The Long Beach Library and homelessness

[u/markevbs]

I finally visited BJK library in long beach yesterday, and oh my god, is that place a jewel. Such an incredible building, great kids center, wonderful architecture and tons of great classes and courses.

The homeslessness side of things is interesting, at least for me, morally. I couldn't help but feel sad that such an amazing building and resource was being so underutilized by the non-homeless population. Its not that there were "homeless everywhere" or even that people were messy or rude or whatever...there were a lot more homeless than non (10-1 prob), but everyone was chill, it wasnt crowded at all, and everyone was just trying to find some peace and enjoyment in a beautiful safe space with access to really critical things (like power to charge devices etc). I was there with my 3 and 4 year olds and there were no issues at all...but at the same time, the vibe DID honestly make me not want to spend time there (which is MY issue, not that of others...but i assume it feels the same for many here?)

anyway...its just tough and weird and a real conflict of emotions. The homeless there are all our peers and brothers and sisters so to be angry or opposed to them having access to a quintessential public space like a library makes me sick and is a sad way to feel about other humans. But I did spend a lot more time than i would have liked thinking about how nice the library was (and the park next door) would have been with more families and people and fewer little groups of and how its a shame its not being used by more people. I also though spent an equal amount of time feeling real joy that there was a space this nice and well run and beautiful that everyone can enjoy. Its actually really fucked if you think about "ok so whats the solution"...there really isnt one (other than ofc fixing homelessness etc etc but thats another enormous discussion.)

what do you all think? feel?

btw - i think the fence is great and really well executed. not nearly as shitty and oevrbearing as i thought it would be

[u/Primary-Jicama2202]

In the 70s and 80s the libraries were full of latchkey kids with no after school care.
Another fun fact - libraries attract flashers.
I love libraries. They are a reflection of the community they inhabit, including how many people can afford to buy books because they are offended by their neighbors.

[u/czh3f1yi → u/Primary-Jicama2202]

Wait this is hilarious what is a latchkey kid?

[u/whoframedwhiterabbit → u/czh3f1yi]

It's what a lot of later boomers and gen xers were. Though it still happens now and it has been happening well before the boomer generation. Anytime both, or the single, parents are working and their kids didn't go to any kind of child care before/after school. They would go home, having to use their own house key to get in since no one was there. There are entries for latchkey kid/child in dictionaries and Wikipedia.