There's only one homeless man left in Times Square

I started working around Times Square a few months ago and have walked past this guy daily. One day I had a half sandwich I didn't want so I give it to him. I now get a friendly smile and hello every time I walk by him.<p>While I was hoping this article would have more information on his background, I am glad to now have a name that I can say hello to when I walk by.

So let me get this straight. They're visiting this guy, daily, trying to get him to do something he obviously doesn't want, while there are probably LOTS of homeless people in other districts dying (sometimes literally) for a safe, warm place to live.<p>Those aren't humanitarians, those are enforcers for the bourgeoisie who don't want to have to look at poor black people every day.

Wasn't going to post as I struggle to justify the relevance of the parent <i>and my response</i> to the community, but think it's ultimately of little consequence and the words themselves are important to me, so...<p>~OT: I once worked as a charity fundraiser and had more than a few encounters with homelessness, one of which (a few years after leaving the job) left me quite stunned. The company was a bit of a stop-gap for those that could and would handle it, with accommodation, food, and a pretty interesting lifestyle all thrown in.<p>I once found myself in a pub, however, and a homeless guy came up and asked me for a bit of spare change. Having built up a healthy respect for people and torn down my impulse to judge on the basis of only a very small amount of information (from my exp. in said job), I gave the guy what I could when, looking in his eyes, I saw my friend. A guy I had worked with as a fundraiser, who, after a brief spell of bad luck had fallen through the gaps of society and ended up having to constantly climb. I did what I could for the guy, but more importantly he did so much for me - I had never realised destitution was so close (or that the climb back up was so high).<p>Another time I met something I can only describe as otherworldly.... it was almost sacred. Take what you will from it. I was approached (this was while fundraising) by a small, fat, black guy in comfortable, though slightly disheveled clothes in his late 50s or thereabouts. As he came close it occured to me that he didn't exist... I honestly cannot understand the instantaneous clarity of that thought... maybe he was just too much of a cliche for my mind to deal with, but there was something more, an aura that came from somewhere deep within him, from somewhere I don't think I have. He took my hand and started talking to me as though it was the most ordinary things in the world, and he proceeded to tell me about his pebble. He'd been fondling it in his other hand and as I noticed it he started telling me about where he'd found it and all the things that could have been while that pebble had remained hidden. And that, he said, was his point. My pebble was currently hidden, and I was close to finding it. It could be a stone, a coin, a woman or even the world! The point was that it was mine and that it had been sitting, passive, until the day I, and I alone, would come across it and bind myself to it...<p>I don't even know why that's worth sharing with you. Most people I tell, I'm sure, just think I was seduced by the romantic ramblings of a mad old man... maybe so, but I think that moment, myself, the old man and what he said deserve a great deal more dignity, even divinity, than that. I <i>choose</i> to make that moment spiritual (and I'm not by any means "religious")....

Maybe it's the naive and hopeless romantic in me, but when I read the part about "devising a strategy to prevent people from encouraging his homelessness," I couldn't help but feel a gentle pang of indignation. I almost feel like it's too bad that they can't accept this man for the "iconic" symbol that he seems to be, according to locals.

On the whole efforts to move homeless people to various sorts of housing seem like a good idea, but don't the ones in this article come across as a bit unnecessary? I mean, visiting him <i>every day</i>, memorizing his walking habits, etc.? He clearly seems not to be posing a threat to anyone, and if he's the only homeless person in the entire area, it's hard to say that homelessness is causing the area a major problem or inconvenience. Why not just leave him alone, or at least inquire less often than daily as to whether he'd like to move in somewhere?

"Housing first" has been pretty successful so far. It just makes sense on so many levels, including economic. Just Google it for more info. The fact that there is only one homeless man left in Times Square is kind of amazing. Of course there are other factors (keep in mind homeless numbers in NYC are up overall) such as a policy to move the homeless away from touristy areas such as Times Square.<p>On a side note, my girlfriend is opening a residential shelter for women on Monday! Three levels of housing (short, medium, and long term) and almost five years in the making. It's called Florence House (part of Preble Street) in Portland, Maine.

When I read articles like this I think about all those FEMA trailers that went unused because of bureaucratic nonsense, incompetence and corruption.<p>This country has and owes a lot of money but we waste a sh--load too.

Reading about Heavy reminded me of Austin's Leslie Cochrane (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Cochran" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Cochran</a>). He stood for mayor. After reading his manifesto I would vote for him. Too bad I don't get a vote.

There's nothing I love more than watching middle and upper-middle class people talk knowingly about the homeless; both sides indignantly insisting that the other just doesn't understand it. No judgement, mind you, it's just one of those issues that brings out the opinions in people least qualified to give them.

While I think it's great what these outreach organizations have accomplished, the tone of this article is a perfect example of how journalists poorly depict homelessness.<p>It's de-humanizing.<p>For a second there I did a double take because it resembled an old article from The Onion, which was pointing out how journalists do this so often that nobody notices.<p>Do a search and replace on the article, replace the homeless man's name "Heavy" with "animal", and the article still makes perfect sense, except instead of being about sociology, it's now zoology, like one of those fluff local news pieces about some wild animal that ended up in the city limits and was causing a nuisance. Except it's a man.