Changing Territory: Informed by its past, Eureka takes another crack at homeless ordinance

PalCo Marsh Devil's Playground Homeless Camp Encampment

PalCo Marsh Devil’s Playground Homeless Camp Encampment

By Linda Stansberry/Community Voices Coalition

On Nov. 17, the Eureka City Council voted to repeal and replace its existing camping ordinance, approving new language that prohibits camping in the city’s business districts and trails, anywhere in the city during daylight hours and anywhere on public property where said camping would be considered “obstructive conduct.” Discussion stretched nearly two hours, with several councilmembers seeking to assuage public concern that the new ordinance would further criminalize homelessness. The ordinance was amended to change the recommended criminal charge for camping from a misdemeanor to an infraction and then passed with a 4-1 vote, with Councilmember Leslie Castellano dissenting.

According to City Attorney Robert Black, the new language was drafted to replace an existing ordinance rendered moot by a 2019 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, Martin vs. The City of Boise. In that case, the court found Boise’s camping ordinance unconstitutional on the grounds that it violated the Eighth Amendment by criminalizing “necessary human behavior; specifically, sleeping, sitting and lying on public property when homelessness and lack of available shelter gives individuals no alternative.”

“The city has been involved in litigation stemming from the Palco Marsh abatement,” Black told the council in his opening comments. “One step in the direction of resolving that litigation is to revise our camping ordinance and bring it into compliance with federal law. [Martin v. City of Boise] basically said that houseless, homeless people by virtue of their status cannot be criminalized through total prohibition of camping in public spaces. We now have an ordinance that essentially contains such a total prohibition. This is an attempt to try to establish a set of values on the use of public property but, at the same time, allow large areas of public space within the city of Eureka to be available to people for whom there is no available shelter space.”

Eureka City Attorney Bob Black during the City Council’s Nov. 17 meeting.

Eureka City Attorney Bob Black during the City Council’s Nov. 17 meeting.

In the new ordinance, this conduct is referred to as “involuntary camping,” and is prohibited in Old Town, the Northern Gateway District, all of the Waterfront Trail and the Henderson Center business district.

Councilmember Austin Allison opened discussion with two questions: “Will ordinances like this put houseless people in jail? Will it take people off the streets?”

Black responded that “for all practical purposes, the answer is no,” adding that there was a “theoretical legal construct” in which violators could be charged with a misdemeanor but in practice it would be an opportunity for police officers to contact those violating the ordinance and try to convince them to seek services.

Eureka Police Capt. Brian Stephens confirmed that EPD currently has a practice of not rousting people who are camping overnight except in complaint-driven circumstances, and said the ordinance would give officers the authority to contact individuals and connect them with services, with the “ultimate goal being able to get them off the street.”

“The ordinance gives us the ability to legally maintain order and address overall community needs and, hopefully, encourage these community members to seek out services and sheltered spaces,” Stephens wrote in a follow up email. “Those that do have a change of heart about accepting assistance often do so because of the multiple contacts and the relationships that are built between members of our CSET and UPLIFT team and the community member. There are times and areas that the behavior is not acceptable and there needs to be balance and the ability for all our community members to freely utilize our public spaces.”

The city has been on a circuitous journey with its relationship to its homeless residents since 2013, when a lawsuit brought by a homeless advocate who broke her shoulder while visiting people in the Palco Marsh sparked a series of events culminating in abatement of that encampment, which at one time consisted of several hundred people living behind the Bayshore Mall. City staff attempted an array of different tactics to disband the Palco Marsh camps, including straightforward eviction notices, regular visits by clean-up crews and resource fairs before the camp was finally forcefully dispersed May 2, 2016.

