A Federal Case

Homelessness for Stupid People

The foibles of the most pampered homeless population in the Bay Area...

What a night Monday was...

The Carnegie People showed up in force and managed to make the Livermore City Council meeting a tedious affair as we we sat in this crowded room and listened to grown men whine about problems at Carnegie Park... why were they there? No idea. Livermore City Government hasn't got a damned thing to do with Carnegie! Thank you guys for a glorious waste of time... I felt truly sorry for those City Workers who staggered out (two hours later than usual) of the City Council Chambers and came into work this morning bleary eyed from exhaustion...

There were important issues to discuss, as there always are... I've found the council meetings to be rife with drama since I started going late last year... who knew?

Anyway, the Urban Camping Ordinance Passed...

I heard some people saying it was pushed through with lightning speed... No... it wasn't. I told you people about it last October! I spoke to many of you about it face to face!

But... there will be a Homeless Summit... maybe this year... we don't have a date, because now we're going to get one or two difficult to coordinate federal agencies involved...

My question is: why?

Why are we bothering the Feds..? unless there's a lot of money on the table, and there probably is...

I maintain this is a local issue. I hear people talking about all these homeless people arriving in Livermore to take advantage of services, etc... one or two, sure... but the implication is that there are hundreds, the number of homeless has gone from ten to fifty thousand in four years and other towns are dumping their homeless on us...

Huey!

I have a little news for everyone: the problems you're seeing in Livermore caused by the homeless are being caused by the same number in the same proportion as it was four years ago. The number of Homeless is also pretty static. I say 300, my guess, and it has been about that for as long as I've been homeless.

There was a study done two and a half years ago which included a portion on the Homeless... but the way it was run it was as if they didn't want anyone to participate... the estimate of homeless at the time was about fifty... yeah, 50... 25 people showed up at the last meeting on short notice because somebody (me) bothered to tell them. Yes, it's online here, and it's not worth reading if you want anything approaching reality, but knock yourself out if you're interested...

To the city council I say this: forget the feds. Councilman Woerner wants data, great, the Feds aren't going to give you any and you're already working on getting that yourselves. If you want the Feds involved, plan a meeting sometime in 2015 after you've engaged the locals... getting the Feds involved is going to make things more complex and take your attention away from those who you need to be talking to...

Everything we need to take deal with the Homeless issue is right here.

People asked for creative solutions?

I spoke with Terry McCune last night. McCune spoke on the garbage the homeless leave on the Arroyo Mocho and how his neighbours clean it up. I told him about the idea I had been trying to get through to Trinity Church for months... They take meals out to the Homeless and I had suggested that they pick a park and do clean-up with the Homeless before serving food... Terry seemed to like that idea...

But nobody else does. Or if they do, they have a funny way of showing it...

Maybe it'll get play if some U.S. Government Official suggests it... then those Glorified Welfare Recipients might be good for something...

Solution: SNUGGIES!

Homelessness for Stupid People

The foibles of the most pampered homeless population in the Bay Area...

Oh... we all brainstormed this morning and someone came up with an impressive suggestion: SNUGGIES! Snuggies are not mentioned in the new ordinance and, so far as I know, are not considered camping paraphenalia... right? Everybody ditch your blankets, sleeping bags and tarps and we all get Snuggies!

I wonder if they come in camouflage?

Mickey made a great speech at Vineyard just before breakfast telling everyone two things: one, the Creeks are off limits! And two, don't make a mess! And she expects the homeless to do a little better job self-policing. I'd so like to see that become a reality... my only problem with this is that more than a few of these folks simply are not adults, they're children in adult bodies and discipline isn't familiar to them...

Yes, the ordinance is still very much at the forefront of conversation, and, I'm proud to tell you, the person most to blame for the existence of this ordinance, according to the scuttle butt, is none other than yours truly!

Maybe...

I dunno, I'm getting this second and third hand from a lot of people who relay what others are supposedly saying... “That MF started that MF-ing blog and now we have this MF-ing law...”

Okay, it's all my fault... I'm the one who got high of the notion of having a popular blog, I'll admit. It's been one whole heck of a lot of fun, especially the death threats, both overt and subtle. I can't tell you what a rush it is to get one... I highly recommend it! It helped me understand Adrenaline junkies...

Someone posted a note asking why I thought there were more homeless than there were in response to my last posting...

My answer was, I don't think there are more, at least not locally. I believe there are about 300 in town and that it has remained pretty static for several years. What I am seeing is a trickling in of young people, early 20s, who are homeless. Now, I don't tend to connect with the younger crowd very much. They and I don't have much to say to each other beyond “Hi” and “Bye...”

But today was a bit different. Two young women, I'll call them A and S, were telling me their personal stories this morning, or part of it, and they were both very candid about some very personal, private stuff that I should never repeat, and hopefully will slip my mind in short order. One is someone who's been around a little while and the other is more “new” to all this. What impressed me about both of them, and I hope I can relay this properly, is that both of them seem to recognize their own faults and are attempting to work around or with them... both could use some positive influence (they're sooo young!) and both of them are, it seems to me, overcoming the character flaws of their own parents.

A third young woman I know, I'll call her C, who is also very young, has given me a bit of a surprise. C isn't homeless, but had one of the most unstable times growing up I could imagine... yet she turned into this positive, industrious, well loved young woman who has a real future ahead of her complete with marriage, home and family... All that looks very much like a done deal, thought it will take a lot of work on C's part... but C has the character to meet that challenge having overcome so much more than what she's facing. A and S both seem to have similar characters and, in my opinion, could get to where C is.

To say that I worry about A and S would be an overstatement. I don't. I believe they'll do just fine in the end... but either could slide either way, as if they're sitting on a fulcrum which will determine the rest of their lives at this very moment. It could teeter for years for either or both of them without resolution... it would be pleasing to me to see someone take an interest in them, someone not from Social Services or some other tax funded group, give them a chance and be involved in their lives... and for them to accept such involvement...

I'll be seeing more cases like A and S, I'm sure... they're very different young women, save that they both are energetic and friendly... S more friendly because A is more experienced... S will probably get less so over time.

A also knows something about me... “If you write about me, I'll hurt you!” she told me this morning...

Don't be surprised if I'm typing with only my pinkies next week...