Gutter punk kids & NOPD are a joke (1 Viewer)

[insidejob]

It's not true.

It is much cheaper in places like Chicago, NYC, NJ, Philly, etc.

And the majority NO's heroin comes from Colombia/Mexico just like the rest of the country.

While you're absolutely correct in the price aspect and where it comes from, I read an article last year that tested the purity levels in heroin from major cities around the country and New Orleans had the highest in the country at just under 40%.

 

[superchuck500]

1. is that true?
2. how does that make sense economically?

While you're absolutely correct in the price aspect and where it comes from, I read an article last year that tested the purity levels in heroin from major cities around the country and New Orleans had the highest in the country at just under 40%.

My first thought to Guido's second question about economics was purity.

I wrote a paper in college on the heroin epidemic among US soldiers in Vietnam. They were getting heroin with purity north of 90% there and street heroin in the US is typically in the range of 10 to 15%.

 

[St. Widge]

while there might be some who fit this description, it seems more like the "welfare queen" way of pigeon-holing a complex issue

A few years ago a reporter did a story about this and found that a not insifnificant number of these kids are from well to do families up north who come down here to play homeless during breaks from college and in the summers. They treat it like backpacking through the wilderness or hitchiking cross-country. Whether that has changed, I don't know. But, I doubt it has.

And why do you think is so complex about this issue? They are loitering, comitting crimes, and intimidating people. Regardless of where they come from or the circumstances that let them to be here, it's something that needs to be taken care of.

Beyond that, they are over burdening programs for the truly homeless that are underfunded to begin with and make is trully difficult to tell the difference between the truly homeless that need help and those who do this by choice and because it give them the freedom that they want.

 

[St. Widge]

But then there's the majority that have serious drug and alcohol issues. Those guys on that stretch of Decatur tend to be in a really bad way.

But the two aren't mutually exclusive. Once you get into that lifestyle, it's easy to become addicted to drugs or alcohol. But, I guess my point is, no matter where they come from or how they got there, it's an issue the city needs to adress. Along with many other issues like crime in general and education. It's bad enough for locals who know what to expect and where to avoid, but we don't need tourists attacked by gutter punks.


Seems like the Mayor should maybe keep working on this job instead of planning for his next job already.

 

[St. Widge]

Odd that you're surprised by this. Murders are accepted; you think they're going to rush to the scene of a gutter punk teasing a woman?

If the meter maids could collect on a gutter punk ticket, then you'd see lightning speed.

I hear they get all of their Meth from Mandeville.

 

[St. Widge]

While you're absolutely correct in the price aspect and where it comes from, I read an article last year that tested the purity levels in heroin from major cities around the country and New Orleans had the highest in the country at just under 40%.

Finally something we are #1 in.

 

[insidejob]

Finally something we are #1 in.

Our death rate via overdose this year is out-pacing homicides too, so we've got that going for us as well. We're kicking *** at pretty much everything this year - even good, old fashioned fist fights between "hippies" and "squares" are skyrocketing in New Orleans with the statues. You'd be crazy not to want to live in this city, right?

 

[Brennan77]

But the two aren't mutually exclusive. Once you get into that lifestyle, it's easy to become addicted to drugs or alcohol. But, I guess my point is, no matter where they come from or how they got there, it's an issue the city needs to adress. Along with many other issues like crime in general and education. It's bad enough for locals who know what to expect and where to avoid, but we don't need tourists attacked by gutter punks.


Seems like the Mayor should maybe keep working on this job instead of planning for his next job already.

I completely agree.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[Saint by the Bay]

I was home for Easter and someone busted out the back window of my Tahoe and rummaged through it Friday night. We called the police at 8 AM.

They showed up at the house at 4 PM. By then I was at Safelite getting the window replaced. I had to get it done before they closed or the window would have been out until Monday. They said I shouldn't have moved it until they did their report.

Yeah, right.

 

[insidejob]

A few years ago a reporter did a story about this and found that a not insifnificant number of these kids are from well to do families up north who come down here to play homeless during breaks from college and in the summers. They treat it like backpacking through the wilderness or hitchiking cross-country. Whether that has changed, I don't know. But, I doubt it has.

And why do you think is so complex about this issue? They are loitering, comitting crimes, and intimidating people. Regardless of where they come from or the circumstances that let them to be here, it's something that needs to be taken care of.

Beyond that, they are over burdening programs for the truly homeless that are underfunded to begin with and make is trully difficult to tell the difference between the truly homeless that need help and those who do this by choice and because it give them the freedom that they want.