The city’s ongoing exposure to litigation, as referenced by Black at the top of the meeting, informed much of Nov. 17 discussion. The case, which Black said is largely inactive, arose from that 2016 eviction. Eleven litigants represented by Eureka attorney Shelley Mack filed a restraining order against the city just prior to the clear-out of the encampment. A judge at the time ruled that the city would have to provide alternative shelter for the plaintiffs. The ruling resulted in a series of “sanctioned camps” set up at different places in the city, but they were discontinued in November of 2016, with city staff citing complaints from neighboring business owners about theft and vandalism.

In the four years since the events of 2016, the city has diversified its approach to homelessness, with departments changing in a variety of ways to meet the challenge. The city’s Community Services Department (formerly Parks and Recreation) helped establish UPLIFT Eureka, which matches participants with community volunteers to help guide them through services. EPD modified and expanded its homeless outreach services. The city also supported several transitional and permanent housing projects through the Betty Kwan Chinn Foundation and the state’s Project Homekey initiative.

But the question of where people without homes can legally be, especially with winter bearing down, limited local shelter capacity and the continuing spectre of a pandemic.
Castellano asked if the maps created by counsel were counter-intuitive: “If someone was camping somewhere and told they couldn’t stay, and they ask where they could go, what would happen — would we show them a map of where they could go?”

Black said questions like that “get worked out in practice,” in the field by EPD officers, and that there is a general reluctance to sanction any particular area for camping, saying it could lead to a “concentrated zone or area.” Camping Ordinance Business Dsitricts (1)Stephens, in an email, acknowledged this concern, saying there is “a risk with telling a community member that they can camp in a particular place.”

Although public comment leaned largely against approving the new language, with one opponent saying it sounded like “just pushing people around,” a council majority supported the change. Several councilmembers cited complaints from business owners about homeless camping in doorways and entryways and having to clean up messes before opening up to customers.
“It’s really important to learn from your past,” said Councilmember Kim Bergel, referring to instances when the city allowed camps to become entrenched. “We’ve experienced this with Palco Marsh … if you remember what a nightmare that was.”

Castellano, who cast the lone dissenting vote, wrote in a follow-up email that she had several concerns with the new ordinance.

“The legal territory of when and where a person can sleep in public is quickly changing,” she wrote. “I think that it is better to take our time in developing a replacement ordinance, if that is indeed the best tactic, in order to create something that will not be subject to continued legal challenge.”

She expressed concerns that continued litigation would ultimately be costly for the citizens of Eureka and felt some of the language in the ordinance has too much room for interpretation and it is unclear how enforcement would work in practice.

“I also have concerns about encouraging people to seek a shelter during a pandemic,” she added. “I know that the people who manage shelters in Eureka are doing tremendous work and abiding by good health protocol, but there are many unknowns during this time and the numbers of people who have COVID-19 are on the rise.”

“I know we need some better systems to support our local business owners who are facing many challenges and do not also want to be confronted by having to clean up after someone or manage a situation that may feel unsafe to them, and I am committed to figuring out what the best policies may be for that, but I think that we are not fully there yet,” she wrote.

community voices coalitionThe Community Voices Coalition is a project funded by Humboldt Area Foundation and Wild Rivers Community Foundation to support local journalism. This story was produced by the North Coast Journal newsroom with full editorial independence and control.

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Screwed Sideways
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Screwed Sideways
3 years ago

I think that we could argue that California itself is an “attractive nuisance”, and the state is therefore responsible for supporting and housing everyone who came to live in the Sunshine State…

Makes as much sense as forcing folks to move their garbage-filled camps, their rudimentary tents, their dogs and their possessions from place to place…

The State of California housing people in motels while they are positive for CoV-19 is another incredible boondoggle! How will removing the sick from the general population of indigents improve the situation? Seems that state policy has destroyed yet another industry, and I for one will never stay in another low end motel, as I did in Weaverville in 2015 while seeking housing attendant to working at Trinity Hospital. Even in those days, Trinity County gave out “vouchers” to the homeless, and when I realized I was hot-bedding with bums, I moved out quickly…

