"10-block long area of homeless people sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk"

[ensho]

http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/7616


We have been on the road for almost a month now. If I have learned anything during this March for California’s Future, it is that people in the San Joaquin Valley have lost their faith and their hope along with their jobs and homes.

At the intersection of Route 99&41 in Fresno, we came upon a 10-block long area of homeless people sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk flanked by rows and rows of tents, their only possessions being their sleeping bags and the clothes on their backs.

They are surrounded on all sides by boarded up homes. The empty, unoccupied houses, the foreclosed properties that many of these men and women once occupied, look down on them daily and seem to taunt them.

-snip-

There is much need throughout the state, and although it’s clear that our people need help, that we as a state have the moral responsibility to provide that help, there is none to be had. All that seems to have been offered to the legions of homeless we encountered in Fresno are port-a-potties. In the meantime, the local government has fenced off the area, imparting a concentration camp feel to the entire project.

Up and down California’s San Joaquin Valley, similar scenes of abandonment play out to varying degrees.

-snip-

Although disillusioned, dispossessed, demobilized, and demonized, many of the men and women we have encountered on this march, who are at the lowest points of their lives, still get up and welcome us and applaud us when we march into town.

This is because they know that something is deeply wrong in our state and in our neighborhoods. They know that government can and should do more to help. They also know that government has turned its back on them to bail out rich executives and big banks while their own families are torn apart, their jobs disappeared, and their homes foreclosed.

I feel the same way, and I know that I am not alone.

This week, hundreds of public service employees, students, teachers, and local residents are joining up with us on the March for California’s Future as we enter Merced County, which the Associated Press has ranked as the second most economically depressed county in the nation.

-snip-

This march is about restoring the California dream. At its core, that means restoring faith in the notion that we as a people will help those who need it, that justice and fairness are indeed for all, and that every individual has the freedom and wherewithal to reach their full potential. These are the ideals to which we as Californians and as Americans have pledged ourselves.

That is why I am marching, and that is why our numbers will swell as we near Sacramento.
-----------------------------

the California dream

more power to them

[kestrel91316]

1. Vast numbers of empty homes + vast numbers of homeless = CRIME

This nation should hang its head in shame.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. Proposed solution? (n/t)

[Karmadillo]

4. Fifty percent cut in the defense budget? A New Deal work program?

nt

[ensho]

9. cut the defense budget and begin to dismantle the pentagon

no more pretend reasons to war on other countries.

nobody is going to attack us.

our and the rest of the world's only enemy is climate change.

[Karmadillo]

14. Total agreement. We can't solve our problems unless we take back power

from those whose power lies in the continuation of our problems.

"There comes a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part; and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop, And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, the people who own it, that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all." (1964)

Mario Savio

[happy_liberal]

19. yes, this is the way!

Just look at the military brass double dipping on pensions and salaries while working for defense contractors
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8091272

The corruption is absolute. We need to shut it down and start over.

[zeemike]

8. The immediate solution is to take back those empty homes.

And use them to provide for those that are on the streets.
But that would be civil disobedience and we can't have that.

[bobbolink]

17. USians growing a heart would be a good start.

[Cal Carpenter]

12. No, this nation should rise up in anger at injustice

We have been rendered inactive by pseudo-democracy and divide and conquer.

Those of us with the luxury of online political rumination still have much more in common with those people in tents in the shadows of their former homes than we do with the people who are profiting off of their misery.

We are much more likely to end up homeless than we are to become obscenely wealthy and powerful.

Shame is fine for about 5 seconds but it's not about blame. It is about looking past propaganda and seeing the real reasons for this disparity and seeing real possibilities for changing it.

[Karmadillo]

13. "We have been rendered inactive by pseudo-democracy and divide and conquer."

And there you have it. If we would unite in support of social justice, we really could change the world. We only have to stop convincing ourselves that the possible is impossible.

"There comes a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part; and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop, And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, the people who own it, that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all." (1964)

Mario Savio

[Odin2005]

23. You got it!

:yourock:

[Joanne98]

3. I used to see things like this in the 90's. Mostly Wilmington....

Homeless people sleeping on sidewalks. Some even had eyepads to block out the light. It should be legal to be homeless. Making homeless people move all the time is evil.

