LETTER: Mayor Carolyn Goodman’s war on the homeless

In the Review-Journal’s Wednesday report “Few penalized in first year of Las Vegas homeless camping ban,” it appears at first blush that Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman committed the political sin of speaking the truth. When observing an encampment of extremely poor people, she said, “I just figured, leave them alone.”

But then I remembered one of my many opportunities to see the multi-agency homeless outreach team in action. One Saturday morning while waiting for breakfast at The Field, a force of government storm troopers swarmed into action against one such encampment. With their mini-bulldozer and armed law enforcement officers, they efficiently stole what little property this unfortunate group had accumulated.

I spoke out a year ago against this effort to criminalize sleep among the extremely poor as just another form of harassment of the most vulnerable among us. One would think her zeal for kicking those who are down would diminish, but Mayor Goodman continues to find support from those who, while the most able to make a positive difference, choose to join the mob attacking the Las Vegas poor.

With or without the pandemic, these citizens will continue to suffer the “terrible time” under Mayor Goodman’s reign of terror against the poor.