r/TikTokCringe • u/New_Libran • 26d ago

Discussion The easiest $30k this guy ever made

On October 26, 2022, the judge ruled that Walden's contact with Land should have ended when it became clear that Land was not sleeping in the park or in need of assistance, and that the city was not responsible for Walden's actions.

On November 22, 2022, the city settled the lawsuit for $30,000.

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u/CrewBig4092 26d ago

As an ignorant person living in the Mediterranean, why is it illegal in the US to sleep in a park? Again sorry for my ignorance just trying to understand.

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u/Level9TraumaCenter 26d ago

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread."

-Anatole France, from The Red Lily (Le Lys Rouge), Chapter 7, 1894.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/YeshilPasha 26d ago

Progressive tax is a thing.

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u/egospiers 26d ago

We hate homeless people (that may be universal)
… it’s getting harder and harder to simply find a public restroom in large cities for the same reason.

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u/ZeroCleah 26d ago

I don't think it's really about hating homeless as hating what they cause but honestly many culture mess up public restrooms for everyone. Same thing goes for parks homeless people go through the trash and leave everything on the floor other homeless use their free time to clean up a little bit I'd say messy ones are more common. Personally I don't love them or hate them but I wish my country would get them help rather than ignore them or even worse profit off of them at the expense of taxpayers by paying themselves 500k salaries or getting their buddies 20 million dollar contracts to renovate 20 apartments.

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u/randdude220 26d ago

Why not just make the public bathrooms only accessible through inserting money like in many places around the world

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u/OpenGrainAxehandle 26d ago

We hate homeless people

We also hate allowing people to own homes. And we hate paying working people enough to afford rent.

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u/stargrazer10 25d ago

Even sadder is the rise of the Karen. Back in the old days, people saw joy and light in each other (no smartphones to keep us amused). Now, mostly cranky boomer types favorite passtime and retirement hobby, is just randomly calling the cops on whoever they can. I mean it's an egregious waste of taxpayer resources, and puts people's lives at risk. Someone in power will eventually have to incriminate those who do so, and lie about what they said they saw. I dont understand it, but the habit is increasing unf

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u/Turbulent-Baker-4638 26d ago

It’s not illegal unless it’s after hours (determined by the park I guess) and you can’t sleep overnight and set up tents, etc. Maybe some other jargon about loitering. Also no homeless people because the U.S. hates what it creates. 

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u/bokmcdok 26d ago

That's nuts. Camping overnight in parks is one of my favourite things to do. Get some beers, barbecue and music and you're golden.

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u/wazeltov 26d ago

You can 100% camp in a park in a designated spot. There's a small reservation fee for doing so.

You cannot camp in a park in an undesignated area after park hours.

These laws are usually aimed at reducing homeless populations, or to ensure that everybody that uses the park helps pay for it's maintenance. Campers are supposed to leave their areas clean, but I'm sure everyone knows that doesn't always happen.

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u/gormami 26d ago

The US hates to see what it created

Fixed it for you.

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u/Turbulent-Baker-4638 26d ago

Creates is correct because it’s currently still happening. 

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u/gormami 26d ago

I misread the comment. First pass I thought you were saying the US hates what homelessness creates, not that the US hates the homelessness it created. So I think we're on the same page.

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u/Turbulent-Baker-4638 26d ago

Ah I see. All good! Same page indeed 

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u/Neonvaporeon 26d ago

It's not illegal to sleep in parks as a whole, but it's against city ordinance typically (which means illegal in that case.) When a policeman comes up to you and wakes you up, they will ask you to leave. If you don't leave, that is a violation of a lawful order, resisting without violence, civil disturbance, obstruction of peace, or some combination of those and other offenses. This is called multiplicity or multiplicious charging, and it's very common. If it goes to court, a lot of those offenses are struck down by the judge, only most fitting charges are retained.

As for why, usually to deter homeless people. A lot of Americans associate homeless people with drug users who leave dangerous litter and debris behind, or commit crimes. The objectivity of this association isn't relevant because city ordinances have the lowest bars to pass as legal in our system. Besides that, many "ordinances" aren't technically ordinances, they are resolutions, but that's getting too technical.

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u/smtp_pro 26d ago

I think our perception of homelessness is skewed because the reality is - most homeless people are just people trying to get by. They're kind people who just had unfortunate events happen to them.

Our exposure to homeless people is usually limited to the ones masturbating in public, committing crimes and so on. So we think all homeless people are like that.

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u/Level_Cardiologist36 26d ago

As someone from the US, other than an excuse to oppress, I have absolutely no idea. Excuses are "safety" and the homeless, as far as I am aware.

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u/CamOliver 26d ago

Well first we marginalized a ton of people, now we are making it illegal for anyone to exist. Seems pretty straight forward…

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u/Last-Appointment6577 26d ago

> we are making it illegal for anyone to exist

outside certain parameters where you're either making someone money or spending said money, believe me when I say they only want you to exist if it is serving the capitalist society.

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u/blastedt 26d ago

It's because a lot of people in our government here fucking hate the homeless and would prefer that they die

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u/GardinerExpressway 26d ago

It's illegal in plenty of Mediterranean countries too so you might be ignorant about more than just US law

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u/CrewBig4092 26d ago

Who hurt you?

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u/JaxOrSmthng 26d ago

welcome to reddit

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u/_le_slap 26d ago

Homelessness is an indictment of our economic system and treatment of veterans with PTSD. Makes us feel icky.

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u/flexxipanda 26d ago

Homeless people reduce profits.

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u/dodekahedron 26d ago

It might mean you are homeless and not paying taxes.

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u/eoz 26d ago

oh, that's because people keep doing it

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u/OnlyAnotherEmily 26d ago

It's anti-homeless laws.

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u/Weird-Information-61 26d ago

There's a lot of wording gymnastics that basically makes it illegal to be publicly homeless in a lot of cities

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u/South-Fun-1866 26d ago

It's a homeless thing. I was at a park on a nice day once in college with friends and I dozed off. A police officer nudged me to wake up. He said I couldn't do that there. I told him I wasn't homeless but rather enjoying the day. He said, "I can't discriminate on this. No sleeping here."

I at least respected that he wasn't profiling but it still stinks.

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u/stargrazer10 25d ago

"This guy wants to tell me we're living in a community. Don't make me laugh. I'm living in America, and in America, you're on your own. America's not a country anymore. It's just a business. Now fucking pay me." ~Jackie Cogan

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u/Leprecon 25d ago

Basically they can't make it a crime to be homeless. So instead they make it a crime to sleep in public, or to 'loiter' (being in a public place for an extended amount of time).

This way the police can arrest or force homeless people to go away.