Politics is all about convenience – and there’s nothing more convenient than a vague and nebulous classification:
Especially one with emotional leverage.
How many communities have allowed housing complexes that will serve elderly residents – that turned out to be high-crime, felon and sex offender dumping grounds — with a scattering of elderly as perennial victims.
The “Homeless” designation is the perfect heart-tugging catch-all to disguise the problems of drug addiction, violent crime, and under-the-radar serial killers passing through.
Dumping your problems on someone else is more convenient than trying to solve them yourself – and more practical. It changes: “I’m no good for not solving them” to “you’re selfish if you don’t accept them.”
The Cornell-Ithaca machine “allocates burdens” to the other towns in the county – while keeping all the benefits to themselves.
It’s not that residents don’t understand what’s going on – it’s just that Tompkins County is not a representative government – and these days: it doesn’t even bother to hide it.
When corruption reaches a level of blatant display and whispered stories — it’s past remediation.