General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHere is what happens when the homeless are forced out of downtown Fresno (CA), 1 of many attacks.
Here is what happens when the homeless are forced out of downtown Fresno.
William Lewis and his friend Lori Bryson are homeless and live in the Herndon and Blackstone area. Lewis called the Community Alliance to complain of police harassment, saying they had been arrested and taken downtown, for allegedly blocking a sidewalk and trespassing. Lewis told me that the officer who threatened him with arrest issued a citation and took him and Lori to the downtown police department for processing.
Officer Lee threatened to take our two dogs from us if he sees us anywhere north of the Poverello House, Lewis said. He claims Officer Lee told him that if Im north of the Poverello House and see him coming for Lori and I to empty our pockets, put our hands behind our backs and to consider ourselves under arrest. Lewis says he is having a hard time sleeping from all the stress.
Another example of the problems encountered when homeless people are forced out of downtown and end up in other parts of the city is what happened on July 17, when an encampment emerged on a ditch bank near Ashlan and West avenues in northwest Fresno. When I arrived, the Fresno Irrigation District (FID) was in the middle of destroying the encampment and everybodys property.
Most of the structures had already been pulled out of the protective shrubbery on the southwest side of the canal bank. A bulldozer was busy picking up homeless peoples property and putting it in a dump truck.
I asked Murray, who said he was a supervisor for the FID, if they were saving any of the property. He said they had not found anything of value yet, but I think my question got him thinking about the implications of their actions. Murray said that they had put up notices informing the homeless people that they were going to clean up. I asked for a copy of the notice, and he said he didnt have one.
I walked away for a moment to take some photos and when I came back the driver of the machine with the large claw (see photos at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/07/17/18739952.php ) said, We dont have time for this shit. Call the police.
Someone (probably Murray) must have convinced the crew that they better make a show for the press because then they started going through the shopping carts and putting things aside, which they said they were going to save.
The FID frequently destroys homeless encampments. It is rare when someone photographs them in the act. The Community Alliance has filed a California Public Records Act request to see if the FID actually did store any property and to find out how the homeless can reclaim whatever was lost. Sometimes the items destroyed or saved include clothes, ID, photographs of loved ones and other valuable items.
The kind of reckless behavior being displayed by the FID is what has the City of Fresno facing multiple lawsuits from their OctoberNovember 2011 destruction of homeless encampments. The wheels of justice are turning slowly in that case, which will eventually end up in Federal Court. Right now, both sides are still in the discovery phase of court proceedings, interviewing witnesses, etc. The fact that 30-plus homeless people have sued the City of Fresno for violating their rights has curbed City Halls enthusiasm for taking a more aggressive approach against the homeless.
One way this manifests itself is by providing minimal police and other services. For months, the city did not provide any trash service. It still refuses to provide drinking water or portable toilets. As a concession to residents of West Fresno who complained about the health and safety implications of large piles of trash on the streets, the city now cleans up once every three weeks.
The Community Alliance is providing portable toilets and trash bins at the downtown homeless encampments. We also pay a previously homeless man to maintain the portable toilets, keep them supplied with TP and clean the trash off the streets. The four large dumpsters and 10 portable toilets help keep the streets cleaner, but more is needed.
The City of Fresnos policy of chasing the homeless from one location to another is not going to end homelessness. It is not going to improve homeless peoples lives and does not move us one step closer to a solution. What would help is if the community started to establish safe and legal places where the homeless could live. These facilities would have basic public services and the people living in them would be treated with the same dignity and respect that everyone deserves.
If you would like to do something concrete to help the homeless in Fresno, you can drop off rolls of toilet paper at the Fresno Center for Nonviolence (1584 N. Van Ness Ave.) MondayFriday 11 a.m.3 p.m. You can also mail a contribution to help pay for the portable toilets and trash bins to the Community Alliance, P.O. Box 5077, Fresno, CA 93755 (make the check to Eco-Village Project). All of the contributions are used to help the homeless; nothing is used to pay for administrative or other overhead expenses.
###
The Fresno Bee printed a front page article, in the Tuesday, July 30 2013 edition, about the demolitions of downtown homeless encampments. See: http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/07/29/3413693/three-big-homeless-camps-in-fresno.html
*****
Mike Rhodes is the editor of the Community Alliance newspaper. Contact him at editor [at] fresnoalliance.com.
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=1313
********************************************************************
In the next couple of weeks, homeless people who live in downtown Fresno will be forced from their shelters and told to move on. The driving force of this relocation is the Poverello House, which is a homeless service center located at Santa Clara and F streets.
Poverello House staff have been complaining for some time now about the homeless encampments that have developed outside their gates. They claim these encampments are a magnet for crime and violence, which makes it more difficult for their clients to walk through a gauntlet to get to their facility. Adding credibility to their claim were several shootings in July, with one person killed and another paralyzed.
At about the same time as the late August demolitions at the homeless encampments take place, the Poverello House will be closing some or all of the Village of Hope, which are tool sheds where more than 100 people live. The combination of this closure and the eviction of the homeless people living near the Poverello House will create a massive dislocation, with no solution in sight.
