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Should SB follow LA's lead?
updated: Jun 20, 2012, 11:58 AM

By Edhat Subscriber

Health concerns prompt major clean-up of area frequented by the homeless in L.A. Should S.B. do the same?

LA Times Article

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

SBROCKS	2012-06-20 12:08 PM
Yes! We have a business right by the homeless shelter. We are constantly having to clean up. They leave their belongings on the street. The PD will not remove them until they have too and then store the belongings for them. If you build it they will come and they have. There needs to be some health monitoring. The problems is the really ill ones do not want the help. How do you help and monitor if they will not participate?
COMMENT 289642	2012-06-20 12:09 PM
Clean-up?, as in ship them all somewhere?...is so then YES!
COMMENT 289654	2012-06-20 12:39 PM
Any taxpayer funds expended on a cleanup this year should be deducted from next year's annual SB City budget allocation to Casa Esperanza. Those who create the problem need to pay for the cleanup.
COMMENT 289659P	2012-06-20 12:45 PM
I don't live in the city, so really have no right to talk, but I think the city voters need to take care of the problem. Stop electing people who care more about throwing money at the homeless and more about services to those who pay their salaries.
COMMENT 289671	2012-06-20 01:07 PM
Great comments - A nasty problem - needs a major fixover -
COMMENT 289675	2012-06-20 01:16 PM
The issue with the homeless needs to be dealt with on a state wide level. Any one city that starts programs will become overwhelmed by the influx of homeless from all over the state. The State of CA needs a comprehensive program which should involve (1) Setting up a major triage having doctors and trained people interview each homeless person. (2) Decide if they are mentally ill send them to the proper facility for treatment, or if on drugs / alcohol into the proper treatment program (3) If criminals into jail. Also, the State needs to fix the laws so the ACLU cannot sue to impede the programs that are setup. The cost of this massive program would be much less expensive than the current costs of using our police, fire, hospitals, and jails to deal with it. It would be a net savings and we would be solving a problem. But alas, this is CA and this is just wishful thinking.
COMMENT 289685	2012-06-20 01:29 PM
675 Great points! And locally, the last sentence should read: But alas, this is SB......... Total agreement with 659P.
COMMENT 289690P	2012-06-20 01:44 PM
Will the LA clean up equal an influx of homeless here?
COMMENT 289697P	2012-06-20 02:04 PM
Just because this is SB does not mean we cannot implement programs and services that actually solve the problem. I understand many in this town would not be able to sleep at night if they thought SB turned its back on the needy. I believe we should help with a permanent solution not by enabling bad behavior. There is no reason this should be limited to homeless services either. Any service provided should come with strings attached. For instance if you need financial, housing, food, or other assistance you should submit to random drug tests that you must pass to get assistance. You must have a job or while you are actively looking for one you must volunteer with the city to work in parks, libraries, etc. For homeless, panhandling should be illegal. Those needing assistance should report to the proper city office. The services should not be provided for extended periods of time either. Limits should be strictly enforced to reduce fraud to the system. If they refuse services for drug addictions they should not be able to live in a park, library, or beach and beg for money to feed addictions. This may seem cruel but tough love works. Providing help with conditions that require an individual work is still providing help. It is also teaching skills and deterring those that would attempt to take advantage of the good hearted people in this town.
COMMENT 289699	2012-06-20 02:12 PM
As a native of SB, I have seen the influx of homeless residing here rise at astronomical rates. When is enough enough? I, and many others work hard to live and play here, we have allocated places for free-loaders and/or homeless which makes it easy to be homeless here and it isn't fair. Besides begging, taking up downtown benches, loitering, defecating in public, and getting drunk, most homeless are able bodied and could work but choose not to. I am sick of our city giving them handouts and the cops not enforcing the laws. Everyone has a right to be homeless and not work, just not here. Instead of giving tickets for open alcohol containers, public drunkenness, loitering, put them to work. Make them clean the streets they trash instead, paint over graffiti, or pick up garbage. For a city that depends on tourism as a mainstay for the economy, I am surprised we cater to homeless the way we do.
