Maybe Chapel Hill can hire UNC students to do this! Problem Solved, just ask Doctor Cosmo!
“SAN DIEGO - A community activist thinks a few couch potatoes, strategically
placed on sidewalk benches in an upscale shopping district, will keep
transients on their feet and on the move.
Esther Viti, who oversees the donation of public benches for a merchants'
association in La Jolla, sent an e-mail to 45 other activists last week
asking them to sit in three-hour shifts, no bathroom breaks allowed.
“After all, you MUST OCCUPY THAT BENCH continually for three hours to
prevent that homeless person from sitting on that bench,” the e-mail said.
Donors weren't happy that transients were sleeping on benches they had
provided for the public, Viti said.
The group previously tried installing benches with metal dividers that
split the seats. Transients simply began sleeping upright, said Deborah
Marengo, president of Promote La Jolla.
No one has offered to sit a shift yet, Viti said. Some potential recruits
expressed concern that the bench brigade could provoke retaliation from
displaced transients.
In 2006, the Regional Task Force on Homeless estimated the homeless
population at 9,600 countywide, which included 4,400 people within the city
of San Diego.”
