Just after noon on April 6, Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen, Stanislaus County Supervisor Vito Chiesa, and Congressman Josh Harder boarded one of Modesto’s zero emission […]
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Homeless: The Enduring Madness of Sweeps
Consider the case of a 74 year old woman who stood, sat, and slept in plain sight on the concrete along a busy street just outside Modesto’s city limits for over six weeks, her pants soiled with her own waste, her fingernails and toenails grotesquely untended, and the space around her littered with trash and garbage. Consider also that she is almost certainly developmentally disabled, has an authorized payee, and […]
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RIP Edward “White Horse” Mendez
With a profile that could easily have served as the “heads” side of an American coin honoring its native residents, Edward “White Horse” Mendez was a legendary presence among the small circle of homeless people who lived in and frequented Modesto’s Beard Brook Park. He died Wednesday, March 10. He was sixty-eight years old. “White Horse taught me how to survive out here,” said one man several decades his junior. […]
Homeless: The Band-Aid Fallacy
Not long after the public launch of Stanislaus County’s “Focus on Prevention” program in October of 2015, Joseph Dean Dodd knew he had to do something positive for homeless people and do it soon. Dodd’s own experience as a homeless person and his position as President and Pastor of Church in the Park give him an on-the-ground perspective about poverty and homelessness that most people lack, even the best intentioned. […]
Can New Mayor and Council Reverse Modesto’s Decline?
The new Modesto City Council, headed by Mayor Sue Zwahlen, has a lot of work to do. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, the public has been growing less respectful of the law and of other citizens. Ever since I departed from the Modesto City Council in 2003, I’ve noticed a continuous decline in the quality of life within the community. From my narrow viewpoint, determining how fast problems are growing […]
Local Agencies Shirk Groundwater Accountability
Local experts on water and water use like Vance Kennedy were apoplectic when farmers planted almonds and walnuts in the foothills of eastern Stanislaus County, where one of the last viable aquifers in the San Joaquin Valley provided enough groundwater for tens of thousands of acres of trees. “That aquifer should be saved for use in an emergency,” said Kennedy, a retired hydrologist formerly with U.S. Geological Survey. Today, obeying […]