COMMENT 289715	2012-06-20 02:34 PM
You can't fault people for being compassionate, but the fact is that over the past 10 years this problem has steadily gotten worse, and something has to be done or it will continue to get worse. Making life easier for the homeless in SB is not the way to solve the problem.
COMMENT 289719	2012-06-20 02:40 PM
Very well said 699.
COMMENT 289727	2012-06-20 02:58 PM
The homeless issue in SB is more than just "should we allow them to be here." As this article points out, the homeless in any city present a real public health threat. More homeless equals more urine, fecal matter, and discarded needles. But nothing will change in SB until we vote out the current crop of pro-homeless "leaders" (Schneider, White, House, Murrillo) who currently occupy City Hall.
ROGER DODGER	2012-06-20 03:13 PM
So what did the non liberal city council members do when they were the majority? Franciso, Self, Hotchkiss, and Rouse, They complained like they are doing now somehow I don't believe you@727 I voted for them before.
COMMENT 289741P	2012-06-20 03:28 PM
697P - Totally agree. To stop the problem, you start by not continuing to reward the behaviors that led to the problem in the first place. Competent legislators and public sector employees know that, and work to make sure our laws and tax codes encourage the kind of behavior we want, and to discourage the kind of behavior we don't want.
COMMENT 289743P	2012-06-20 03:33 PM
I'm with you, Roger. Let's stop complaining and start trying to identify solutions. The first step would be as 697P suggests: distinguish among the causes, and then provide services which might address them. Mentally ill? How much money could we save by providing services to those who really need them? Addicted? Here are rehab possibilities. Don't want to? Sorry. No services. Please move on.
COMMENT 289748	2012-06-20 03:38 PM
Roger, but didn't the "conservative" bloc only have like one year in the majority? It took decades of pro-homeless policies to get us in the mess we're in, so I don't think your comparison is fair. But to answer your direct question, while the "non-liberals" were in power, didn't they push for funding more cops to patrol State St., the Harbor, and Milpas, and didn't they order the Cabrillo Ball Field fenced in order to deter the homeless from gathering there at night? Those at least a few steps in the right direction. If they had more time in office, who knows what would have happened...
COMMENT 289749	2012-06-20 03:43 PM
I was born and raised here, left for the last 8 years and just recently came back. WOW what a change as far as the homeless (among other things) in just eight years! IF I was mayor I would do 2 things: Solve the homeless problem and have ZERO tolerance on gang bangers. And I'm not talking a liberal approach here.
ROGER DODGER	2012-06-20 03:52 PM
@789 And the whole time they verbally abused Grant House do the work and keep your mouth shut. Action speaks louder than words. Alot of that stuff got done with the push of the Milpas Community Assoc. most of whom are conservo as well.
COMMENT 289767	2012-06-20 04:19 PM
Rodger, I don't even understand your first sentence... sorry.
COMMENT 289768	2012-06-20 04:20 PM
Drug-testing is a stupid idea that sounds good in your head, just like many conservative solutions.
ROGER DODGER	2012-06-20 05:03 PM
I'm sure there is alot you don't understand.
COMMENT 289828P	2012-06-20 06:05 PM
Clean things up? We can't do that. We have a whole village of nonprofits out there that would be out of work.
ROGER DODGER	2012-06-20 06:16 PM
Spoken like a true right winger..
COMMENT 289835	2012-06-20 06:20 PM
... Libs and their superiority complexes.
ROGER DODGER	2012-06-20 06:21 PM
I'm proud to write like a 5th grader a dummy in your book I'm sure I'm proud to be what ever you think I yam...
