A surprising lack of beggars

I suppose this is anecdotal evidence at best, but I haven’t really had a big problem with people asking me for money.

Coming to Phoenix I was under the impression that all the homeless people come to Phoenix because the weather is so good even during the winter that it’s not so very cold when you sleep on the streets.

That being said in November a homeless woman carried around the baby she delivered herself on the street and initial new reports mentioned that the baby “had turned blue from the cold” but it might have been blue since it wasn’t breathing. They mentioned that the homeless woman was “a known drug user and likely had a mental problems”.

I have a friend in Lubbock that did live in a homeless shelter in Phoenix, and he relayed that there were a lot of homeless in Phoenix as well. One of the local conservative radio talk show hosts was homeless at one time.

I’ve seen a few of them at intersections, stop lights and the like, but staying on the lane that’s not immediately beside the curb seems to work; but I haven’t had anyone yet come directly up to me and ask me for money. So that’s cool. I did take a trip to Tucson, and at the gas station a woman asked me for money and twice in November at a Jack in the Box by Indian School and 7th Avenue I was asked for money, but none since my time in January has started.

I think it’s that I’m starting to get a tad more cynical, and that I’m taking pains to avoid them. I was asked for money by people in Lubbock a few times, but I think that was just because of the exact area I lived in, and after awhile I was able to avoid them. I guess I’ve already gotten good at avoiding them here.