[phantom power]

5. Should be called GOP-villes.

But I'm worried they'll end up being called Obama-villes.

[grahamhgreen]

6. Give the houses to the homeless, duh.

[anarch]

7. what do you think this is, Soviet Russia?

the answer is clearly to arrest the homeless for creating a public nuisance, and probably we should also burn the houses to the ground as well.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

21. "Giving" away homes is a pretty shortsighted half-baked idea.

Those house belong to *somebody*... who pays for them to be given away? Can the ex-homeless afford proper maintenence, taxes, and utilities to keep the homes servicable? What happens when most underwater homeowners see the government *giving* away housing and decide, "Fuck it, I'll stop paying for my home and the government will just give me a house to live in"?

"Giving" away homes is a pretty shortsighted half-baked idea... causes more problems than it solves. Expanding section 8 housing with more rigorous fraud-screening of the service (to strech it's value) would do much better. If you expand Section 8 housing, you drive the demand for more cheap housing and more people will buy the properties and fix them up (for rent/sale) to meet demand. This would have the effect of increasing home prices (for non ss8 housing) in the $30k-$75k range.

[Odin2005]

24. Sad you have fallen for the Idol of Property.

The Government should simply confiscate the houses from the BANKSTERS and give them to people who need them.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

25. Properties exist and have real value.

A) They can't be seized without just compensation. Don't like the law... repeal the 5th Amendment.
B) On a more economic-theory based level, disappearing such a significant portion of any "banksters" worth and/or valued assets would immediately destroy them... because collapsed banking systems are always bolsters for the peasants, right? :eyes:

"Idol of Property" :eyes:
Sad you have dismissed trivial concepts with maladroit phrases.

[grahamhgreen]

32. Sounds like your advocating for the French solution to our problems, onetenth.

[grahamhgreen]

31. I could live with your solution, but the houses belong to the homeless, they were stolen

by huge faceless banksters, who used the peoples money to bail themselves out by corrupting our legislators, and 'we the people' should give the houses to the homeless.

Only in the neo-con, Greesnpan, Ayn Rand Amerikkka could we have a society so selfish that we allow people to sleep on the streets rather than in perfectly good houses - that we the people actually paid for.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

33. deleted

[HCE SuiGeneris]

34. deleted

[Bluenorthwest]

10. Great respect for Ms Gonzolez and the others who are marching

I have family in those counties, particularly in Merced County, A visit to Merced or Modesto now is very sad, and also truly stunning, because the changes have been so profound and so swift.

[ensho]

11. agree, wishing her Stamina and sending hugs and kisses

nt

[Hannah Bell]

15. "I remember what the Central Valley was like before."

"I remember how people used to go out with their kids on Sundays and walk around town window shopping or taking in the sights. Now weekends in places like Visalia and Merced mean empty streets and shuttered storefronts. There is no local economy to speak of and no decent jobs."


I was just reading someone saying the same about detroit, & i could say the same about my own hometown.

Purposeful, wanton destruction of people's property, livelihoods, lives.

[bvar22]

16. Simple Solution.

Pass a law MANDATING that the homeless BUY houses from the Big Wall Street Banks.
Problem Solved.
A Uniquely American Solution!

[bobbolink]

18. While that is good satire, for those of us who are homeless, it stings.

[happy_liberal]

20. I love this group! We need one in every state....

Cali Duers- please join in the March on Sacramento and represent those of us that cannot :beg:

[Odin2005]

22. That there is any homelessness in any developed country today is SHAMEFUL!

:grr:

[bobbolink]

36. .

:applause:

[Cronus Protagonist]

26. Only 10 blocks? They should cruise along Skid Row in Los Angeles any night

And take a gander at 50,000 to 200,000 people who've been in a worse position for decades. Not that that makes it any better, but the poor people in downtown should not be forgotten in the mix.

[truedelphi]

27. Is this the area of California where the water was turned away from the farmers

Due to federal law and protection of a minnow?

If so, where was the flexibility on this matter. Couldn't the minnow have been "farmed" like so many fish are these days?

In any event, what sense did it make for the Federal Government to turn the water away from these farms, and let so many go without work at a time when the State of California was in a drought and when the unemployment rate in farming communities is at all time highs? And the Federal government doing this is in violation of state law, I believe.

