Description
Homeless encampment has been there for weeks very well hidden in the bushes in the vacant lot at Farragut and Old Wilson north of the store. They have a few trashy vehicles on the streets near by including one with no license plates which the city could care less about. The bushes need complete removal and is believed to be Cal Trans Responsibility. Can the city Please get your act together. This is completely irresponsible.
35 Commentaires
Coco (Utilisateur inscrit)
Jw (Utilisateur inscrit)
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
Vallejo Deserves Better (Utilisateur inscrit)
Clos Code Enforcement Division (Membre officiel vérifié)
Réouvert An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
NWR (Utilisateur inscrit)
1) Obviously, if you ever visit neighboring communities or follow the news at all, you will must know that homelessness is not a Vallejo specific issue, but regional. In fact, walk in many neighborhoods in Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland, and of course San Francisco and you will see that Vallejo's problem is actually less acute than most neighboring communities.
2) I worked for the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team for several years recently, and can tell you that trying to arrest or 'move people on' just doesn't work. The people you call 'bums' (people who are experiencing homelessness for a variety of reasons ranging from acute mental health challenges to substance abuse to the high cost of housing in California at large) are first and foremost people with rights. So yes, if they are legitimately breaking local ordinances such as vagrancy, open container, or possession laws they can be arrested; but how long do you think they will spend in jail for these misdemeanors? And then where do they go when they get out? Just so you know, it is illegal for a city to ship people to other locations because of these kind of violations, and also illegal for police to profile people and harass them because they 'look like bums.'
So what exactly do you want Vallejo officials to do? Be specific and think through the unintended consequences (potential lawsuits, homeless people moving from your neighborhood to other neighborhoods, increased division between many community members and the police, etc)
3) There are solutions to this problem, but none that don't involve more serious support for people with mental health and substance abuse issues, more truly affordable housing, and in general a whole lot of money. What you see on the streets now is a product of decades of advocacy for low taxes and hollowed out government services. I guarantee that without serious investment in the services listed above (from the Feds, State, and local governments), this problem isn't going away -- so advocate for these things and accept that it will cost, or live with it.
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
NWR (Utilisateur inscrit)
1) Over 75% of homeless people in San Francisco had housing in SF before they hit the streets. Look it up -- while some folks struggling with various issues do come to the Bay Area, homeless people also regularly leave the area because there is literally no chance at this point that they will be housed in the foreseeable future. It's largely an urban myth that people come from all over the country to be homeless in SF.
2) So "managed camps for the bums?" If you're talking about homeless shelters with access to services to help people get back on their feet, great, that's a good start to dealing with the issue and we don't have nearly enough shelter beds in Vallejo or anywhere else in the Bay Area -- but this isn't cheap. But if you're talking about confining people in some kind of homeless concentration camp -- we have something called the constitution, so no matter your personal feelings about "trashy homeless people", that's just not going to happen. You can, as I said, put people in jail for very short amounts of time if they are actually breaking a law of some kind -- but cops hate wasting their time on this because they know that the kinds of misdemeanors or minor felonies these people may be guilty of will only keep them there for a few days at most. If you want to increase the sentencing for loitering or public intoxication or other stuff people might be arrested for substantially, you would quickly run into constitutional issues, so?
And if you want cops to arrest, move on, or otherwise interact with the people on the streets, then be ready for the reality of them over an hour to respond to you when your house is broken into. I'm guessing you hate taxes and don't want them raised, but without doing that what do you expect the officials of Vallejo to actually do about this?
Not liking something and wanting things to be different is so much easier than actually solving a huge, complicated, expensive problem -- no matter what most self serving politicians will say when trying to get elected. Unfortunately the message is out that complicated truths don't get you elected -- mindless and pandering slogans do.
Jw (Utilisateur inscrit)
But I do believe these folks need to be held accountable for their actions when they create blight, dump, litter, do drugs leaving needles in public spaces and commit indecent exposure, trespass and plague our streets with dangerous unregistered/insured junk vehicles.
