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Homeless — Where your money goes, Part IV: The rising costs of cruelty

February 22, 2023 By Eric Caine 15 Comments

Alfie in Graceada Park, Modesto, Dec. 2022

In June, 2022, the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury released a report on homelessness noting that despite increasing costs, homelessness has gotten worse countywide. The report cited lack of focus and accountability among a myriad of agencies as critical factors in failed efforts to manage the county’s growing homeless population. Stanislaus County is not alone in failure. Throughout the entire state of California, a major negative influence has been the […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Homeless: Where your money goes, Part III: The costly effects of good intentions

February 9, 2023 By Eric Caine 9 Comments

Streets of Modesto December 22

Despite the expenditure of billions of dollars, homelessness in California continues to burgeon. While every city and county throughout the state faces different challenges  trying to manage the problem, there are enough similarities that all can learn from one another’s failures. Stanislaus County and the City of Modesto offer typical examples of tactics that have failed again and again. ed Frank Ploof may know more about homelessness in Stanislaus County […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Reports of Treatment Center Shutdown Disturb Modesto’s Mayor

February 7, 2023 By Eric Caine 11 Comments

Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen and Stanislaus County Supervisor Mani Grewal, September, 2022

Like many of the city’s residents, Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen was caught by surprise when she read that the county’s “Genesis” drug treatment center was closing down. The center is located in Modesto. “All I know is what I read in the paper and the math doesn’t work out,” said Zwahlen. “As a mayor and a nurse I’m always concerned when people who need and want help can’t get it. […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Aegis Drug Treatment Modesto, Genesis closure Modesto, Genesis Drug Treatment Modesto

Frohman: Fix Modesto’s Three Can Catastrophe Now

February 2, 2023 By Bruce Frohman 39 Comments

Modesto's three can garbage plan

Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen recently advised a disgruntled citizen that the city’s new three-can collection program for garbage waste is only a six-month “pilot program.” While most pilot programs are tested in small areas of town, the Modesto City Council implemented the garbage collection experiment throughout the city, formulating rules with minimal citizen input. Now, the consequences of their dubious decisions have affected the entire city. At the end of […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Modesto Garbage Collection, Modesto's Three Can Garbage Collection

Homeless — Where your Money goes Part II: The Black Hole of Law Enforcement

January 30, 2023 By Eric Caine 16 Comments

Modesto arrest 2022

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s pledge to dedicate $750 million of the state’s 2023-2024 budget to sweeps of homeless camps is only the latest example of the extravagant waste of taxpayer dollars on futile tactics aimed at reducing homelessness. In all, the new budget will devote $15.3 billion to homelessness, even though the state has already spent billions more, only to see a continual rise in numbers of people experiencing homelessness. […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Homeless — where your money goes, Part I: The Black Hole of Rehab

January 24, 2023 By Eric Caine 16 Comments

Stanislaus Recovery Center 16 Dec 22

No one should have been surprised when the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury found that local attempts to manage homelessness lacked focus, accountability, and positive results, despite the expenditure of millions of dollars.  Like efforts to reduce homelessness most everywhere, Stanislaus County’s bewildering array of nonprofits, government agencies, and volunteer efforts fails for many reasons, but among the most common is the mistaken notion that rehabilitation should be the first […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and drug use, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Riding the “S”: On the Bus with Tom Portwood

January 24, 2023 By Tom Portwood 19 Comments

Modesto Arch and bus

An icy wind buffeted mushrooming rainclouds in early January as two men sat in wheelchairs by a bus stop on Oakdale Road in Modesto, waiting for the 32 bus. It was running late, all the buses that afternoon likely slowed by the atmospheric river that had swept across the northern San Joaquin Valley that same day. One of the men was clothed in jeans and bright yellow pajama tops. He […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Modesto public transit

Is Modesto’s New Blue Can Worth the Trouble?

January 8, 2023 By Bruce Frohman 32 Comments

Modesto's Blue Recycle Waste Bin

For Modesto residents, the New Year is already more troublesome and more expensive, and it’s only just begun. The new one percent sales tax increase and higher garbage collection rates are bad enough. Then there’s the new recycling program and its complicated disposal system. As the city’s website says, all residences must have three large waste cans — blue, black, and green — even though they may have space enough […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: City of Modesto Blue Waste Can, City of Modesto Recycled Waste Program

Overdoses at the Recovery Center? Yes

December 29, 2022 By Eric Caine 14 Comments

Stanislaus County Recovery Center, December, 2022

On December 8, we asked Stanislaus County CEO Jody Hayes whether rumors about fentanyl overdoses at the Stanislaus Recovery Center (SRC) were true. SRC is the county facility for treatment of drug addiction and mental illness. We also asked how many residents had been evicted from Stanislaus County’s low barrier shelter since January 1, and how many were denied entry since that time. Finally, we asked how many seriously mentally […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

Homeless: The Saints Who Walk among Us

December 22, 2022 By Debra DeLash 27 Comments

Debra DeLash delivers sleeeping bags to homeless people

Those who frequent the streets, alleys, parks and hideaways of the homeless often encounter humble missionaries of hope and charity. These are the people who feed, clothe and comfort the lost and forlorn on an endless mission of hope and charity. Almost always, they are people of modest means who embody the true spirit of Christmas all year long in humble acts of ministering to the poor. Many are faith-based; […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in Modesto, Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley

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Off The Wire

?Monster Fracks? Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
“Monster Fracks” Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
A Times analysis shows that increasingly complex oil and gas wells now require astonishing volumes of water to fracture the bedrock and release fossil fuels, threatening America’s fragile aquifers.
www.nytimes.com
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has 'paralyzed' California cities
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has ‘paralyzed’ California cities
The Democratic governor’s intervention lays down a mark in a legal dispute with potentially profound implications for one of California’s most pressing issues.
www.politico.com
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.
www.propublica.org
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How bad is hunger in California? A lot depends on your access to food aid, which expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but now is being reduced.
calmatters.org
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento County had nearly 9,300 homeless people in 2022, based on data from the annual Point in Time count. That was up 67% from 2019. Roughly three-quarters of the county’s homeless population….
www.mercurynews.com
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
After decades of minimal action, Congress passed the largest and most comprehensive piece of climate legislation in U.S. history. Will we make the most of this opportunity?
www.audubon.org
How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
How the fentanyl crisis’ fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
The epidemic’s staggering scale and infiltration of communities is laid bare in a new study.
www.bbc.com
Can licensed tent villages ease California's homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Can licensed tent villages ease California’s homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Taking people off the street and into tents is a new twist on homeless shelter being explored by the San Francisco-based Urban Alchemy in two tent villages operating in Los Angeles and Culver City.
www.latimes.com
Mississippi has problems, but it's handling homelessness better than L.A.
Mississippi has problems, but it’s handling homelessness better than L.A.
The public tends to blame homelessness on poverty, drug use, crime or even warm weather. But other cities don’t have L.A. levels of street homelessness because they have more available housing.
www.latimes.com
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
The demonstrators raised “Heil Hitler” salutes and waved flags with swastikas.
www.thedailybeast.com
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom's CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom’s CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Gov. Gavin Newsom?s experiment to push Californians with mental illness off the streets and into treatment, CARE Court, starts soon.
calmatters.org
Pope says 'backward' U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope says ‘backward’ U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the U.S. Catholic Church. He says they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.
apnews.com

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The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
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Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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