Prince William Fortunate to Avoid Sleeping Ban

This story is originally from the website of centre point, an organisation whose mission is "to give homeless young people a future". I found it in Yahoo! attributed to the associated press - where they are trying to claim the rights to it, as they do with most of the worlds' news. Set that aside for now, and as Christmas approaches, think of what it would be like to sleep outside in the slush and ice where someone could kill you while you sleep even if you're rugged enough to survive the weather. Here's another of those stories that makes me wonder whether the Revolution was a good idea, or perhaps we need another one:

http://www.centrepoint.org.uk/

Prince William sleeps out on London's streets to raise awareness

At a dinner Prince William attended in March 2009 to support Centrepoint, the Prince, our Patron, threw down the gauntlet for us to work towards ending youth homelessness by our 50th anniversary. In accepting that challenge, I invited him to share, for one night, the experience a young person sleeping rough on the streets of London might have. It did not occur to me that he would pick up that gauntlet. But he did! He was determined, as he has always been, to understand deeply the full range of problems a homeless young person might face.

And so it was that on the eve of our 40th anniversary (on the night of 15th December 2009), I found myself accompanying Prince William and his private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, as we bedded down for the night on cardboard boxes around Blackfriars bridge, London. For me, it was a scary experience. Out of my comfortable bed. Out there in the elements. Out there on an extremely cold night, with temperatures down to minus 4oC. And it was the same for Prince William. But he was determined to do it as Patron in order to raise awareness of the problem and to be able to understand a little better what rough sleepers go through night after night.

story continues at:

http://www.centrepoint.org.uk/be-informed/media-centre/centrepoint-news/prince-william-sleeps-out-on-londons-streets-to-raise-awareness

the only thing AP added to their version was the mention of Diana - who was the official patron of centre point prior her son William. She introduced him to the shelter in 1996, when he was 13. The British royalty don't have actual political power, but they do have prestige, much like most of our elected mayors in towns that are afflicted with the council-manager form of city government, where the City Manager rules, except for the few moments when the council is not asleep and capable of acting in unity and upon accurate information. In Santa Cruz, for instance you can't really blame the mayor for the sleeping ban and related ordinances because they are written by a bureaucratic cabal whose word is accepted as golden by most council members. (wasn't Rotkin once one of them?)

We don't see the royalty of Santa Cruz joining the homeless in their plight do we?
Former Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne DID stay in Cabrini Green for a full month with her husband, and she was a real mayor. In those years, Cabrini was a close rival to outright homelessness
That is indeed one thing a Mayor could do to raise awareness and exert influence.

May the 3 ghosts visit the worst among us

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

David Roknich
http://electromagnet.us/dogspot/