In the California of CoVid-19, the population has become frantic, with those who have money buying up everything, from used cars to flour, rentable real estate to paper towels, in a frenzy of “the world is ending” shopping… There can’t be any other explanation, in the state that burns down every year…

One huge group, camping in the streets, and another huge group, entitled, wealthy, and overpaid, grabbing anything not tied down in an effort to control anything at all in the state so crazy and inept, fiddling with their wealth while California burns…

To the homeless: here you are, by the grace of, whatever, and you can rely on the idiots in charge, in Eureka, to want to push you from one spot to another, in the hopes that you will just move to Utah, or just disappear entirely!

Homeless are just not gonna be welcome here, and in actual fact, nobody is really welcome in Eureka! It’s just not a workable environment, just like much of Humboldt County, as as the years pass, only the wealthy are able to stay, while the marijuana crime swirls about them, threatening to take their weed, their property, their lives…

Eureka is a mess, unfit for general habitation by anyone, a stinking miasma of greed and despair, governed by the incompetent and corrupt, the nepotists and those elected by running unopposed in a lawless and decaying destroyed environment, waiting to be abandoned to the general criminal element and the dispossessed.

Good luck Eureka, doesn’t matter what you do or which idiot is mayor, it’s an unclean-able problem, and it isn’t going away, no matter how much you talk!

Lola Marie
Guest
Lola Marie
3 years ago

News for you….Florida is the Sunshine State. Lol

Allch Chcar
Guest
Allch Chcar
3 years ago
Reply to  Lola Marie

Yup, and even though it, “…never rains in Southern California” It sure as hell rains here.

Screwed Sideways
Guest
Screwed Sideways
3 years ago
Reply to  Lola Marie

Obviously you are less than 50, and don’t know any better…

CA is the “Sunshine State”, Florida stole the name later…

Watch “Vanishing Point” with Barry Newman, 1970, for authentication…

Don’t worry, soon you will be “from here”!

Lola Marie
Guest
Lola Marie
3 years ago

I feel sorry for you. Oh well. Be safe, Be kind. BTW: CA is the Golden State. You can wiki that. 🙂

Screwed Sideways
Guest
Screwed Sideways
3 years ago
Reply to  Lola Marie

Well. No need to be sorry, I have a home…

And Florida adopted the slogan “The Sunshine State”, in 1970. Honest, look it up, I didn’t just make this up a minute ago…

Yes, California is the Golden State too, and the streets are paved with gold for the poor, the immigrant, and those who “marry into” being citizens, like East Indians and Filipinos…

So why be homeless? Is it loving intoxication, mental illness or just being lazy? In my opinion, the homeless are folks with absolutely no class, and who are always on the hustle! They can make a living, but, what they call a living, I would call living like they are camping, but permanently! Maybe it’s fun, I don’t know!

I live like most married men, my job is taking my partner, my family. I don’t get the choice to get high and lay around, heck, I need health insurance, two cars, new shoes, clean underwear… all the luxuries…

Hang in there dear, and don’t take it so seriously! It’s just a comment, not a sermon!

P2P
Guest
P2P
3 years ago

Wow, [edit] Is there anyone, any group, you don’t resent? Sucks to be you.

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
3 years ago

So now they will camp in residential areas? Or just off the trails like they are already doing. The bottom line is that Eureka has become an embarrassing community, with a totally ineffective city council and government, and the county isn’t too far behind. You just can’t balance the books on handouts and the marijuana industry. And the affordable housing isn’t going to be affordable. The emphasis should change from quantity to quality here. But the leaders just can’t see that.

catbus1974
Guest
catbus1974
3 years ago
Reply to  Jeffersonian

it’s not just Eureka. The problem is all over the metropolitan areas of this country. The only metropolitan in the Us without as dire a housing emergency, is Canada.