Man, I just typed up this huge long response that ******* disappeared because this new keyboard I'm using doesn't fit my fingers like my old one and I don't know what random key I keep hitting that shortcuts to something that erases everything I just typed. It usually comes back with a CTRL+Z but not this time.

here's the summary.

IDK about kids playing homeless on break from college and then returning when the next semester starts because the majority of the gutter punks that I met back in the early to mid-1990's were the real deal. They'd come from usually middle of nowhere type towns after escaping some kind of ****** family home life that they had to run away from to escape. They'd head to the nearest major city and find the young people living on the streets and join their crew/family. From then on, they're in. They live that lifestyle by choice, even though the origin of the lifestyle wasn't a choice, but ten years later, it most definitely is.

Back then, when they still had real punk rock shows at the Faubourg Center for $5 on weekends my friends and I got to know a bunch of gutter punks really well. We'd go drink on the river with them after shows and they'd tell us all kinds of stories. Gutter punks aren't homeless in their eyes. They're travelers. They end up in New Orleans in the winter months because of the climate and typically hop trains to the pacific northwest for the summer months. After Jazz Fest, there should be the annual mass exodus of gutter punks to other more conducive climates to squat in and they'll be back en masse come November.

Most of the ones we got to know weren't drug addicts or criminals either. They just wanted to live their lives on their own terms. I get that they're pretty annoying panhandling (especially the ones who get aggressive with it) on the neutral grounds and when you have to get close enough to one to catch a whiff of that stench, but for the most part they are harmless and want to be left alone. I've also seen them drunk and violent and harass people like the OP says happened to his wife or girlfriend, but they're definitely the minority when it comes to the whole gutterpunk picture.

I get why people don't like them and think they're a danger to our society, but that's because 99% of the population can't comprehend why someone would choose to look like that or live like that. I mean, living in abandoned buildings without access to things like running water or bathrooms, having to take a dump in an empty lot while hiding in the bushes, panhandling to feed yourself, having no real possessions outside of what you can carry on your person, etc? But all these things are relatively harmless. The vast majority of the true gutter punk travelers aren't much different from the beatnicks of the 60's who did the same things that they're doing today. (I guess the beatnicks weren't exactly accepted either, so there's that.)

I must say though, I can understand why a college student would take a summer off to live like (Most likely not WITH - real gutterpunks wouldn't accept someone who's just trying it out for fun while taking a break from their college career) gutterpunks. I wouldn't mind hopping trains across the country for a year living that kind of life knowing that there's an end in sight and that I'm doing it for the experience. The Buddha was pretty much the original gutterpunk and I've grown rather fond of his teachings. What better way to truly detach myself from the trappings of society than to abandon them all and go on a spiritual trip all over this country via boxcar with only the bare necessities that could fit in my pack as my earthly possessions. That would be a pretty cool experience and even good material to base a book on.

Sorry that incident happened to your wife/girlfriend, OP, and I hope they catch the people responsible. At the same time, I don't want to see another gutterpunk roundup like we had a few years ago that put them all in jail and released them with a bus ticket out of town. These groups of gutterpunks operate as families, and even though it's hard for regular people to understand the lifestyle and appreciate that they can create a family of their own choosing, it's true. Arresting them and then splitting them up upon release really isn't in the best interest of anyone involved.

The gutterpunks aren't nearly the problem that the "gangs" caused by the dope dealers in this city are, but they're much more visible because they don't blend in with society the same way these drug dealing gangs do. It's be a waste of time and resources to go after the gutterpunks when they're mostly about to leave town anyway.

LOL: this ended up just being a much more convoluted post than the one that disappeared, not a summary whatsoever.

 

[St. Widge]

Man, I just typed up this huge long response that ******* disappeared because this new keyboard I'm using doesn't fit my fingers like my old one and I don't know what random key I keep hitting that shortcuts to something that erases everything I just typed. It usually comes back with a CTRL+Z but not this time.

here's the summary.

IDK about kids playing homeless on break from college and then returning when the next semester starts because the majority of the gutter punks that I met back in the early to mid-1990's were the real deal. They'd come from usually middle of nowhere type towns after escaping some kind of ****** family home life that they had to run away from to escape. They'd head to the nearest major city and find the young people living on the streets and join their crew/family. From then on, they're in. They live that lifestyle by choice, even though the origin of the lifestyle wasn't a choice, but ten years later, it most definitely is.

