Jesus died on the store's doorstep in Fresno, CA on Christmas Eve

[annm4peace]

http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/12/23/3681512/person-found-dead-of-apparent.html

Man found dead outside northeast Fresno shopping center spurs homeless outcry
By Jim Guy

The Fresno BeeDecember 23, 2013


The overnight death of an apparent transient whose body was found Monday morning in northeast Fresno can be the kind of side effect that results from chasing the homeless from one part of the city to another, advocates say.

City officials shut down several homeless encampments this year and now it's policy to prevent the homeless from setting up new camps. Officials said the camps, constructed of tarps and pallets and cast-off furniture, were a health and fire hazard as well as a magnet for crime. Homeless advocates, however, say pushing street people from one place to another is a futile shell game.

Police and emergency workers reported finding the body of the man in a shopping center at the northeast corner of First Street and Bullard Avenue. The man, who apparently went to sleep on the concrete next to a store, was found by a security guard who at first thought the man was just asleep. The guard then contacted police.

Fresno police said Monday afternoon that the man is believed to have been a transient and no foul play is suspected in his death. Fresno County Coroner Dr. David Hadden said his office hadn't determined the man's identity or cause of death, but police reports indicate the man appears to have died from natural causes.

Pastor Chris Breedlove of Community United Church of Christ called the death tragic.

"This is the result of the homeless having to move and (not allowing them) to stay in one place," he said.

Breedlove's church is on Fresno Street north of Barstow Avenue, and Breedlove said he has seen more homeless in the area since the city began shutting down the encampments this summer.

Breedlove added that opening warming centers for the homeless on cold nights in southwest Fresno isn't a solution that is acceptable to many on the streets.

"They are reluctant to leave their belongings outside," he said.

Beverly Fitzpatrick of The Thursday Group, people devoted to weekly supply deliveries and other help for the homeless, agreed that the requirement was a deal-killer for many homeless.

"It breaks my heart," she said of the death. She said advocates warned the Fresno City Council that there could dangerous consequences to a policy that did not allow the homeless to live in a fixed location.

"We are an embarrassment," she said of the city's policy. "I don't get our mayor. I wish she would give me an answer as to what these people are supposed to do."

City Manager Bruce Rudd said the circumstances of the man's death are unknown, so it's too early for City Hall to respond to critics.

"People are speculating that it was exposure to the cold," Rudd said.

Rudd said the city did not open its warming centers Sunday night because the temperature did not dip below the trigger point. That point, he said, is 35 degrees or colder for at least an hour or so.

(click on the link above to read the rest of the article)

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I call this man Jesus cause we don't know his name. The Fresno Bee hasn't reported it.


The City of Fresno has waged a war against the homeless since there has been Born Again Christian Mayors of Fresno, which has been for the last 3 decades.

Mike Rhodes, who up until recently, has been the editor of a small progressive paper in Fresno and has been reporting since 2002 about the increased abuse of the homeless by the City of Fresno and the tragedy of the homeless deaths on the streets of Fresno, and a suspicious death in a hospital. I included below the 2013 reports of abuse.

This year came home to Fresno for Christmas and there has been homeless people all over the city carrying backpack and maybe a sleeping bag, and some have pushed shopping carts. There are no more tent cities for shelter.

On Christmas Eve, I read in the paper of the death of a homeless man, and hoped the Fresno Bee would disclose who this man was and what the City's response would be. We are still waiting.

Those who advocate for the Homeless and who often brought food, firewood and provide porta potties to the homeless camps before they were destroyed, are also wanting to know who this man was and what the City plans to do to help the homeless.. they know the City will do nothing to help. It will take prosecution of the Mayor who took 4 milllions from the Feds and gave it to one of her donors, a developer who built only 64 apartment units... that comes out to 194,000 each unit. The money could have helped 100's get off the street.

So we wait for the next homeless person to die in Fresno.. but will the news report it?

Since 2003 I have posted Mike's articles hoping some officials in the State or Federal level would read of the abuse and do something to stop it.. but it hasn't happened.. and the abuse and the death's continue.

Here are the links and titles of the articles for just 2013.