Most truly down on luck homeless want help and want jobs/housing, etc. they try not to be seen, they don’t make a mess and impose on they way of life for everyone else.
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
Artsem (Utilisateur inscrit)
Temporary shelters could be put in the abandoned post office or the abandoned high school. (asbestos?)Unfortunately when I spoke with Christina at CSS, she informed me that the Fairfield Shelter is now closed due to loss of funding. And the planned shelter for Vallejo it’s a long ways off, considering they still need to demolish a building and get a whole lot more money than the 2 million(?) they have to build the new shelter. Closing the Fairfield shelter at the onset of winter, not so brilliant!
It occurred to me that both the post office and high school are probably filled with Asbestos and of course we can’t expose homeless people to that, just the elements and freezing to death.
So what are any of us prepared to do?
*Pay more taxes to fund the needed programs?
*Volunteer your time to a shelter or food bank or other outreach program?
*Petition City Hall and State Government to redirect funds to the problem?
Most of the comments I have seen do not want to do anything but complain. They feel taxes are already too much, don't want to help, just remove the problem from sight (out of sight out of mind...), or even participate in a neighborhood coalition.
Any thought or ideas?
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
Artsem (Utilisateur inscrit)
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
NWR (Utilisateur inscrit)
Watching Out, no disrespect intended -- we actually agree on a few things and I'm not saying you shouldn't be upset about the hole situation by any means. I'm also not trying to be dramatic, but many of the ideas you have articulated about what should be done to deal with this issue, and your judgements about some homeless people, don't add up to any kind of solution that is legal or realistic, given all the complicated factors involved. For example, I agree that people whose mental health challenges are so severe that they clearly can not take care of themselves should be required to live in a facility that provides a decent standard of living and mental health care. But the way the laws are currently written make it really difficult to commit someone involuntarily. That plus the fact that there was never an investment made in building even close to the number of mental health facilities for the number of people out there with serious issues, means these people are often left to their own devices and end up on the streets.
And yes, often people with mental health challenges will eventually turn to drugs -- so to someone looking at their camps they may appear to be irresponsible 'druggies', but really what's going is likely a history of mental health challenges that may now be combined with substance abuse issues which have led to a total breakdown in their desire or ability to care for themselves.
Like you, I also work long hours in a hard job (now in the trades, so physical work), but know that the road to hireability and housing for many of the people we're talking about is monumental, if even possible. Seriously, If you had a business or were the HR person for a city or big business, would you hire the guy you're talking about at the bus stop in the state he's in now? And even if you think it's some kind of bad character flaw that got him there and disregard his personal history or possible mental health challenges, isn't that just a reality of the human condition? So I'm asking, what to do?
Oakland doesn't force people into camps for the homeless BTW -- I know, because I know people who work in the system over there. Seattle does have a self-organized camp that was (as of a couple of years ago) working pretty well, and maybe that's more the kind of thing you're talking about. But it was organized initially by homeless people on a vacant piece of land sort of on the outskirts of town, and was only later officially sanctioned by the city. And it's not mandatory, but a better alternative for many that setting up random encampments around town, and the city does now provide some services there. That could be a really good start for Vallejo, and I'm all for something like that if that's the kind of thing you're talking about. What I don't like, and is clearly not legal, is to force people into these camps, so this won't be a full solution either (people suffering from any kind of paranoia or who feel they may be victimized won't use them for starters).
To be clear, I'm not associated at all with the Vallejo City government, and am not a huge supporter of anyone there, but I do know the legal, financial, and social constraints on any city government. Even if they were the most diligent and honest politicians and bureaucrats in history, the real solutions would be almost impossible to implement given the $ and system we have -- and I'm saying that with some knowledge because I've worked in that system in the recent past.
That said, I have noticed that Vallejo has an almost non-existent program to deal with the homeless problem here, and could definitely do better I think.
