Angry Citizens, Homeless Humans and What Passes for Progress in San Diego
Hurry Up and Move As Policy
American way, threatened by us
Drag a few creeps away in a bus
American way, prisoner lock
Smash every creep in the face with a rock -
Lyrics from Concentration Moon, Mothers of Invention.
The San Diego City Council has finalized passage of an ordinance banning homeless humans from camping on public property and criminalizes the act of refusing shelter when available.
It will go into effect 30 days after the opening of a city-run safe sleeping area at 20th and B streets. Mayor Todd Gloria held a press event this morning to announce the imminent opening of this site.
These safe sleeping sites are promising essentials like food, bathrooms, security and other services often unavailable for people living on the streets. Perhaps there will be moderation of the ever-growing death toll.
From CBS8 News:
Records show that last year was the deadliest year for homeless individuals in San Diego, with at least 262 deaths reported citywide. That is compared to 156 deaths for the rest of San Diego County during the same period of time.
So far this year, from January through May, the Medical Examiner investigated 66 deaths for those identified without having a residence. Records show that 38 of those died within city limits.
When looking at the race or ethnicity of those who died while homeless, 1,137 were white, while 397 of those who died were Latino, 238 were Black.
The new ordinance also allows enforcement of anti-camping laws even if there are no shelter beds available–.within two blocks of existing shelters or schools and in all city parks, riverbeds, waterways, trolley stops and transportation hubs.
—Map via Alliance San Diego—
There are currently not enough legal spaces for homeless people to set up shelter, but city officials say the total unhoused population doesn’t need to match availability, since not all are camping on the streets and enforcement will be limited to people actually contacted.
If you treat unhoused people as mere numbers, the city is correct. Except that disabled and elderly living on the street may not be physically able to relocate.
Lived experiences with shelters as they currently exist serve as a deterrent to surrendering one’s life and meager possessions to authorities, no matter how humanely their destinations are portrayed.
We should expect to see a flurry of lawsuits challenging the City Council’s action. This sort of bravado concerning people living on the streets is a national movement; the hope is that the courts will send the law to the junk heap of bad ideas in history.
The people currently overseeing forced relocations and destruction of personal property will now be in charge of moving people to approved camps; there is no foundation for trust to be had.
Side Note: For all the attempts at portraying a softer side of the SDPD, the fact that the Chief of Police has a Black and Blue Line flag on his office wall –a symbol co-opted and used by hate groups, now banned by many police departments– speaks volumes about the “official” attitude of the department. It represents an ‘us vs them’ mentality in law enforcement circles according to scholars.
The new city law justifies stricter enforcement in those areas by citing public safety concerns. I would argue that “political safety concerns” should be the correct term. Although the city’s elected officials are all Democrats, Republicans locally and nationally are misrepresenting current and proposed policies as “housing first” programs. It’s the kind of issue that makes politicians afraid.
Mayor Todd Gloria is justifying this action by the City Council by saying (in essence) it’s time for homeless people to help themselves.
“When the taxpayers of this city are expending over $200 million to provide homelessness services, it is right and appropriate for us to set the expectation that people experiencing homelessness must avail themselves of the services we are providing,” he said.
“Enforcement of the ordinance will coincide with bringing online hundreds more shelter opportunities through our safe sleeping program and my pursuit of measures to cut bureaucratic red tape to speed our homelessness response.”
Lurking in the background is former Mayor Kevin Falconer. He’s got a concept for getting tough, aka, The San Diego Safe Shelters and Clean Streets Act. Although he’s not looking for a political future with the City of San Diego, the prospect of a seat on the County Board of Supervisors is being seriously considered.
Such a measure on the ballot, regardless of its substance, will keep questions about how elected officials are supposedly failing at doing their jobs alive in local political discourse. It’s a win for the GOP no matter what, since the minority party has been all-but-shut-out of local politics.
Harder core right wingers are seeking to otherize unhoused humans by saying everything will get better with mental health and addiction interventions as the focus of authorities. Refusing either of those choices means jail time, the implication being people living on the street are sick in some fashion or criminals.
What's really sick about this approach is that it’s based on a level of belief that homeless people are there by choice; bad choices mostly, and the idea is that they’re some sort of evil force.
The number of Safe Spaces in San Diego’s plan doesn’t line up with the potential need. And the situation with mental health treatment facilities/professionals and rehab centers does not even come close to what would be needed if El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells had his way.
The commonality between San Diego's more “humane” program and right wing fantasies is jail.
Poway, which effectively doesn’t have a homeless population, is also all about enacting a camping ban. One way or another, the threat of incarceration is being seen as a good political option.
What the solutions currently being offered fail to address is the primary driver of an ever-increasing unhoused population; the rent is too damn high. For every 10 people moving through existing local programs toward housing, 13 are forced into living on the street every month.