COMMENT 289867	2012-06-20 07:29 PM
If the comments I've just read really represented this community's majority, I'd buy a train ticket and kiss off my 34 years of civic involvement in a minute. Any time now one of you--or your family members, or a friend-will lose a job, or be evicted without cause; or reach the bottom of a very small pot of savings. Watch how quickly you learn that your new unhoused neighbors each have their unique life story. And how crudely you'll be treated by your former neighbors for not having access to basic amenities. If you belong to church, heaven help you, make sure it follows the precepts of helping the least of us. It's US, the smug, comfortable, housed and fed, yet ungenerous, who are in deep trouble, and not from the unhoused.
COMMENT 289897P	2012-06-20 09:02 PM
What in the world is wrong with drug testing to qualify for services? If someone is an addict they need to get treatment for that not monetary assistance that could be used to support an addiction. I have been homeless, sleeping in my car, blaming others for the bad choices I made in my life. It was only when my family said enough, used tough love, that I made the right choices and made the choices necessary to get where I am today. There is nothing in the world that would have changed the road I was on until the enabling ended. Don't get me wrong at the time I thought everyone was heartless and against me. I was used to someone being there to help me out when I spent my money on the wrong things and I needed food or a place to stay. Once that security blanket was gone I had a choice get my stuff together or deal with the consequences of my actions all on my own. I'm not saying everyone will make the right decision and give up that life but many will and you can rest easy knowing your money didn't go to support someone's drug habit that just might kill them.
ROGER DODGER	2012-06-20 09:22 PM
That is all good and fine if they want help..But when the gov was taking money out of their hard earned pay when they were not disabled and working for a living the gov did not give them a drug test, so why now? I think if someone wants to drink or get high it's their right just as long as they aien't hurting nobody else.
COMMENT 289906P	2012-06-20 09:54 PM
Yes Roger anyone is free to make that choice but when someone is asking for the city, county, state, or federal government to help them there needs to be some strings attached. The government takes money from your checks while you are working for social security, disability, and other taxes that pay for services that you might need. When someone is asking the government, which really means the rest of the people still paying those taxes, to help them because they are not working they should have to work for that help and not be on illegal drugs. We all pay into disability insurance and of course you should be able to collect on what you paid in when you are disabled. What happens when your disability causes you to need more assistance than what you paid in? Shouldn't we have some expectation that the person we are supporting is not taking advantage of the rest of us? You wouldn't want your hard earned money going to support someone's heroin habit would you? I am not saying MJ is comparable to heroin but we have not legalized MJ yet so if it has to be all or nothing I would choose all. Unfortunately most people on support who would test dirty for MJ do not use it as medicine like you do.
ROGER DODGER	2012-06-21 06:31 AM
Like I said before they didn't test when they were taking the money. Maybe they should just give it back.
COMMENT 289958	2012-06-21 07:41 AM
Eliminate funding for the career "HOMELESS ENABLING" individuals and organizations who run the " HOMELESS MAGNET PROGRAMS", and the problem will migrate to a city dumb enough to build more 'magnet' programs. These programs don't solve problems, they just lure the enabled homeless to new locations. Remove the programs and you'll remove the 'HOMELESS TOURISTS' who seek them out soon thereafter.
ARCHIE	2012-06-21 08:05 AM
Just a question, how do you clean up human beings? Is it like leaves? Other unsightly matter? And what is done once they're gathered? Where do the people with the wherewithall put them?
COMMENT 289982	2012-06-21 08:30 AM
Housing First. Once people have a place, however small, that they can count on to sleep, NOT a temporary shelter, the real problems can be addressed. How did they get on the street and what kept them there? Less expensive to all in $$'s and can save many lost people. We the taxpayers get to choose when we vote. I vote with my $$'s and to rescue, not enable.
COMMENT 289983	2012-06-21 08:30 AM
Absolutely not! Leave these people alone!
COMMENT 290026	2012-06-21 09:22 AM
@ 289867 Fortunately they don't; this a sociopath magnet.
COMMENT 290032	2012-06-21 09:28 AM
690, nooooooooo!