Back then, when they still had real punk rock shows at the Faubourg Center for $5 on weekends my friends and I got to know a bunch of gutter punks really well. We'd go drink on the river with them after shows and they'd tell us all kinds of stories. Gutter punks aren't homeless in their eyes. They're travelers. They end up in New Orleans in the winter months because of the climate and typically hop trains to the pacific northwest for the summer months. After Jazz Fest, there should be the annual mass exodus of gutter punks to other more conducive climates to squat in and they'll be back en masse come November.

Most of the ones we got to know weren't drug addicts or criminals either. They just wanted to live their lives on their own terms. I get that they're pretty annoying panhandling (especially the ones who get aggressive with it) on the neutral grounds and when you have to get close enough to one to catch a whiff of that stench, but for the most part they are harmless and want to be left alone. I've also seen them drunk and violent and harass people like the OP says happened to his wife or girlfriend, but they're definitely the minority when it comes to the whole gutterpunk picture.

I get why people don't like them and think they're a danger to our society, but that's because 99% of the population can't comprehend why someone would choose to look like that or live like that. I mean, living in abandoned buildings without access to things like running water or bathrooms, having to take a dump in an empty lot while hiding in the bushes, panhandling to feed yourself, having no real possessions outside of what you can carry on your person, etc? But all these things are relatively harmless. The vast majority of the true gutter punk travelers aren't much different from the beatnicks of the 60's who did the same things that they're doing today. (I guess the beatnicks weren't exactly accepted either, so there's that.)

I must say though, I can understand why a college student would take a summer off to live like (Most likely not WITH - real gutterpunks wouldn't accept someone who's just trying it out for fun while taking a break from their college career) gutterpunks. I wouldn't mind hopping trains across the country for a year living that kind of life knowing that there's an end in sight and that I'm doing it for the experience. The Buddha was pretty much the original gutterpunk and I've grown rather fond of his teachings. What better way to truly detach myself from the trappings of society than to abandon them all and go on a spiritual trip all over this country via boxcar with only the bare necessities that could fit in my pack as my earthly possessions. That would be a pretty cool experience and good material to base a book on.

Sorry that incident happened to your wife/girlfriend, OP, and I hope they catch the people responsible. At the same time, I don't want to see another gutterpunk roundup like we had a few years ago that put them all in jail and released them with a bus ticket out of town. These groups of gutterpunks operate as families, and even though it's hard for regular people to understand the lifestyle and appreciate that they can create a family of their own choosing, it's true. Arresting them and then splitting them up upon release really isn't in the best interest of anyone involved.

The gutterpunks aren't nearly the problem that the "gangs" caused by the dope dealers in this city are, but they're much more visible because they don't blend in with society the same way these drug dealing gangs do. It's be a waste of time and resources to go after the gutterpunks when they're mostly about to leave town anyway.

LOL: this ended up just being a much more convoluted post than the one that disappeared, not a summary whatsoever.

It's an interesting point of view and honestly, my only knowledge of their culture is the article I read a few years ago. I had my suspicions that many of them saw themselves as modern day Kerouac's or dharma bums. And, I'm fine with them living their lives as free as they want.

It's when they cross that line that it becomes an issue. And, I'm not saying they all do it, but some obviously some do. I don't really cross paths with them much, but I do recall a group that was hanging out under the Claiborne overpass at Orleans/Basin. They were running back and forth the conveience store on the corner and then they would be all messed up at 9:00 in the morning running in front of cars in traffic and begging for money. And they appeared to be targeting women alone in cars thinking that they would be intimidated and give them money. I'm all for leaving the ones alone that don't mess with people or comitt crimes, but the ones that do need to be dealt with even if that is the minority.

I guess the thing that bothers me the most about it is that I'm fine with them living their lives like they want to, but stop standing on every other street corner begging for money. Why should I pay for you to live free when I have to get on the hamster wheel every day? And, it makes it hard to tell the difference between the gutter punks who are asking me to pay for their chosen lifestyle and truly homeless people who need help. I'm happy to help the truly homeless, but there are so many asking for money now that I can't tell the difference anymore. The other issue, like I said, is that they are using things like Ozanam inn and other things we do for the truly homeless when they are just doing this as a lifestyle choice. It strains a system that is already woefully underfunded.

Finally, I get the romanitc notion of traveling the country like Kerouac in On the Road, but I'm not sure that the reality of Gutter Punks is quite the same. They seem to be more trying to live off the charity/guilt of others rather than truly living free.

 

[Brennan77]

I was home for Easter and someone busted out the back window of my Tahoe and rummaged through it Friday night. We called the police at 8 AM.

They showed up at the house at 4 PM. By then I was at Safelite getting the window replaced. I had to get it done before they closed or the window would have been out until Monday. They said I shouldn't have moved it until they did their report.

