No Pete, you aren't the only one who remembers.
There have always been street people, but I don't recall seeing them that thick or messed up in places I have been (Baltimore, DC, NYC, Chicago, Denver, Houston), but in those days, they were mostly winos not junkies. I have been avoiding major urban areas for decades, whenever possible.
Sure, this is a rip-roaring source of Dem "voters", half the people in that video would sell their mom for a fix, so getting their name to put on a registration form would not be tough, and from there, the Dems would take care of the rest. Give them the numbers and they'll vote for them.
@Smokin Joe I lived in Denver for most of the 70's. The last place I lived,I paid $70 a month rent for a furnished apartment with off-street parking,and utilities as a part of the deal. It probably wasn't the best of neighborhoods. Gunfire at night wasn't unusual,and I was one of the very few residents who didn't speak or understand Spanish. Still,I had VERY few problems with any of the locals,and after the first 2 or 3 times,no trouble at all. Sticking a 12 gauge 18inch barrel inside a homie's ear just ONE time and promise to blow his motherloving head clear off his shoulders if he beeps that horn just "one more time" seems to do the trick. It being after midnight,and in a snowstorm with me being out in the road with nothing on but my drawers,t-shirt,and Ithaca pump probably helped seal the deal that I was serious. Never saw or heard of that guy again,so I guess his main squeeze had to find herself a new homie. Well,I did hear from him one more time. He seems to have circled the block to give me a chance to get back inside,then came roaring down the street beeping his horn from one end to the other before disappearing,never to be heard from again.
ANYHOW,the point being that even in THAT neighborhood there were no homeless people living or wandering around on the sidewalks. If you wanted to see homeless people,you pretty much had to go downtown in the daytime,or in a city park at night.
Now it seems they have taken over sections of Colfax Avenue. It must REALLY suck to have a business on a street where these parasites hang out because you KNOW their presence hurts your foot traffic and sales. Yet you still have to pay the same rent,utility,and tax bills,plus interest on the stock you bought on credit.
