Do homeless calls take up 65% of police resources?

 https://www.kotatv.com/2021/08/25/65-percent-rcpd-calls-service-have-do-with-homelessness-chief-asks-community-help/

 

The police chief agrees.

“We are not going to be able to arrest our way out of homelessness,” says Hedrick

Hedrick says that for a long time the criminal justice system has been called upon to solve low-level things like substance abuse, alcoholism and mental health issues.

“As a police agency,” Hedrick says, “we’re not going to be able to address those issues effectively.”

 He says they just end up ferrying folks to jail, often times repeat offenders, and not providing any real solutions.

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Is this how it is in your community?  Wouldn't it make more sense to let professional social workers handle the homeless, and provide them with actual help?  Could it help reduce the actual cost of police and other services in your community?

where will we plug in our electric cars?

 https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1133141_could-streetlight-based-charging-help-apartment-dwellers-go-electric

 

First spotted by photovoltaics industry trade journal PV Magazine, the program calls for installation of 240-volt Level 2 charging stations integrated with streetlight poles at locations throughout the Missouri city.

The program began its design phase in 2018, then ran through a feasibility analysis, which ended in 2020. The MEC is now conducting community outreach and beginning charging-station installations, which are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Charging at these stations will cost the same $0.22 per kilowatt-hour as at existing Kansas City public charging stations...

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This is one of the biggest problems for switching everybody to electric.  Also, are there plans with how to de-commission all the gasoline stations?  

 

 

 

How to help the poor? Give them a small income.

 https://www.fastcompany.com/90662914/heres-what-happened-when-a-san-francisco-nonprofit-gave-unhoused-people-500-a-month?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

 

Participants used the money on essentials like food and medication and transportation. One person used it to adopt a service dog to help prevent seizures. Another helped his daughter pay for college tuition. Sixty-four percent of participants said that the money helped reduced their stress and worry about finances. And despite the relatively small amount of assistance, more than a third of the participants were able to move into housing.

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Try things out, see what works, do that.  This seems to work.

Amazon to cut waster after expose

 https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/amazon-cut-waste-backlash-destruction-unused-products-rcna1592

 

The so-called Fulfilment by Amazon programs, announced in a blog post on Wednesday, will help to build a circular economy, the company said.

It comes less than two months after British broadcaster ITV reported that Amazon was destroying millions of items of unsold stock at one of its 24 U.K. warehouses every year, including smart TVs, laptops, drones and hairdryers.

The online giant was sharply criticized by U.K. lawmakers and environmental campaigners at the time and Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to look into the allegations. In a blog post on June 28, Greenpeace said ITV’s investigation showed it was clear Amazon “works with within a business model built on greed and speed.” The group also described the environmental and human cost of Amazon’s wastefulness as “staggering.”

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This is good news.  Waste can be dealt with more easily than other environmental problems if we have the will.  Amazon had the will to do things in the cheapest way, not the best way.