And the supposed liberal side of the argument is that if these farmers had the water, thatt was horrible horrible horrible,
So if the farming families shouldn't be coddled, what about the workers?

I am so ashamed sometimes of being an "environmentalist!?!"

[NYC_SKP]

28. The issues of water in the Central Valley are a lot more complicated than a species of minnow.

When technologies are turned to make the land do what it was never naturally meant to sustainably do, there are consequences.

Unfortunately, people (and usually the poor) are the butt of these consequences.

The very life of the valley, irrevocably changed already by water projects, is at stake.

The minnow is but a symptom of the disease.

NYC_SKP

[KamaAina]

29. It's the delta smelt

and the area in question is confined to the west side of the San Joaquin Valley (the Westlands water district). You know something's wrong when Sean Hannity suddenly becomes a friend of Latino farm workers. :eyes:

[truedelphi]

30. However state law says that water inside California is

Water belonging to the state of California. To be used under the purview of this state.

This is an important point, because sometimes our local government looks after us more than the Federal Government does.

It makes me extremely anxious for us in California to have this happen.

I watched in horror over the years as people in Bolivia had their water given away by their Federal government to Bechtel. And in the end, Bolivians had to fight and die in the streets to get their water back - not just water for irrigation, but drinking water.

We are at a point in history where many people in the cities are so mad crazy for "environmentalism" that they will support anything at all as long as it has that "environmental" label attached. I don't trust the environmental movement any more, it is now a subsidiary of Big Corporations. (That doesn't mean I don't follow sound life style practices - it means I am wary when legal rights of a state are diminished for the sake of unknown entity? Does anyone on this board know where that water ended up and if any Corporations profited?

[bobbolink]

37. You are bringing up an important point, but when it comes to eco-anything and liberals,

its chaos.

I was bashed because I protested the idea of charging poor people for shopping bags.

We tried to get people to understand that raising gas taxes only hurts poor folk, and does NOTHING to reduce the useage---study after study shows that.

In our essay series, we tried to explain the difference between "progressive" and "regressive" taxes, but there are so many here who can't grasp it, and frankly, don't care if poor folk are harmed.

That not caring IS the class war!

:pals:

[Mojeoux]

38. Bless You BOBO n/t

[truedelphi]

41. There are some here on DU who would not be willing to give up their

yearly trip to the Bahamas or Europe, even if that trip endangered some rare species of minnow.

But whenever the poor are expected to give up their jobs, the food for the family, and the roof over their heads for some minnow, so what? Should they complain, then tongues wag and scold that the poor don't care about the environment.

Meanwhile, from what I note in my County, vineyards is the "yuppie" term for deforestation. Thousands of acres are taken out down, with grapes planted in their stead. I don't understand any of this - there is already a huge glut on the market in terms of grapes. I do know that the animal life is immediately killed off - no habitat for the coyote, deer, skink, skunks, possum, owls and other birds (and all the other species) once the vineyards and their pesticides move in.

Oh and when the pesticides' runoff from the vineyard hits the creeks, guess what happens to the soon to be extinct rare minnow or smelt? You got it - instant death. But somehow that is different.

Death from vineyard cultivation is A okay. every fifth or sixth other show on the "Planet" network visits vineyards! (While discussion how ecological they are.)

Anyway - I am glad we're :pals:

[bobbolink]

42. I've read through this 3 times, because this is so deep, and expresses eloquently where we are.

What is at the bottom of what you present is the lack of listening to each other.

Each side of the debate wants to be "right", and of course, poor folk don't get heard by *EITHER* side. :cry:

We ALL need to be :pals:!!!

:hug:

[Bonobo]

35. The money to help them was spent killing journalists and civilians from the air.

Sorry homeless dudes.

[chill_wind]

39. The combined wars have cost the taxpayers of California $132.6 billion

- for total Iraq and Afghanistan war spending since 2001.

The trade-off in just shelter and housing alone? --
money that could have provided 396,771 Affordable Housing Units

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoffs?location_type=1&state=6&program=585&tradeoff_item_item=279&submit_tradeoffs=Get+Trade+Off

[Hekate]

40. Good point.