Street people are people who live a public life on the streets of a city.[ Dictionary definition of "street people" - Dictionary.com][
Definition of "street people", Macmillan Dictionary] Street people are frequently homelessness, sometimes mental illness, and often have a transient lifestyle. The delineation of street people is primarily determined by residential arrangement and their location in the urban setting.
Well-known street people
Examples of well-known street people are José María López Lledín who lived a public life on the streets of
Havana during the 1950s, Mr. Butch of Boston,
Leslie Cochran of Austin, Juan of Seattle, or
Moondog ("Moondog") who was a street musician, inventor, and later homeless person in the 1940s through to 1970s in New York City.
Character of street people
Contemporary street people in the United States include
hippy, some of whom may be
who often ask for spare change on the streets;
[ "The Plague of Professional Panhandling" opinion by Steven Malanga in The Dallas Morning News August 26, 2008, accessed September 7, 2010] bag ladies who often have all their possessions in a shopping cart which accompanies them. They also may include street performers, and people with chronic
Mental disorder.
The term street people is used somewhat loosely and may be used simply to refer to eccentric people who live in Bohemian neighborhoods.[ "Republican Runs Street People on Green Ticket" article by Marc Lacey in The New York Times September 6, 2010, accessed September 7, 2010]
Code of the Road
Street people are said to have an unwritten code or set of rules that govern interaction between street people. Referred to as the "Code of the Road" it emerged from the Hobo camps of the depression era to encompass urban street people. The "Code of the Road" was detailed in
Xploited magazine.
As a social problem
Poor economic and social conditions can result in accumulations of the homeless, often called street people, in certain neighborhoods. This may result in revival of vagrancy laws, or similar laws which may prohibit lying or sitting on the street. Results and attitudes vary, especially as liberal communities attempt to grapple with large numbers of the homeless.
[ "Santa Cruz Reduces Street Crime, but Its Model Is Not Cheap" article by Scott James in The New York Times September 2, 2010, accessed September 7, 2010]
Notes
External links and further reading