With the liberals on San Diego’s City Council, the carrot and stick program works because it projects something getting done about disorder ruffling the feathers of the citizenry. It’s likely not not even an effective short term program, but it serves as a deterrent to right wing myth making.
There’s an ugliness being injected into our national personality. Hate crimes are up against all the usual minorities. Videos of angry citizens inflicting violence on homeless people are all the rage. And if you asked the City Council members who voted for the camping ban, they’d all tell you about the furious phone calls and emails coming from constituents.
I don’t know how deep this streak of dehumanizing assorted groups goes, as the people believing assorted myths are more likely to make a fuss. And I (and many others) harbor a deep fear that discomfort about the displays of poverty on the streets are headed in a direction where vigilantism will become socially acceptable in some quarters.
Side Note: There are also big numbers of humans and institutions on the side of providing aid and comfort to people living on the street. And there are activists who passionately argued before the City Council against the ban on camping, pointing out the probability of harm to homeless humans. If tweets were votes, this ordinance would have never passed.
The determination and anger of those testifying before the City Council against the camping ban (which was a large majority of speakers), was a sight to be seen. I’m not sure that comparing the law to the holocaust, and all the vile being directed at elected officials changed any council votes. And I’m damn sure that promising to boot somebody from office is a threat that should be acted on; the recall campaign against Council member Dr Jenn Campbell demonstrated the need for political organizing going beyond name-calling.
The County of San Diego has awoken from its slumber and is doing what it should have been doing in the first place: funding and fixing programs concerning the well-being of its citizens. Its budget for next year includes steps in the right direction (made politically possible by more money for law enforcement).
From the Union-Tribune:
The biggest chunk of funding goes to the Health and Human Services Agency, which includes the public health and behavioral health departments, along with other social service agencies.
Its budget will jump some $400 million over last year, to $3.2 billion, to pay for mental health and substance use treatment. The added funds will also fund immigrant and refugee services, expanded food assistance and other aid.
The Public Safety Group, including the sheriff, district attorney, public defender, county fire and other departments, represents the next-biggest spending category, at nearly $2.7 billion, a $200 million increase over the current budget.
That money is slated to improve victim services, expand the juvenile diversion program and ensure better health care to incarcerated people .
Finally, people not having a roof over their heads is a systemic problem, requiring systemic solutions. Since we’re now living in an era where anything other than MAGA orthodoxy is being labeled as communist or socialist, those who undertake reform must be prepared to live with scorn.
You Should Read This Mishmash of Meaningful Miscellany
Get Ready for California Wildfires Day Via Politico’s California Today. (It’s gonna be hot for a while)
Experts also warn that the heat wave will make fireworks extra dangerous in our already fire-prone state. More wildfires are started on July 4 than on any other day, Swain said.
The National Weather Service’s office in Los Angeles warned, “The increased heat and dryness will increase the fire weather concerns, and any spark from fireworks could easily start a fire in the tall grass crop that has cured and turned brown in recent weeks.”
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Against Testosterone Poisoned Society Via How Things Work (Substack) - Stop challenging people to fights and grow up, dudes.
Other than sex, there is no stronger natural drive than the desire to kick someone’s ass. This desire is wholly separate from the ability or inclination to actually get in a fight. It is the unfiltered id. It is a low-grade running fantasy of vanquishing your enemies in the most brutal way. Those who choose to act upon it are criminals—much more often, it is sublimated, driving screaming road rage and wild drunkenness and high school football and many other expressions of re-channeled violence.
Governments were invented to monopolize violence in a single place. Democracy and rule of law was invented to give humans a way to process disputes without killing each other. Our legal and electoral systems are flawed, biased, perverted, and weaponized by bad actors, but if you zoom out far enough, they are the outlines of a structure that allows humanity to live in a way that is not reducible to “Whoever can kick your ass can do what they want.” That, as slow as it’s going, is progress.
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The Biden Economy: What You Need to Know - A guide to understanding the impact of "Bidenomics" Via the Message Box (Substack) * Links to five articles you won’t see quoted on KUSI putting the current economic situation in context.
It’s for free if you want it to be…
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Thank you, Doug, for your perspicacious essay. I cannot tell you how angry this makes me. People are people are people and Jesus tells us to care for each other. I wonder how many of the people who think people are unhoused by choice and are some sort of evil force claim to be Christians. While it is not up to me to claim to know the mind of God, I frequently read my Bible and remember that Jesus surprises a bunch of people when He says to them, "I never knew you."
Then there is this tidbit. "Matthew 25:31-46
New International Version
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”'
I completely fail to understand and I hope I will continue to completely fail to understand that anyone could fail to see that Jesus expects everyone who claim to follow Him to take care of others.