I can’t help but notice the regular population of homeless on Green Street, the equivalent of our university’s business district.

Sleeping on benches or begging for change, I’m sure that these individuals are attracted to the area because of easy access to the change in students’ pockets.

The routine sight of, for example, someone sleeping underneath the awning of the U of I sports merchandise store near Green and Wright, which I saw last Saturday as families passed by on their way to the football game, detracts from the atmosphere of this area.

While I have gotten to know some of the individuals who can regularly be found walking around Green Street, I don’t think that ignoring this problem, as the local police and the University are wont to do, benefits either the homeless or the students who make this area their only accessible place of entertainment and relaxation.