There seems to be an almost accepted, negative, reactionary view amongst a fair few commenters in our local media, whenever there’s an incident involving a ‘street drinker,’ or a homeless person: from vitriol aimed at anyone who shops at Heron, to claims that it’s not safe queueing at the nearby taxi rank because of the ‘drunk.’ The powers that be, also show their true feelings with their tags of ‘rough sleepers’ and their talk of ‘designing out crime.’ To me it smacks of social cleansing.

What’s the problem with a ‘rough sleeper,’ or homeless person as I like to call them, getting their head down in a sheltered car park (apart from the obvious immorality of it)? What’s the problem with having a tin of beer in a park, or on the street? There have been and always will be people who will abuse these situation: that’s always been the case but just take a step back and ponder: is it unique? Isn’t it also the case that ‘anti social behaviour’ also occurs in other social situations and is carried out by other sections of the community. Have our attitudes really changed that much from when Con Bailey and his mate Eddie used to sit outside the old Arts Centre at the bottom of Micklegate in the 80s with a can of Special Brew; or the happy, inebriated homeless guy (can’t remember his name) who used to sit on the bench in the small herb garden, next to the White Horse on Bootham? They were viewed as local characters, not villainised as ‘street drinkers.’

These proposals appear to be designed to shift the perceived problems from the city elsewhere: somewhere out of view and out of mind.