Lola Marie
Guest
Lola Marie
3 years ago
Reply to  catbus1974

Canada is not a metro area of the US. It happens to be our upstairs neighbors. You know, a country, not part of the 50 states. Check you history and geography maps please. Wow! 🤣🤣🤣

Allch Chcar
Guest
Allch Chcar
3 years ago
Reply to  Jeffersonian

Good morning. I think it’s important to note that state and federal laws are what are cutting the hamstring of Eureka the most in this case. It’s just too small of a city with such a limited tax base to deal with issues like homelessness on it’s own within current regulations. I forget how long it’s been since Eureka annexed anything or added a significant amount of population. It’s been anti-growth for so long that it can’t effectively grow itself enough to manage its own problems. It’s amazing that a few hundred homeless present an insurmountable problem for them.

Decriminalization of homeless might help in some ways. Without another tax revenue source there’s no way the situation will change for everyone affected by it. That and effective leadership might help. But that’s expecting too much.

Angela Robinson
Guest
Angela Robinson
3 years ago
Reply to  Allch Chcar

Eureka seems to hover around 25K (maybe a thousand or two more now). It has been that way my whole life. I moved to Oregon decades ago, and it’s still basically the same size it was when I moved. I looked it up once, the the highest population was around 1960. 60 years ago there were more people living in Eureka than even today. It was a gritty beaten up town growing up then, in the 60s and 70s. Though I suspect it always has been. It kind of goes with the territory, being a back water on the coast. All that said, I still love it.

The 60s saw a really big decline (county wide as well). Though the county has grown in since that time, from something like 100K to 135K.

cutomorrow
Guest
3 years ago

Eureka hasn’t annexed any thing since Eisenhower was president

Xingu
Guest
Xingu
3 years ago
Reply to  cutomorrow

McKay tract?

Angela Robinson
Guest
Angela Robinson
3 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Thanks!

The growth in the county’s overall population are in Arcata, McKinleyville, Fortuna and I was surprised, the Garberville area. Eureka’s “suburbs” must have also grown, too.

The little town I live in now was just over 7.000 when I moved here. Now, over 40 years later it is just pushing past 10K. But a lot of that growth has been by the city annexing everything they could. They picked up neighborhoods north and south. A whole lot more “second homes”, though. But those aren’t lived in, so much as visited. We are only 2 1/2 hours from Portland. There are even more further up the coast, being closer to PDX. Something Humboldt County doesn’t see as much because it is more isolated then the central and north coasts of Oregon. We also have a much more robust offshore fishery (both here and Alaska). I watched Eureka’s fisheries decline even while I was still living there.

Coos Bay, the largest city on the Oregon coast is around 16,000. In the last 50 years it’s only gained about 3000 residents. Coos Bay has always reminded me of a bit smaller version of Eureka.

Jeffersonian
Guest
Jeffersonian
3 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Yes but the suburbs have grown . Cutten, Ridgewood, Myrtletown, Pine Hill, Humboldt Hill. But they dont want to be annexed because the city of Eureka has such bad management. The overall population is close to 50000, way more than in 1960.

Guest
Guest
Guest
3 years ago
Reply to  Jeffersonian

Empty houses and businesses should be a clue. The silliness of its city council makes it worse. Frankly this pandemic has been a impetus to avoid It even more.

Sonnyb
Guest
Sonnyb
3 years ago

Everybody need a place to play there need down. Sometimes you need a helping hand. If the government can’t help the poor souls then we should all chip in and save are community. Every body here always says mom and pop helps the community it is time to prove it and step up. Lets build some houses for these humans and get them back on there feet. Then they will help others and the circle will continue. PO

In my 1911 I trust
Guest
In my 1911 I trust
3 years ago
Reply to  Sonnyb

Mom and pop have been destroyed. Go find someone else to “help”

