There’s a riverbed about a mile from my house. I say “riverbed” and not “river” because it rarely has any water in it. This is southern California, and we get rain like twice a year. So, the riverbed isn’t filled with water. It’s filled with homeless people.
About four years ago, the local city council made a big deal of clearing out a homeless camp a few miles from my house. But they didn’t help the homeless. All they did was chase them someplace else. And that someplace else happened to be the riverbed hear my home.
And we’ve had homeless people living there ever since. Just over two years ago, the local government took out truckloads of trash and actual shit out of the riverbed. But they didn’t do anything to help the homeless. They didn’t even chase them away that time. The homeless just moved around the bend a couple hundred yards away.
In late October, one of the local city council members organized a walkthrough of the riverbed. I thought it was a good idea to let us all see just how bad the problem is, and I was planning to attend. Then, a few days before the walkthrough, I saw heavy equipment once again carting away truckloads of trash.
Ah. Then I understood. The election was going to be the following week.
I recognized the pattern. The homeless “crisis” only became important every two years. The walkthrough wasn’t to help us understand how bad the homeless problem is, it was supposed to show off how effective that particular council member was. Which would probably work as long as we ignored the fact that he did nothing about it for the entirety of the previous two years.
When I saw the heavy equipment, I knew immediately that the walkthrough would be a waste of my time. It was obviously just a ploy to garner more votes.
I didn’t go but I spoke with someone who did. The tour only took people to the newly cleaned area. And it completely ignored the homeless camp still situated just around the bend.
I was walking my dog this morning on the sidewalk next to a fairly large street about a quarter mile from my house (Vineyard Street for those who live in the area). I heard a voice behind me and turned around to look. Coming toward me, walking rather briskly, was a guy with a garbage bag slung over his shoulder. He was muttering something I couldn’t quite make out.
Now, he was obviously homeless, probably living around the bend in the riverbed. I wanted to give him room to pass, but I didn’t want it to appear like I was avoiding him. So moved aside a bit and gave him the same nod or “good morning” that I give everyone else I see on our walks.
As he passed, I could hear what he was saying. He’d clear his throat like this “errrmmm”, and say, “No fucking”. Then he’d repeat himself.
“Errmmm. No fucking. Errmmm. No fucking. Errmmm. No fucking.”
He passed us, I nodded and said, “morning”. He said, “Errmmm. No fucking” and started walking even more briskly. As I watched him get further away, I noticed he was holding a cup, probably from Carl’s Jr. and probably filled with a soft drink.
He kept pulling away from us and kept getting louder and louder until his voice was echoing off the nearby houses.
“Errmmm! No fucking! Errmmm! No fucking! Errmmm! No fucking!!!!!”
Then he stopped. And turned around. And started walking even faster back towards me. And he was screaming.
Now I needed a plan. I couldn’t walk away, because there was no fucking way I was going to turn my back on him. Was he coming back my way to have some sort of confrontation? Or did he just decide to turn around and head back where he came from, albeit faster and seemingly more agitated than before?
I didn’t have any way of knowing for sure which it was.
Those of you who regularly follow what I write know that there’s a pretty good chance that I was armed. I was. But I didn’t want to draw on someone who was simply going back to Carl’s Jr. for a breakfast biscuit.
After all, it’s not a crime to walk briskly past someone. But it is a crime for me to expose my weapon to politely encourage him to keep walking. I had to let him get close enough to be a threat before I could decide if that’s what he was going to be. And by then it would be too late. I didn’t really have any good options.
Fortunately, he decided for me.
The guy stopped about 20 yards away, screamed one more time, and threw what I’m hoping was a drink at me. It landed about five feet to my left and splattered everywhere. Then he turned around and left. He was still muttering, but at least it had been lowered back down to its original level. I followed him for a while at a safe distance. Yup, he crossed the street and wandered off into the riverbed.
We have a homeless problem.
The problem is that nobody does anything to solve the problem. The only thing that local officials do is play a shell game every couple of years, which doesn’t help anyone. The same people are homeless, they’re just homeless someplace else. But, come election time, the politicians point to it as some sort of big accomplishment. Which it isn’t.
We spend billions of dollars but make no appreciable progress towards lessening the problem. It’s not because there isn’t a solution, it’s because the solution isn’t going to be popular. And unpopular solutions don’t generate votes.
We can start by treating the homeless just like everyone else. If they break the law, they get punished. Period. End of sentence.
If you or I were to dump a load of trash in the riverbed, or take a dump in public, we’d be punished. So why not the homeless? I saw a homeless dude riding a bike the other day that was nicer than mine. I seriously doubt he bought it after saving enough change from recycling cans and bottles. He either stole the bike himself or got it from whoever did. Either way, it’s a crime and he should be punished.
We shouldn’t expect less from someone just because they don’t have a roof over their heads. We shouldn’t expect more either. We should expect exactly the same amount as we do of anyone else.
It’s time to get the obviously mentally ill people off the street and into mandated rehab or mental health programs.
Not sure about who I’m talking about? Let me give you a little hint. If you’re screaming and throwing things at people, then you’re probably not playing with a full deck. And you’re probably not capable of making sound, rational decisions. Get them off the street and into programs and facilities that can help them. And, until it can be determined that they’re capable of making their own decisions, someone will make their decisions for them.
I can already hear some people saying that the homeless have rights. The argument will undoubtedly be that we can’t force people into treatment or hold them indefinitely.
Let me tell you something Skippy, that ship has sailed. If people can be forced to “self-quarantine” or forced into allowing themselves to be injected with an experimental drug just to keep their job, we can certainly force drug addicts and mentally ill people off the streets and into treatment.
And even if we ignore all that, nobody has the right to ignore the laws, or piss and crap wherever they get the urge to do so.
And while we’re talking about rights, what about the rights of law-abiding citizens? Don’t we have the right to feel safe walking down our own street? The street, in case you forgot, we pay taxes to maintain?
Those responsible for solving the problem keep approaching it backwards. Instead of trying make the lives of the vagrants easier, and hope they find a way to get themselves off the street, we should be first getting them off the street and then helping them to improve themselves. Stop giving them tents and cell phones. Start giving them three hots and a cot.
Governments at all levels are more interested in being reelected than they are tackling and solving difficult issues. They are so out of touch with what their constituents actually want that it’s almost funny.
One of the streets I regularly walk along is lined with big bushes that the vagrants like to hide behind. There have been several instances of men jumping out from behind those bushes and trying to grab women who are out for a walk. Thankfully, no one has been hurt…yet. But it’s just a matter of time until it happens.
Ironically, the homeless have also started a number of those bushes on fire. I count seven instances of arson over the last two years.
While we’d rather not have them lit on fire, we homeowners are glad when one of those bushes disappears. Because each bush that goes means one less place for the homeless to hide.
Imagine my surprise when another city council member started bragging about how he was working to beautify our city. By replacing the stupid bushes.
