We Can't Have the Homeless Funkifying the Messiah's Coronation

Hope and change? -- From the steam grates of Pennsylvania Avenue to the porticoes of the city's grand buildings, homeless Washingtonians who live inside the nation's tightest security zone are being encouraged to decamp during the inauguration for shelters in the city's outer neighborhoods.The security sweeps will probably begin Monday. Buses will make one-way trips to two of the District's largest shelters, which will remain open round-the-clock, said D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6)."Everyone has to be out of the perimeter by then," Wells said.Although everyone is required to be out, homeless people, like all residents, could line up to watch the festivities on the Mall or the parade route. They must, however, follow the bans on large duffel bags and suitcases.The issue is how to avoid making people feel like they are being "carted off," Wells said.In years past, U.S. cities grappling with sizable homeless populations rounded them up in mass arrests, bought them one-way bus tickets to nearby states or gave them movie passes to keep them out of sight during such events as the Olympics or political conventions, said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.