From the Editor
December 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=7140

The Community Alliance Helps the Homeless
January 2013
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=7243

Fresno has no Heart – Will Evict the Homeless on Valentines Day
Feb 11th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/02/11/18731822.php

Burning the Homeless out
Feb 17th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/02/17/18732246.php

Volunteers in Fresno Unite to help the Homeless
Mar 14th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/03/14/18733602.php

Homeless Encampment Eviction Takes Place near West and Ashlan in Fresno
Jul 17th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/07/17/18739952.php

Homeless Encampments Targeted (Again)
Tuesday Jul 30th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/07/30/18740629.php

Found: A homeless encampment that the City of Fresno does not intend to destroy
Friday Aug 2nd, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/08/02/18740839.php

Walking Through Fresno’s Homeless Encampments
Friday Aug 2nd, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/08/02/18740840.php

Who is burning down the Fresno Homeless Encampments?
Monday Aug 12th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/08/12/18741445.php

Fresno Homeless Advocates Hold Press Conference
Monday Aug 26th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/08/26/18742115.php

Homeless Encampments Destroyed
Tuesday Aug 27th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/08/27/18742188.php

The City of Fresno Declares War on the Poor
September 2013
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=8294

From the Editor
September 2013
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=8290

Dispatch from the War Zone – Week Two
Tuesday Sep 3rd, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/09/03/18742623.php

The City of Fresno Destroyed the Only Shelter these Homeless People had
Monday Sep 9th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/09/09/18742970.php

City of Fresno Finds New Ways to Harass the Homeless
Wednesday Oct 9th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/10/09/18744608.php

Grain Silo Homeless Encampment Posted for Demolition
Thursday Oct 10th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/10/10/18744664.php

The Grain Silo/Canal Bank Homeless Encampment is Destroyed
Wednesday Oct 23rd, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/10/23/18745312.php

Where Hope Goes to Die
Sunday Nov 3rd, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/11/03/18745912.php

Are Homeless People’s Human Rights being Violated in Fresno?
Monday Nov 11th, 2013
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/11/11/18746239.php

[annm4peace]

1. Hypocracy

The abuse that happens in Fresno by the "Born Again Christian" Mayors and leaders in Fresno would be a great example to have real Christian groups study of how not to be a Christian.

[annm4peace]

2. Link for those who are trying to help those who are homeless.

For information about what homeless advocates are doing to respond to this crisis, see: http://www.helpfresnoshomeless.org/

[darkangel218]

3. When i worked security we had to wake up the homeless who were sleeping on our property

And ask them to leave

It was heart breaking.

[annm4peace]

4. Incase you want to call the Fresno Mayor or City Manager

Ashley Swearengin, Mayor
2600 Fresno Street
Room 2075
Fresno, CA 93721
[phone]


Bruce Rudd, City Manager
2600 Fresno Street
Room 2064
Fresno, CA 93721
[phone]

http://www.fresno.gov/Government/MayorsOffice/default.htm

[merrily]

10. Will calls cause a change in policy?

I think elected officials would love us to think that, but I don't think they do.

I make calls myself, but I really think we have to consider the possibility that (a) they already know what we think; and (b) they could care less what we think.

And then, once we consider those possibilities, maybe we can focus on actions that might actually impact them. I am not sure what those actions might be in this case. Maybe recruiting someone to run against the Mayor and trying like hell to raise money for that campaign and otherwise try to make sure it succeeds?

[Starry Messenger]

5. K&R

[elzenmahn]

6. As a former (thank God!) resident of the fair City of Fresno...

...I can verify that the entire "fire/health hazard" excuse being used by the city's leaders is pure bullshit. To my recollection, Fresno had one of the largest homeless encampments in the country. These weren't drunks or ne'er-do-wells, either - these were entire families that the economy chewed up and spit out. Having an encampment of this size was perhaps seen as an embarrassment (as it damned-well should be) and an economic drag on the city, so - Fresno "dealt" with it. A similar thing happened in Sacramento.

Dealing with the homeless by forcing them to move is nothing new in these parts. In fact, there are cities in this are that are busing their homeless to cities considered "tolerant" of them - like Santa Cruz. Just get the broom, and sweep from point A to B. That solves the problem, doesn't it?

The income divide in Fresno, like in much of the country, is very acute, as well. Besides the usual subdivisions divided up by economic class, there is also an intentionally unincorporated part of the city within the city itself (known as the Figgarden), which gets its policing by the Highway Patrol rather than Fresno's Finest. I'm assuming that this is so because the residents didn't want to pay the city's taxes (and thus, support the city financially). These homes, of course, are upper-middle-class (at least). More evidence of the selfishness of Fresno's effite elites. No surprise, either, that this town is right in the middle of the politically red part of the state.

[blkmusclmachine]

7. The War On The Homeless is a DISGRACE, and I am ashamed of my old hometown & its sh!tty Mayors.

[LisaLynne]

9. Well,they can't actually HELP them because that would ...

create a culture of dependency, per the asswipes in the GOP. So, better smash their camps and make them move, hopefully to a different city where they aren't seen.

It's sickening.

[annm4peace]

11. I think it would be criminal

but I guess the CA Attorney General or Fed Attorney don't see it that way.

I would also think there would be conflict of interest if the Mayor gave one of her donors so much money to build the housing.

[blue14u]

8. K&R

This is so so sad!