<p>ilovecalifornia, where do you live? Is it a place where homeless people eat, sleep, do drugs and shyt mere feet from the your door? Because I do. I have to listen to these lunatics screaming at the top of there lungs until three in the morning. The cops hustle them away, but they come back ten minutes later and start up again. I've found crap and used tampons literally three feet from my door. I've also found them sleeping on my stairs. If you don't live in that situation then you don't have any right to be high and mighty about how harmless the bums are. If you do, then I guess you're a better person than I am.</p>
<p>^^Preach on, sistah. Hallelujah!~</p>
<p>I come from Palo Alto/Saratoga/San Jose area (i.e. close to Stanford and where real estate value is more than a million). You just don't see many homeless people there (atleast near the homes and all the tech companies). At Cal however, I for the very first time met the most homeless people. And let me tell you that they are not a problem at all.</p>
<p>Now Berkeley High School thugs..</p>
<p>I have to admit as a NYer who does not do a lot of traveling I was surprised when H and I visited San Diego and saw the amount of homeless people there. Coming from NY that is a huge comment to make but I really did not expect it but should have due to the nice weather.:-)</p>
<p>I would have to say, if I was homeless sunny California is where I would want to be. As a parent, I would not be concerned about it. Like any college, do the safety thing- never walk alone at night etc...</p>
<p>Or bike. I ride around at wee hours (11pm-3am) frequently and have never had a problem. </p>
<p>And yes, if anything, Berkeley High kids are more of a problem than the hobos. Neither one is a big deal, but comparatively, teh hoppos vs. teh thugmastaz = no contest.</p>
<p>Like everyone else said, high school kids are the bigger problem. Not necessarily Berkeley ones, just high school kids in general. Just look at the police reports: Almost every mugging and assault is done by kids 15-20.</p>
<p>Regarding bums and city life...Before I came to Berkeley, I used to think Southside was such a crazy place and I hated it. Now that I actually live in Berkeley, I see that Southside is TAME! The only real urban part of it is directly on Telegraph and at People's Park. Most other places in Southside are residential and, by nature of the fact that at least 10,000 middle-class students are living there, actually suburban. The kids bring their suburban-ness with them and so the culture is overwhelmingly suburban. If you're living in any UC-sponsored housing or anything East of the units, you can almost avoid bums altogether.</p>
<p>You should only have a problem if you live in the midst of businesses in Downtown Berkeley or directly on Telegraph. In these cases, the bums are unavoidable because you have to pass them all the time to get to your apartment. I've had a few bad experiences with Downtown bums that turned me from a bum supporter to bum hater. But at least it made me realize how non-dangerous the southside actually is (when you're not walking alone at 3am).</p>
<p>People should stop being hobophobic and recognize that although homeless people are dirty, sometimes crazy, and often demand money from you they rarely try to hurt you. Now those uneducated highschool kids they are a different story, stay away from those wierdos because I think they're the ones who are more likely to harass you.</p>