Also, I agree with Artsem that ultimately it comes down to what are we willing to do. I totally understand that because you work so hard you don't have the time or energy to volunteer, and it's hard to feel like your efforts would make much of a difference. I often feel the same way. But blaming other people (city officials, cops, or the homeless people you're speaking about) won't get us anywhere. So you have a good idea about having the city create an official homeless camp or two and encouraging people on the street to use them, at least temporarily as a kind of quick pop-up until a more complete solution can be put into place. What about presenting that idea to the city council? Maybe you've tried that, I don't know -- I also moved here just 2-years ago because I was priced out of SF after 32-years, so am pretty new to Vallejo and don't yet have a grip on the political scene.
Anyway, not trying to be rude or mean -- and am as frustrated as you -- just trying to give a little insight from my years of working on and following this issue.
Jw (Utilisateur inscrit)
•Offender has to pay fines and towing fees to get the vehicle back, this generating income for the city or agency contracted to tow.
•Unclaimed towed vehicles can then be likened and auctioned off for profit generating revenue.
If not sold, sold to Auto salvage yard or scrapped, therefore also creating revenue for the city.
•The only thing that will not likely raise rent is the disposal of RVs/Campers as it is cost prohibitive to junk/scrap these, however we urgently need to rid our city of them.
Solution? Yes, the profit from the sold/junked/scrapped cars/trucks can offset the losses of disposing of the RVs/Campers.
*There should be a way for the city to tow unauthorized vehicles on private property if they are trespassing*
And wait, it gets even better: Any profit the city makes off this new aggressive parking enforcement first goes straight to cleaning up dumping and litter followed by funding homeless programs and hopefully new shelters.
After all they ought to be in shelters/programs, not squatting in tents and RVs alll over town creating blight.
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
Artsem (Utilisateur inscrit)
In the meantime...............
Artsem (Utilisateur inscrit)
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
Artsem (Utilisateur inscrit)
Me? I've only been around 6 years.....
Don't get me wrong. I would live to get a response from Traffic & Parking Division, Police non-emergency, City Managers Office, etc.after contacting them. I would also like to see the town cleaned up, managed right and be financially solvent. I would urge you to make a visit to CSS/Code Enforcement and get some real answers from Christina or Officer Gomez, they are very receptive to questions. They are instructed to stick to the "canned" responses on SCF, and therefore cannot personalize responses. Maybe they can explain that "gathering them up" is really not legal. Each must be treated as an individual. I believe that there are 2 types of homeless, the truly needy and the apathetic lazy panhandler. Each need to be handled different.
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
Artsem (Utilisateur inscrit)
Anyway, that my last comment on this post. Thanks for putting forth your thoughts.
Artsem (Utilisateur inscrit)
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
Code Enforcement Division (Membre officiel vérifié)
Code Enforcement Division (Membre officiel vérifié)
Reconnu Christina E., Community Services Section (CSS) (Utilisateur inscrit)
Thank you for reporting! The Police Department's Community Service Section (CSS) has opened a case for this issue. CSS has one part-time and three full-time employees who are responsible for addressing all quality of life concerns, supporting Neighborhood Watch groups, and working with the Neighborhood Law Program and Code Enforcement to address distressed and dangerous properties. We work hard to investigate each report in a timely manner, and will investigate this report as soon as we possibly can. Please keep in mind there is a lengthy process to remove illegal encampments. If you have any questions, please call our office at (707) 553-7218.
If you witness any suspicious or criminal activity that requires an immediate response, please call 9-1-1.
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
An anonymous SeeClickFix user (Utilisateur inscrit)
Jean L (Utilisateur inscrit)
Jw (Utilisateur inscrit)
However, before just hanging over a set of keys to someone I do think they need to be evaluated as some are not mentally stable or responsible enough to take care of their own place without destroying it.
When dealing with the homeless, they need to be triaged and each situation solved accordingly as all of them have different needs and suffer from different issues, some of which led them into homelessness to begin with.
Jean L (Utilisateur inscrit)
Clos Christina E., Community Services Section (CSS) (Utilisateur inscrit)