Tara Turnbough
Guest
3 years ago
Reply to  Sonnyb

A man,””

stuber
Guest
stuber
3 years ago

There are millionaires and billionaires in this country. There are multi millionaires and millionaires in Humboldt county. Some willingly give lots of money to political causes and politicians. There is lots of bare land in Humboldt county, some with springs for water, some with open land. There have to be parcels of 40 to 80 acres owned by the county or state. There are politicians who do the bidding of the millionaires, and companies for their own benefit, not the public good. We can see on the news people giving up to 100 million dollars to a campaign, for useless cardboard posters and toxic ads, on the radio and TV, none does any good to change anyone’s mind. They are just wasting money, and it helps no one.
Perhaps we could change this. Perhaps we could call for legislation that solved some of the homeless problems. Like making a law that says if you want to give money to a politician or political party, 50% goes to help the poor and homeless. You want to give 50,000$ to political crap, 25,000$ goes to the homeless and their maintenance, their care. $100,000 to a political party, $50,000 goes to the homeless situation.
Call on those who work the front lines of the homeless and the poor to be put in charge of the design and implementation of these facilities. Design these places to provide gardening skills, wood working, metal work, and other skills to help give them purpose and a new beginning. The key is that they never have to leave, and go back into a situation that causes them to be homeless again. There are people with skills to help, there are people who have lots of money, there are parcels of land that could be used. There is a solution to this, it just takes people to act. We can no longer listen to the comfortable experts who have never been on the street, who have not been helpful, who have done nothing, regardless of their pay, and just kick the can. We have people who do, they help the poor everyday, they know the problems, they just need to be listened to, respected, and given the land and money to do this. Create villages of hope and safety, eliminate the suffering and dispair.

I like stars
Guest
I like stars
3 years ago
Reply to  stuber

What you don’t acknowledge about those political contributions is that the big ones aren’t donations, they are investments. The investors expect a healthy return.

Motel California
Guest
Motel California
3 years ago
Reply to  stuber

“Motel California”

“you can check out, but you can never leave”

stuber
Guest
stuber
3 years ago
Reply to  stuber

The problem to this starting are the people who say we can’t infringe on the homeless people’s rights to live the way they want. You, as county supervisors, as planning, people like John Ford, as govt. pukes, are the homeless problem. You fuck with those of us who are not homeless every day. You tell us how to live, how to do business, and tax the fuck out of us. 8% sales tax? Horrible property taxes. Have you stopped the demand for property taxes for those who lost their jobs, or business property? Fuck no you haven’t. Take take take, is what you do, and to hell with those who are struggling. You must have some benefit for keeping the homeless homeless. People who have lost their jobs due to the virus, but still have your homes, should march on the county tax collector, and demand a stay on your tax bill. Which is coming just about now, just in time for Christmas. The govt people have their paychecks, they get paid for not working on Christmas day. Do you?

cutomorrow
Guest
3 years ago
Reply to  stuber

stuber, so apparently this Thanksgiving you have little to nothing to be thankful for ?

stuber
Guest
stuber
3 years ago
Reply to  cutomorrow

I have more than most to be thankful for, and what the Lord has given me. I am just trying to make suggestions to help the situation. Why should the already over encumbered tax payer pay more again? The poor homeless have no chance, no peace, no safety. The Humboldt county govt does NOTHING for these people. Why? Incompetence? Cowardice? Ineptness? Please mayor and supervisors, please try to justify your pay and benefits, your cushy lifestyle, your safe and cozy neighborhoods, while so many are suffering and hungry. Please tell us where the tens of millions of dollars in pot tax are going. Would you allow an audit? Would you provide transparency to the pot tax money, where it goes, who is on the take, who gets it? Could some be used to help the homeless? And if not, why not? What about the county sales tax? How much is taken in by the county each year? Who gets it? You see cutomorrow, there is a lot of money going to a few people, and then it vanishes. And the homeless are suffering for it. You people in the county govt better straighten up, remember what Jesus said: ” Whatever you do to the least of my people, the hungry, the cold, the naked, the thirsty, you do unto me” Remember that supervisors and mayors, because He will. You have many ways to bring humane and good solutions to these people and this problem. Yet, you do nothing. Most of you have a college education, a bachelor degree. The purpose of the bachelors degree is to be able to participate in the great conversation of western civilization. The core of the conversation is COMPASSION. Right now, you get an F.

tms
Guest
tms
3 years ago
Reply to  stuber

You sound like you have real Christian values. Refreshing!!

