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Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
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Homelessness Modesto

Homeless? Gavin Newsom Passes the Buck

November 18, 2022 By Eric Caine 8 Comments

Man living in car, Modesto, 2021

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s presidential ambitions hinge as much on appearances as they do realities, and the unsightly presence of homeless people throughout California is a reality he can’t make disappear. Born of desperation fostered by the futility of his own efforts to eliminate homelessness, Newsom has decided to blame California’s mayors for his own failure to understand the fundamental nature of a humanitarian emergency that grows worse by the […]

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: Beard Brook Park Homeless camp, California homelessness, Caltrans homeless sweeps, Gavin Newsom homelessness, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness in California, Homelessness in the San Joaquin Valley, Homelessness Modesto

Homeless: Amputee Alan Davis is Safe Inside

August 18, 2020 By Eric Caine 5 Comments

Alan Davis and Frank Ploof, SRC, August 17, 2020

Alan Davis, the wheelchair-bound double amputee who has haunted the streets of Modesto for the last few years is safe inside — at least for now. Homeless outreach worker Randy Limburg found Davis near 9th and J Streets in downtown Modesto early in July, badly soiled and ravenously hungry. It wasn’t long after Davis’s friend and advocate Frank Ploof had found him across town and taken him for a shower […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Alan Davis homeless, Frank Ploof, Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness Modesto

Homeless: 20+ years on the streets

April 14, 2019 By Eric Caine 7 Comments

Kenneth “Pops” Yarber became homeless in 1995, not long after a brain aneurysm put him in a wheelchair. Suddenly, he was forty years old and on disability. Not long afterward, the bank foreclosed on his house on 4th Street in Modesto, and he began bouncing from the streets to short stays with friends and relatives. A few years later, Pops was convicted of passing bad checks and using stolen credit […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness Modesto, Homelessness Stanislaus County

City Finally Listens to Kristi Ah You on Homeless—Maybe

September 20, 2018 By Eric Caine 9 Comments

After the tents popped up in Modesto’s Graceada Park last Tuesday, the news traveled like lightning through neighborhood group email lists: “They’re allowing camping in the parks.” Whether, “they,” meaning the City of Modesto, are really allowing camping in all the city’s parks remains to be seen. The confusion is the result of a ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The court wrote, “a municipality cannot […]

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus County, Homelessness Modesto

Homeless: The Myth of Access

July 18, 2017 By admin 1 Comment

News that Stanislaus County’s Focus on Prevention program for the homeless would soon establish an access center to connect homeless people with a wide range of services was generally greeted with enthusiastic approval. Those not in the cheering section included many volunteers and professionals long-experienced at dealing with homeless people and their issues. While it may be puzzling to some why a central location with access to services doesn’t provide […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness Modesto

Just Another Homeless Winter

January 28, 2017 By Eric Caine 1 Comment

When Randy Limburg saw the crutches and wheelchair in front of the tent, his first thought was Cheri. The woman with one leg had been in the park for several years, and always refused to leave. “That you Cheri,” said Limburg. “You in there?” Probably because Cheri knew him, Limburg got a response, but he couldn’t get Cheri to come out of the tent. She answered a few questions from […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness Modesto

“Let homeless people camp,” says Councilmember Ah You

October 12, 2016 By Eric Caine 10 Comments

Most everyone was encouraged when the Modesto City Council approved $250,000 toward establishing a services and shelter center for our growing population of homeless people. The first stage will include temporary winter shelters (in the form of modified garden sheds) for forty people as part of Stanislaus County’s Focus on Prevention project to end homelessness. Ultimately, city and county officials intend to establish a one-stop service center where people experiencing […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness Modesto, Modesto Homelessness

Homeless: The Mentally Ill

March 29, 2016 By Eric Caine 8 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness Modesto

Homeless: The Costly Logic of Busts and Sweeps

March 20, 2016 By Bruce Frohman 3 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Homelessness in Stanislaus County, Homelessness Modesto

Who Favors Rousting Modesto's Homeless?

February 13, 2016 By Eric Caine 1 Comment

Whether by coincidence or design, the Modesto Police Department (MPD) waited until after the February 2 election to roust illegal “campers,” otherwise known as people without homes, from Beard Brook Park last Thursday. The sweep, the second within a few months, forced people to take down tents, gather what belongings they could carry, and leave the park, at least temporarily. Even during the sweep, city workers were making mock bets […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Homelessness Modesto

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Off The Wire

California faces catastrophic flood dangers ? and a need to invest billions in protection
California faces catastrophic flood dangers and a need to invest billions in protection
A new state plan for the Central Valley calls for spending as much as $30 billion over 30 years to prepare for the dangers.
www.latimes.com
Oakland will get millions for the ?inhumane? crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it?s not enough
Oakland will get millions for the “inhumane” crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it’s not enough
Gavin Newsom’s administration has awarded Oakland a $4.7 million grant to come up with…
www.sfchronicle.com
Alaska?s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Mary Peltola won her election by campaigning on a platform to save the state’s prized fisheries. A powerful fishing lobby is standing in her way.
www.politico.com
Jimmy Carter's final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
Jimmy Carter’s final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
One of former President Carter’s biggest hopes is wiping out an infectious parasitic disease that’s plagued humans for millennia. How close is he?
www.latimes.com
Climate Extremes Threaten California?s Central Valley Songbirds - Eos
Climate Extremes Threaten California’s Central Valley Songbirds – Eos
A “nestbox highway” in California’s Central Valley is guiding songbirds to safe nesting sites and giving scientists a peek at fledgling success in a changing climate.
eos.org
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Republican David Eastman suggested the death of child abuse victims could be a “cost savings” to wider society.
www.newsweek.com
Editorial: Newsom's drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Editorial: Newsom’s drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Gov. Gavin Newsom has effectively ended environmental regulations protecting California rivers and migratory fish by extending drought-year waivers.
www.latimes.com
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
As of Thursday, just two of the more than 70 residents of McPherson Square had been placed in permanent D.C. housing.
www.washingtonpost.com
More Building Won?t Make Housing Affordable
More Building Won’t Make Housing Affordable
America’s housing crisis has reached unfathomable proportions. But new construction isn’t enough to solve it.
newrepublic.com
Why YIMBYs are about to sue the daylights out of cities across the Bay Area
Why YIMBYs are about to sue the daylights out of cities across the Bay Area
Housing advocates are about to deliver a message to the Bay Area: Comply with state…
www.sfchronicle.com
At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty 'Law of the River' holds sway
At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty ‘Law of the River’ holds sway
At the heart of tensions over water allotments from the Colorado River is a complex set of agreements and decrees known as the ‘Law of the River.’
www.latimes.com
Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America's largest rainforest
Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America’s largest rainforest
The Tongass National Forest in Alaska, a focus of political battles over old-growth logging and road-building in forests for decades, has received new protection from the Biden administration.
theconversation.com

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PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

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PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
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Email us at:
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