The June 1 meeting of the Stanislaus County’s “Focus on Prevention” homeless project featured a reality check from Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll. Let’s hope people were listening. Chief Carroll admitted that the current policy of busting and rousting homeless people doesn’t work. “It’s like squeezing a water balloon,” he said. He said that the majority of homeless people are not anti-social. He also said that most homeless people aren’t […]
History
OID Program Fails Transparency Test Says Director
In the following statement released to local media, newly elected Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) board member Linda Santos says the OID On-farm Conservation Program has not been openly and adequately explained to the public. I ran for the Oakdale Irrigation District board to help bring transparency and accountability to the district, and I have spent tremendous effort to do just that. Keeping our community’s water local is essential. With too many […]
Modesto Convention Center Loses Again
Ever since the Modesto Convention Center opened in the 1980s, it’s had an operating loss. The deficit results from failure to find renters most days of the year. The Modesto Coin Club has held its annual shows at the center in June of every year for over 15 years. Despite the club’s loyalty, convention center management discouraged the club’s business and finally succeeded in getting rid of the non-profit. The […]
Will $15 Per Hour Hurt Valley Employment?
News Item: The State of California passed a $15 per hour minimum wage bill. In the San Joaquin Valley, many see $15 per hour as high income. The Valley has double the state’s average in unemployment and many minimum wage jobs. Farm laborers and restaurant workers often receive sub-minimum wages. Local competition for jobs has been fierce for years. Any advertised well-paying job will easily attract hundreds of applicants. Some […]
Homeless: The Addicts
For many people, it’s axiomatic that homelessness is the inevitable result of drug use and addiction, and drug use and addiction themselves are the wages of sin. Oddly, these views of addiction no longer prevail among white middle- and upper-class people whose friends and family members have become victims of a heroin epidemic brought on in large part by over-prescribed pain-killers. Recently, when Carly Fiorina interrupted a Republican presidential debate […]
Homeless: The Mentally Ill
Ramon Alvarez was a fixture in downtown Modesto for years, but by the time he made Jeff Jardine’s popular Modesto Bee column he was near death. Ramon was the “sign guy” or “the guy with the van” who regularly occupied various street corners near the Modesto Arch, protesting what he claimed were heinous crimes by the court system. While his long-term protest didn’t do much in the way of addressing […]
Homeless: The Costly Logic of Busts and Sweeps
Whether by coincidence or design, homeless people in Modesto’s parks have been subjected to heightened harassment and arrests ever since the new mayor and councilmembers took office. Despite the costs and lack of observable benefits, sweeps and busts are occurring more often than ever. Years ago Modesto residents learned through bitter experience that the police department was too short-handed to respond to burglaries and other petty crimes, yet lately there […]
Homeless: The Cruel Futility of Sweeps
Most homeless people spend almost all their time in public places. The chief reason is simple: There’s nowhere else to go. Yes, there are shelters at night, but they’re often full in bad weather. Pets and couples aren’t allowed (couples are split up). You take in and out only what you can carry. There’s no privacy. There’s enforced religion. The shelters close during the day. Homeless people in public places […]
Homeless? Get a Job!
You’re fifty-eight years old and you’ve been homeless for the most part of the last ten years. Surprisingly, you’re still strong and still have your mental faculties. But you know you can’t keep doing this. Like most homeless people, your teeth are grotesquely ruined. But you’ve learned Obamacare can help you get replacements. You apply in February. Little do you know you won’t have your teeth until October. When you’re […]
Homelessness: Whose Failure is it?
As a rule, homeless people fall into three or four broad categories. The three most common, “vagrants, transients, and addicts” are pejorative terms based on the notion that “these people” have brought their troubles on themselves. A fourth category suggests homeless people are “victims” of cruel society that has abandoned its most vulnerable members. All these ways of looking at homelessness contain grains of truth, but none really does much […]