Farce
Guest
Farce
3 years ago
Reply to  stuber

I ran into serious medical problems and almost lost my home. Could not pay my property taxes. The county “helped me out” with letting me do a 5 year repayment installment program. They charge a fee for it but then in addition they charge 18% interest. 18% INTEREST on money they borrow elsewhere at what…2-3%?! If I don’t pay they just take my home and property and auction it off. That’s your county government- and that is what they do to long-term county residents…their own hard-working neighbors who fall on rough times. Never ever trust them to care about you at all. They do not…I got back up and just paid it all off a couple months ago after paying that 18% interest for 4 years. I will never forget what they did to me and how much they don’t really give a shit. I know that the people in the office I gave the money to make more $$ than I do, work less, have better health care and get paid vacations (I do not). They have benefits I have never had. I understand now the difference between hard-working Americans and parasitic leeches…and I know the situation is only getting worse

Guest
Guest
Guest
3 years ago
Reply to  Farce

It is good to have scepticism about those who think the solution for social problems is to tax and regulate those who are not the problem. I’m glad you escaped the coils of govenment. I admire your detemination. But at least the 18% rate did one good thing- it was highly motivational to put distance between those people and your life.

Thanks.
Guest
Thanks.
3 years ago
Reply to  Farce

Farce,
thanks.

Allch Chcar
Guest
Allch Chcar
3 years ago
Reply to  stuber

Universal basic income. That and stop restricting urban development. How to pay for it, Value added tax. Social costs are a byproduct of economic activity. We’re already paying for it. The least we could do is put the costs where we can see it instead of hiding the costs under regulations and code enforcement.

Xingu
Guest
Xingu
3 years ago
Reply to  Allch Chcar

Yes indeed. ☺

Guest
Guest
Guest
3 years ago
Reply to  Xingu

Nonsense. Then whatever the universal income is become the new level for the same poverty. Meanwhile a fair number of those whose labor provides the universal income of those who don’t labor give up working as a bad job.

Free estimates
Guest
Free estimates
3 years ago
Reply to  Allch Chcar

Who’s going to pay for ubi?

Erik
Guest
Erik
3 years ago
Reply to  Free estimates

Easy. 70% cut in military funding, 100% cut in foreign military aid, especially to Israel and saudi Arabia, leaving nato, ending all foreign occupations, closing all foriegn military bases, and eliminating most 3 letter federal agencies. Also, 0 tax breaks for corporations who rely on foreign labor, like apple. In other words, bringing down the empire and putting the real thieves out of work. Root cause mitigation.

Justsayin
Guest
Justsayin
3 years ago
Reply to  Erik

Well said my friend.

Chuck U
Guest
Chuck U
3 years ago
Reply to  Erik

For once I agree with you but I think all you did was balance the budget and get a sensible debt payment plan going. We are throwing away our future on debt service.

Erik
Guest
Erik
3 years ago
Reply to  Chuck U

Oh, and end the private banking cartel’s control of the federal reserve, since they control (manipulate) the ultimate value of labor and natural resources. No government should incur debt printing it’s own currency. This process must be transparent, auditable and democratized. Your comment is absolutely correct, this is just scratching the surface, as radical as it may seem to those who get their information from mainstream sources and social media curation. This debt and full spectrum deprivation is going to come home to roost in a big way (it already is of course) sooner rather than later. There is nothing more dangerous than empires in rapid decline, and unlike in the past, this is scaled globally. Pyramids are only as stable as their foundations and the ground they sit on.

