Dallas City Library/Homeless Hangout

Recently the Dallas Observer ran an article about the homeless problem around/in the library. This is something that is very personal to me. Libraries are very important in communities. I remember practically spending summers at the library when I was a child. My sister and I would walk there by ourselves with a packed lunch to spend the day at the library reading or participating in the activities offered at our local library. We did this in lieu of having a baby sitter; we were very well behaved kids and were NEVER asked to leave or even to quiet down in the library. My parents were never worried about us being at the library, they knew we were not going to be out screwing around getting into trouble and they didn’t worry about anyone doing anything horrible to us. But… that was 20 years ago. Things have changed. The main branch of the Dallas City Library is down town, it’s the biggest library and it has the best resources. It has a whole floor devoted to genealogy stuff (my mom’s favorite floor) and occasionally it has some interesting exhibits (the Bonnie and Clyde exhibit was very cool), it also has a huge homeless problem. I remember being in high school and going to the main library with my mother on the weekend. Walking around the building to the main entrance was an absolute assault on the senses. Various places just reeked of urine. And god forbid you have to use some of the bathrooms on the main floor, they generally were pretty ripe also and littered with paper towels, etc. from the homeless washing up in there. Once in the building and busy looking for literature or what have you, you usually had little or no contact with homeless people. Those days are past. In the past 10 + years since my high school days the library has added a large section of public computer terminals with free internet access. For some reason this attracts the homeless to the library like magnets to a fridge. When they are not utilizing the computers to do things like surf the web, check e-mail or access porn they are either sitting at the tables trying not to fall asleep (no sleeping in the library!) or bothering patrons. Last year a child was sexually assaulted in a bathroom at the library, several patrons have been harassed, threatened and assaulted IN the library. One person I know personally told me of her trek to the library one spring day last year, she parked in the underground parking and took the elevator up thus avoiding the pungent aroma by the doors. As she sat down to do some research she felt someone touch her on the shoulder – not just a tap but a whole hand touching her shoulder. She started and turned to find a smelly unbathed man standing behind her, he said “Show me your titties.” She something like ‘get the fuck away from me’ and he persisted bothering her for a moment, ending with her elbowing him sharply. Thinking the incident was over she became absorbed in her research. 20 or so minutes later she heard what she thought was water trickling down the windows near her (it was raining that day), then she heard muttering near her. The above mentioned smelly unbathed man was pissing on her denim jacket she had placed on the chair next to her. She left the jacket and complained to the librarian. The man was removed and she was given a gift certificate to the store in the library. Still… that doesn’t make the incident not have happened for her.

There is no way in hell I would go to the main branch of the Dallas Library with my kids, hell I wouldn’t even go by my self these days and that is sad. I was discussing this with my sister. Why is there such a problem at the library? Why isn’t the city doing something about it? Why did the city let it get THIS bad? Why aren’t more residents of Dallas outraged that their tax money has gone to the expansion and maintenance of the library when they are not evening keeping their patrons safe? Dallas is not THAT bad of a city, it’s not all that scary so WHY is our main library a haven for homeless? I know part of it is that the homeless don’t really have anyplace to go during the day and it does get awfully hot in Dallas, but damn the library should not be a place I am afraid to take my children. Why can’t the city place officers in the library to patrol and keep patrons safe? Why aren’t there some kind of alarms to sound when there is a homeless issue in the library – like in the hospital (Code Pink – infant abduction, Code Red – Fire, Code Rush Show of authority to neutralize a situation, etc.) to help with the situation because the current practice of removing someone from the library and banning them temporarily is not good enough.

I’m lucky I suppose living North of Dallas in a nice city with a wonderful library. It’s just a shame the main Dallas library isn’t like that.