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The news story:
The local Committee on Homelessness is looking for volunteers to help with a second 2007 count of Clark County's homeless population.The summer homeless census, scheduled for 2 a.m. on July 31, should help determine whether the county's homeless population differs from season to season, organizers said.
A January tally determined that about 11,369 people are homeless in the county on any given day.
The Southern Nevada Regional Planning Commission's Committee on Homelessness uses the numbers when applying for federal and other aid to help fight homelessness. The Department of Housing and Urban Development uses the numbers to help determine the amount of aid it provides.
The count is part of a $325,000 contract with Applied Survey Research, a California-based nonprofit social research firm that has completed similar counts in Los Angeles and Atlanta.
Which means, first off, that we've got a company with a vested interest in their being a lot of homeless people - and thus with an incentive to not look to closely at the numbers they generate...and, of course, the local government which hired the company also has no incentive to look closely at the numbers because the higher the number, the greater the amount of federal swag for the county.
Solution: Give me 100k: I'll stand out in Fremont Street offering $5 for each homeless person who comes up to be counted...and have his index finger dipped in indelible ink so there is no double-counting. My bet is that I'd end up with more than 50k left for myself.
Its a win/win/win deal - the taxpayer saves $225,000, the homeless get the price of a meal (or six pack, as the case may be) and I make a tidy sum while doing a public service...
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I've got the solution over at Battle Born Politics... [Read More]
Mark:
If you were a Democrat, for that same five dollars you could not only count the homeless, you could register them and fill in their absentee ballots.
Then again, if you were a Democrat, you'd pocket the entire $100,000 and still do their voting for them.
You might offer them a cigarette, as long as you told them it was bad for them.
Posted by: MagicalPat at July 11, 2007 6:30 AM
What makes you think non-homeless people wouldn't line up to collect their free $5?
Posted by: longz at July 11, 2007 7:27 AM
What makes you think non-homeless people wouldn't line up to collect their free $5?
That doesn't pass the smell test. Oh wait...
Posted by: MagicalPat at July 11, 2007 10:08 AM
Longz,
Pat got it - and that is a problem I've considered.
My first inclination was to hold it in the middle of a workday - but then there still is a high risk of Democrats getting in line. But I think I've got it figured out now:
Have Barry Manilow sing...there will then be two types of people down there: "Fanilows" who would mostly be middle aged women, and bums who are willing to do just about anything to get $5 for beer...
Posted by: Mark Noonan at July 11, 2007 9:04 PM