Chuck U
Guest
Chuck U
3 years ago
Reply to  Erik

Again, I am shocked that I agree. I was prepared to send everyone over to your house and office for free shit with no consequences. The effect of debt is the most important thing here. Debt has two names depending on which you stand, to the other side it is “credit”, one side pays, the other collects. The credit system, or the debt system, choose your poison is the root of all ills. The credit score system is homelessness and ejection of everything. You fuck up your credit score today in this system and you are DONE. Forever. Yet every ystem in our system has been fictionalized, mostly by the democrats, and amazingly by the Billery, with Bill’s elimination of Glass-Stegal to Hillary’s anti-bankrupcy laws of 2006. Shit, I am not saying the republicans are angels, but nothing near has passed them as the “peoples party”, not even going near Obama and 2007-8 shit show. They got got down, the Reps set the table and fix the meal, the Dems get us all to sit down and eat the corporate shit pie.

The dems are behind the passage of all the financialization (Debt/Credit) mentioned above under social equality, equal slavery, and again, the reps set it up. It is a tag team from hell. Financialize housing, when an average dumbass can buy a million dollar house with financing see what happens to house pricing, you need financing to get one and the bank owns you. Financialize autos and suddenly cars are the price of houses 30 years before. Guess where people are starting to live in. Education, healthcare (thanks Obama, fucker Nancy, Romney and the republican think tanks that set that table), everything is a corporate milking machine for credit and debt slavery. And more than everything else is the national debt. Debt per citizen is $82, 000, that is my 7 and 3 year old. There is an additional $10,000 for each instate and local debt. Debt per TAXPAYER is $219,000. You treat the liabilities like a business has to with future liabilities and per citizen, like my 3 year old, your debt liability, for everyone (and most have no way to even start paying) is $471,000. We are all homeless if you actually look at your contractual obligations. (Thank Hillary for that one, and again her repub hosts, you can’t declare bankruptcy and you can’t move out of the country to escape). Your free choice is which dairy farm next to the slaughter house you want to be milked.

Erik
Guest
Erik
3 years ago
Reply to  Chuck U

I curious why you’re suprised at my comments, I’ve also been accused of being a trump supporter lately, lol. The two party system and partisanship in general is pretty much a weaponized good cop / bad cop narritive management tool wielded by the real unelected power structure. This is where the real, ongoing “systemic oppression” is actually occurring, and it’s occurring on a coordinated global scale. Your comment above correctly details some of this. It’s impossible to point these things out to people when they are reacting to trump’s statements and the fake accusations against him in the monolithic deep state media. The real reason trump should have been impeached is the same reason bush, clinton, bush, and obama should have been impeached, for continuing to allow the implementation of the policies of delusional psychopaths hell bent on destroying the wealth of nations with their lust for power and entitled worldview. Great comment, you got me inspired a bit 🙂

Smoke and mirrors
Guest
Smoke and mirrors
3 years ago
Reply to  Chuck U

Thanks for the reminder Chuck.

Willie Bray
Guest
3 years ago

🕯🌳Because of laws,rules and what ever obstacles are set in the way it would be hard for the richest person to try set up or even buy property and set up some kind dwellings or apartments or housing for the homeless because of all obstacles that the local government city,state and personal would set in place and would object to any project to help them. Then it’s themselves. The fight,steal, drink, have mental problems and a whole list of issues that people will try to put on the city or state or population. But the main problem always boils down to the money and who will manage it in one of the most nefarious Countys in California. 🖖🖖

Thanks.
Guest
Thanks.
3 years ago
Reply to  Willie Bray

Willie,
nice post.

