Ask the Junior Reporters

“I’ve been noticing there’s an increasing number of homeless people in the Palisades. What’s the solution?” –Leah J.

An increasing number of homeless people are being noticed around the Palisades, specifically in and around the Village. To get them to leave or stop coming here, one needs to go to the cause of why they flock here: money. It is well known that Pacific Palisades is an affluent and generous area. To get them to go elsewhere, Palisadians need to do a harsh, but necessary thing—starve the homeless financially. People need to stop giving money out to panhandlers.

If the homeless want money, they should try to get an unofficial job, such as washing a store’s windows for $10 and other things of that nature. Although we do not want them to literally starve, they need to be earning money for doing something as opposed to sitting on the ground all day. It is the Palisadians’ unnecessary generosity that keeps the homeless here, and the community should stop throwing money at them. Instead it should start throwing job offers at them so the homeless can build a work ethic and a flow of money.

Lenny Melamed, 12

We have to send money and items that will help the homeless people live by themselves, but we shouldn’t really have them live by themselves, we should help them pay for the house. And we should help them get items like food and toothbrushes and hairbrushes. We should try to sponsor more homeless shelters so they can make more space for homeless people. But you should still always try to get them a house, because that’s what they need—a house.

Leo Pesce, 7

My advice for the increasing amount of homeless people is for us to try to get to know some of them. Obviously, you have to be careful around them, but if they are nice and just struggling with money matters then you can donate clothes and food to them and help them look for jobs. You can also start a charity to donate to friendly homeless people to help them live a better life. As it says in Mark 12:31, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

But for the homeless people who are mean, you should immediately call the police and they would move them somewhere else. Just try to be friendly and not to scowl upon them.

Rio Isabella Robinson, 11

Something that I was thinking about was how sad it is that there is a growing number of homeless people. I think that the Palisades should do something about it because while we get a nice merry Christmas, they get nothing and that’s just not fair to them. So I think each family should donate one present to the homeless if you want to because whenever you look at a homeless person, don’t you feel sad?

Lilah Robinson, 9