn't want to be identified but said he was an "almost daily" patron of the library agreed that library officials wanted a way to remove homeless people.
"I think it's against people who have no place to go and no place to sleep," he said. "They're nudging homeless people out from everywhere.
"As long as they don't solicit me for food or money, I don't care."
[email]joe.stinebaker@chron.com[/email]
RESOURCES
LIBRARY RULES
These are highlights of rules for library behavior adopted by the Houston City Council.
Prohibited on any library property:
??? Asking for money or attempting to sell items
??? Spreading out contents of bags or leaving bags on library property
??? Staring, harassment or other behavior that reasonably can be expected to disturb others
Prohibited in library buildings:
??? Sleeping, laying head or feet on furniture.
??? Changing clothes, bathing or shaving in restrooms
??? Bodily hygiene that constitutes a nuisance
??? Bringing in bedrolls or backpacks more than two feet in length or height; bringing in more than two bags of any kind
Globally !!