COMMENT 290038	2012-06-21 09:36 AM
I wish Roger would find something else to do...
ROGER DODGER	2012-06-21 09:50 AM
I'll be riding my bicycle today maybe you can find me and smash your SUV into me then I'll be doing something else. Until then Sorry..:)
RHS	2012-06-21 10:30 AM
All these comments about "the change" in the number of homeless seem to implicitly or directly blame policy on the part of something or somebody such as the ACLU, City Council, etc., and to assume there is an "influx" of homeless. There is no evidence of such an "influx" and there is evidence that the "Great Recession" is largely responsible as it guts jobs, safety nets and health care. But better to blame the agencies you don't like than to face the reality that it we are in an economic disaster created by the financial industry and their political supporters. The detritus of that creation is increased pain, suffering and social dislocation of people on the margin or society. Just as folks are suggesting that we "ship them out of town" we have to remember that other towns have the same idea. Next step is to designate some desert site as a waste people storage and disposal center sort of like toxic waste centers I suppose.
COMMENT 290088P	2012-06-21 11:07 AM
Have to do something. They are killing businesses on State Street.
COMMENT 290090P	2012-06-21 11:11 AM
One man was ranting obscenities as he weaved down State Street. Another was so out of it he fell while trying to bathe in the fountain in the Courtyard at Peet's Coffee Shop. Our guests from out of town were appalled. Said they've never seen so many homeless and they are from San Francisco. No question, it IS a problem!
COMMENT 290104	2012-06-21 11:53 AM
As previously voiced here: Are we going to be met with an influx of LA's recently ousted homeless? Yikes.
COMMENT 290106	2012-06-21 11:54 AM
The arguement that the recession caused the homeless population in SB to increase is not based on fact. If that arguement were were true, we would see a much more diverse homeless population that we see now. The vast majority of the homeless I see around town are loners who are possibly mental ill or addicted to drugs or alcohol. These people have been homeless for years, if not decades, not just the years the recession has lasted. Point being, these people would have become homeless with or without the recession.
SHAKEY	2012-06-21 01:47 PM
The Homeless are from San Francisco?!
COMMENT 290158	2012-06-21 02:16 PM
oohh oooohh would you rather support your family or live in the bushes. Maybe get all run over on the freeway like your half brother. Yea the one who taught you how to shoot up.
COMMENT 290216P	2012-06-21 03:52 PM
Yes, other cities have successfully addressed this issue. The conservative city council majority did nothing. Sharon Byrne organized a trip to Santa Monica to see how they were successful (Rather than wait for the council). Surprise, surprise, they devoted long term resources to either get them housing or reunite the homeless with family in other cities.
COMMENT 290232	2012-06-21 04:24 PM
If there was more housing even for the severely disturbed homeless, it would save the tax payers a great deal in the end. Remember, many of us are a paycheck away from being homeless during these tough economic times. How many more will have their homes foreclosed and their jobs lost??? More public toilets would help too.
ROGER DODGER	2012-06-21 04:30 PM
@216P Yep your exacley right they did nothing. Well they kept biting Grant Houses head off..I admire that guy Grant House he just sat there and took it. I could have never done that. As far as someone accusing me of taking scrap about certain city council members..Yep right out here in the open I have no reason to hide what I heard..What a bunch of Chicken manure back biting..I don't see the solution in condemning other people..Your actions are for the good of the city and it's people. Not your ego! There now call me some names so you will feel better than. Make your mommies proud.
COMMENT 290244P	2012-06-21 04:43 PM
No, leave them alone. I have homeless acquaintances; you might as well say I have mentally ill acquaintances. They have been "swept" so many times from beaches, etc. and been stolen from and lost things so often going and coming from the jail for being "swept" from illegal places, that even irreplaceable family items and I.D. are long gone. Storage is not an answer: There is not the physical energy, the communication ability, the transportation to storage, or the mental comprehension or confidence in the governing body doing the storing, for storage to work out.

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