Yeah, right.

This is just how it is. My neighbor's bike was stolen right in front of her. She found it two blocks away. The thief was just hanging out at the park with the bike and all the other guys who typically gamble and sell drugs there. Being intimidated, she called the police. They never responded even though she explained that the stolen property and criminal were in plain sight.

Another time, my wife was in a car accident. It was the other party's fault. It took 4 hours for the police to arrive. Then the officer had the nerve to request her to drop the charges as the other driver had no insurance and he didn't want to fill out the paperwork.

 

[insidejob]

It's an interesting point of view and honestly, my only knowledge of their culture is the article I read a few years ago. I had my suspicions that many of them saw themselves as modern day Kerouac's or dharma bums. And, I'm fine with them living their lives as free as they want.

It's when they cross that line that it becomes an issue. And, I'm not saying they all do it, but some obviously some do. I don't really cross paths with them much, but I do recall a group that was hanging out under the Claiborne overpass at Orleans/Basin. They were running back and forth the conveience store on the corner and then they would be all messed up at 9:00 in the morning running in front of cars in traffic and begging for money. And they appeared to be targeting women alone in cars thinking that they would be intimidated and give them money. I'm all for leaving the ones alone that don't mess with people or comitt crimes, but the ones that do need to be dealt with even if that is the minority.

I guess the thing that bothers me the most about it is that I'm fine with them living their lives like they want to, but stop standing on every other street corner begging for money. Why should I pay for you to live free when I have to get on the hamster wheel every day? And, it makes it hard to tell the difference between the gutter punks who are asking me to pay for their chosen lifestyle and truly homeless people who need help. I'm happy to help the truly homeless, but there are so many asking for money now that I can't tell the difference anymore. The other issue, like I said, is that they are using things like Ozanam inn and other things we do for the truly homeless when they are just doing this as a lifestyle choice. It strains a system that is already woefully underfunded.

Finally, I get the romanitc notion of traveling the country like Kerouac in On the Road, but I'm not sure that the reality of Gutter Punks is quite the same. They seem to be more trying to live off the charity/guilt of others rather than truly living free.

I totally agree. The ones who cross the lines from simply flying a sign to harassing people for money need to be dealt with. And obviously anyone who's committing crimes of any kind does too.

I don't know about the current day gutterpunks outside of the three who are regulars at the needle exchange I volunteer at twice a month, but the ones we knew back in the day would never sleep at Ozanam Inn. That's why they move with the seasons. They'd use the Mission and places like that (IDK if Ozanam Inn offers it) that offer showers for $1 or something like that to take a shower every now and then, but they'd never live in a shelter. They set up camps in abandoned box cars, containers, warehouses, parks, underpasses, etc. so as to have their "own" place and not be subject to the rules of a shelter.

I don't give them money either but I do give it to people who I think are homeless from forces outside their control. The way I judge the real homeless from the fakers in the winter is by the level of warm clothing they're wearing. Any truly homeless person will have a warm coat or multiple layers on to keep warm. If they're out there begging for money in freezing weather in a t-shirt, chances are that's their homeless costume to gain sympathy.

 

[Bishop]

My first thought to Guido's second question about economics was purity.

I wrote a paper in college on the heroin epidemic among US soldiers in Vietnam. They were getting heroin with purity north of 90% there and street heroin in the US is typically in the range of 10 to 15%.

I recall the DEA issuing a warning a few years ago of street level heroin purity in the Northeast rising from 40% to nearly 60%. Regions such as the west coast were among the lower spectrum you've mentioned. I don't know why. Talks with detectives at our local shelter about the increase of OD deaths and heroin purity was pretty grim.

This is from '02
https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs5/5787/avail.htm

DEA also reported purities for retail quantities of heroin as high as 90 percent in Bridgeport, Connecticut (65 to 90%); New Bedford, Massachusetts (30 to 90%); and Portland, Maine (50 to 90%). According to the DEA Newark Division, all of the heroin purchased in Newark under the auspices of the Domestic Monitor Program--a retail-level heroin purchase program that monitors source of origin, price, and purity--was identified as South American heroin and had an average purity of 78.6 percent in the first half of FY2002.

'
Random NJ article from '14
http://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20140912/NEWS/140919799

 

[Bishop]

The iron gates off old fences net around $75 a piece at a few different places in the city. Junkies are stealing gates. They've been doing it forever.

I was in Harvey over Thanksgiving, and came across the scene of a light pole downed by a car. The next morning, some dude was cutting it up with a sawzall and toting it off.