The Perils of Private Provision of Public Goods
On an anecdotal note: As someone who is self employed, I used to sit at Starbucks a lot to get work done in a different environment than my home. Getting out really helps me.<p>However, I&#x27;ve started to avoid Starbucks because of the homeless issue. I&#x27;m in SoCal, and I completely relate to the struggles of the homeless. I even donate my time to a local food pantry and our shelter. The smell and crazy stares are one thing, but what really drives me away is the bathroom use. The Starbucks near me have 1-2 bathrooms, and it&#x27;s happened to me that these bathrooms can be occupied by a homeless person for 30+ minutes. This is an unreasonable amount of time for me to wait when I have to go and coffee is a diuretic.<p>Now when I want to work outside my home I drive to a library that&#x27;s in an area without public transportation or nearby places for the homeless to congregate, and I can use it because of that. There&#x27;s a starbucks with similar characteristics (not near public transport, no place to congregate near by), but it&#x27;s too far. The library that&#x27;s closer to me, the one I would prefer to go to, is completely overrun by homeless.<p>The homeless issue is so complex. Every solution has its pros and cons. The terrible thing is that there seems to be two sides to our communities and each side seems to only see the pros or cons of any solution (depending on their ideological bend) while the other does the same. No one seems to be weighing the pros AND cons in a reasonable way, or accepting that there are no perfect solutions. The issue is so polarized, even very intelligent people seem incapable of even admitting something as simple, and I would hope obvious, as the fact that any solution will have pros and cons. It&#x27;s as if there&#x27;s no getting past &#x27;the other tribe has terrible ideas&#x27; mentality.