The City of Fresno has focused on developing partnerships with groups providing housing for a limited number of homeless people. The three Renaissance projects are an example of this effort, but they house only 118 of the estimated 15,000 homeless people in Fresno. There are no construction projects for new homeless housing currently planned.
There has been renewed talk of housing vouchers being distributed, with the likely number being well under 100. There are more than 1,000 homeless people in downtown Fresno, and there is no safe and legal place for them to live. They have put up shelters around the Poverello House because that is where they can get free meals and services. The Rescue Mission, which has beds for homeless men (only), does not allow anyone to use them unless they are in a rehabilitation program.
The problem with drugs and violence in the homeless encampments is real and has been exacerbated by the Fresno Police Departments hands-off approach. Most of the homeless people dont feel protected by the police, and the police have, until recently, not made servicing the area a high priority. I have seen open drug sales taking place on street corners, domestic violence takes place regularly and, in many respects, gangs fill in the void and are the law of the land.
At least that was true until mid-July when the police made a concerted effort to take back control of Santa Clara and F streets with a massive presence. One homeless resident told me, They are driving through here every five minutes. Another man told me that he was put on the curb and illegally searched.
A homeless woman said, They came into my shelter and asked me what I was doing there. She said she was trying to survive without people breaking into my house.
The all-or-nothing police response at the homeless encampments leaves you wondering why they have abandoned them or alternatively that they are overreacting, possibly violating peoples constitutional rights.
When the evictions from the Village of Hope and new demolitions of the homeless encampments near the Poverello House take place, people will be forced to find new places to live. Of course, the locations where homeless people establish new encampments will create situations that lead to the next round of evictions. Some homeless advocates have compared this cycle to a cruel version of Whack a Mole.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)Rockets Terrence Jones arrested in Portland after allegedly stomping on homeless mans legs
Houston Rockets forward Terrence Jones had a rather nondescript rookie season, but after a solid showing in the NBA Summer Leagues in Orlando earlier in July, he and his young Rockets team were probably hoping to make waves heading into a crucial 2013-14 campaign. Allegedly, Jones is off to a very poor start in terms of breaking into the publics consciousness.
KATU is reporting that Jones was arrested after allegedly stomping on the leg of a homeless man after leaving a bar in Portland on Wednesday morning. Jones, who is a Portland native, was reported to have been observed by a police sergeant in the wee hours as shouting down the homeless man before kicking the victims leg.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/portland-police-arrest-houston-rocket-terrence-jones-allegedly-184044842.html?bcmt=comments-postbox
UtahLib
(3,179 posts)Swagman
(1,934 posts)are extremely good in business and creating fortunes for themselves, are now in the 1% and have complete power over the rest.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)go.
annm4peace
(6,119 posts)It is amazing how the State and the Feds let this abuse continues. The Feds have given the city of Fresno money to help with homelessness but they wasted that money and the Feds let it continue.
Mike has been reporting on the abuse since 2002.. I am just posting some of the headings for the year 2012
Punishing Fresnos Most Vulnerable
January 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=3892
From the Editor
January 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=4066
City of Fresno Sends Holiday Greetings to the Homeless
January 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=4061
Who Killed Big Sue?
February 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=4259
No Fooling,National Day of Action for the Right to Exist: April 1
April 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=4484
No Fooling April 1 Action in Fresno
April 3, 2012
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/04/03/18710664.php
Lawsuits Filed in Response to the City of Fresnos Treatment of the Homeless
April 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=4647
The Time to Organize is Now
April 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=4727
The Coalition with the Homeless and Other Advocates
April 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=4736
Federal Agencies Join Advocates in Condemning Criminalization of Homelessness
May 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=4887
More Homeless Evictions Expected
July 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=5651
and
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/07/01/18716711.php
Statewide Homeless Memorial Event
July 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=5601
The Community Alliance Is Helping the Homeless
July 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=5568
Homeless Action in Fresno
July 2012
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/06/10/18715144.php
and
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=5565
More Homeless Dislocated by the City of Fresno
August 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=5875
Scorched Earth Policy
September 2012
http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=6581
annm4peace
(6,119 posts)I hope at sometime someone in power will step in and stop the abuse and set up real help for the homeless in Fresno and surrounding area.
I wish it would happen and it wouldn't be me just hoping.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)And this is happening all over
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)Everybody with a decent roof (or any roof) over their heads tonight should be grateful. I've even heard that in some cities it's now against the law to feed the homeless.
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Because of the greed of the super-rich, we can't do both.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)I am looking for a good place to be homeless as that looks like the future for this old boy.
Thanks for all you do. Nice to see someone care. If only there were city leaders who cared?
Seems a large piece of land could be set aside so that camps could be arranged without the chance of getting run off.
annm4peace
(6,119 posts)and in the winter it is cold and foggy. But they don't have snow.
If you read the articles you will see it is a horrific place to be homeless.
the progressives have shown where there is land, and have paid for out of their own pockets, water tanks and porta potties....
but the city still abused the homeless.
There are many much more compassionate and progressive cities like Minneapolis and St Paul.. where they actually do a lot to try to end homelessness.