Observation #3

For my third observation I observed the homeless people from 5-6 p.m. during the dinner rush on Franklin Street. During this time the passersby looked more to be students than professionals walking by and getting a bite to eat. The guitar man from the second observation was out again at this time and he sat in his chair and quietly played his guitar, not bothering anyone surrounding him. People were very generous in giving him money at this time a day for some reason and his money jar was more full than in my second observation. The streets did also seem to be more crowded too. A group of homeless people were again out at this time of day and were interacting amongst themselves, laughing and talking to each other most of the time that I was observing. They would stare at certain individuals walking by and those individuals would seem as if they were uncomfortable and move to the opposite side of the sidewalk then where the homeless people were. No particular homeless person asked for money. The group of homeless people stayed on the bench in front of starbuck's and on the corner of Franklin and Columbia for the whole time that I was observing with a few of them walking aimlessly down the sidewalk for a little and then turning around. These people seemed to have no particular destination and just walked back and forth with the flow of traffic. 4 cops came up to the homeless people at around 5:30 and focused on the ones that were walking by themselves. They looked to be asking them questions or having a conversation with them. But when the police were having contact with the homeless people the avoidance of the passersby seemed to go down and more individuals were walking closely to the homeless people and would even look up at them as the walked by. One man even smiled and waved.