Louisville

When I was in Louisville, Kentucky I spent about a year or so on the streets there also. There is a huge difference between Louisville and Fort Lauderdale though. The way the 2 cities treat the homeless are completely different.

In Louisville they almost embrace the homeless, where in Fort Lauderdale, they try to push them away and want to forget homeless people exist. Pretty shitty.

My first week in Louisville, it was mid January, so it was pretty darn cold up there. I remember that I was wandering around about 4am looking for a place to sleep, and I came upon a park in the city (Central Park). Well I wander around the park looking for a place to sleep and the first thing I seen was an outdoor stage but it was in no way a place to sleep, there was cover but it was open window and doorways, the wind could blow right through it.

I continued looking around and found that the bathrooms were left unlocked at night and when I opened the door, the bathroom was heated and I was alone, so I put my blanket down on the floor and laid down. I was so happy to find a warm place for the night to sleep. I just got to sleep when I heard the door bang open, I looked up and seen 2 Louisville cops standing there. I hurried up and got my wallet to show them my ID and the one cop looked at me and told me to relax.

He said they just seen me enter the bathroom and wanted to make sure I had blankets that I was ok. I was shocked, in Fort Lauderdale, they would've kicked me out or arrested me for trespassing. They gave me an extra blanket and a gift card to McDonald's and told me good luck, they also explained to me where to go to get a warm shower, food and any clothing that I may need.

They left and I went back to sleep, later on the maintenance lady opened the door to clean, she was like rise and shine time to go. So I got up to leave and she shook my hand and slipped me $5. Told me good luck. And that I was welcome to stay in that bathroom as much as I needed to as long as I kept my trash picked up when I left each morning.

This was my first real experience being homeless in Louisville, and I have a lot more to share, so stick around.