Guest
Guest
Guest
3 years ago

Criminalizing: breathing- failing to wear a face mask. Hugging- not social distancing. Anything can be criminalized if the government chooses. Owning a home- property taxes. Of course homelessness should be criminalized as a public health issue. If a person can be fined for a non-standard septic system, where do they think those “free meals” are going? If a person is capable of earning enough to own or rent sanitary facilities, it is a crime not to do so. If they are incapable, then the government should, in all compassion, confine them where such facilities are available. Or stop penalizing those who do pay for housing because the government deems it insufficient. To penalize someone for having a non-code home can’t possible be a public health issue and decide someone who has none is not.

Screwed Sideways
Guest
Screwed Sideways
3 years ago

Tolerance and support do not work, and tolerance breeds entitlement on the part of the houseless… In some communities, the arrival of a permanent camper in his old van or bus, will soon be followed by a deputy, an hour or two in handcuffs, and the camper’s possessions carefully searched prior to the van being towed and the camper spending a night in jail. Similarly, when mendicants are accosted, handcuffed, searched and charged with available ordinances, they tend to leave and not return… These two examples are the proper way to deal with unwanted behavior on the part of the homeless, and endlessly giving services, meals, shelter, clothing, WiFi etc, will never work.

My “Homeless Heaven” idea consists of transport to BLM lands, large shipments of 2×4’s, plywood, tar paper, nails, tools and cooking equipment, pots and pans, rice, beans, commodity foods and hops/grains/yeast, tools etc… Build it yourself, install your own government, do crafts or do day labor, raise food and animals, and stay put! We will bring mental health services, limited healthcare services, some LEO services, employment help, detox and rehab, hourly AA meetings etc.

Get the hell out of our towns and cities, pull yourselves up or don’t, but stop asking for more, quit begging, and use your hands to work for what you have, and use your intellect to improve your own situation!

If bleeding hearts want to give, then give the tools of trade, education, work clothes, transportation and skills training. Those who want to join in the struggle to work and play in society are welcome to try, while those who want to lay around intoxicated, are welcome to brew the beer, grow the weed, and struggle to stay indigent… Just don’t leave “Homeless Heaven”!

If you want to help a homeless, take him home, get him a job, send him to rehab. Do it one on one.

Save your community, stop giving it away.

Jonah Jackson
Guest
Jonah Jackson
3 years ago

Hi. I live in a van and you need to stop discriminating against me. I don’t loiter on your streets. I work when I can, [edit]

I don’t want to live like this and I take every opportunity available to me to get into a better financial position, so that I don’t have to listen to assholes [edit] bitch and moan about me PARKING on a street with PLENTY OF SPACE.

[edit]

Fast Freddy
Guest
Fast Freddy
3 years ago

I have no problem getting rid of the druggies and psychos. If you want help, you can find it. Most of the homeless are nihilistic drug addicts. You can’t mandate help, housing, or discipline. People need to want it first.

Motel California
Guest
Motel California
3 years ago
Reply to  Fast Freddy

What would China do?

Guest
Guest
Guest
3 years ago

Ask Biden. Or WHO.

curlybill
Guest
3 years ago

China does this to Muslims

Concentration camps and forced labor: China’s repression of the Uighurs, explained
https://www.vox.com/2020/7/28/21333345/uighurs-china-internment-camps-forced-labor-xinjiang

China has built nearly 400 internment camps in Xinjiang, study finds
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-xinjiang-internment-camps-uyghur-muslims-australia-think-tank-b571896.html

cutomorrow
Guest
3 years ago
Reply to  Fast Freddy

amen Freddy, many do not react well on being forced to do any thing that might provide aid. Put a roof over their head they will destroy it or leave it. This county spends more on social well fare then any county with the same / like population. Homeless people come here for a reason.

Anon
Guest
Anon
3 years ago
Reply to  Fast Freddy

Indeed.

Geeze
Guest
Geeze
3 years ago

If only minimum wage wasn’t the best a homeless person can hope to achieve. If only 40 hrs work could provide you with shelter and food and transportation… Humans in California have to put in more hours of work to acquire food for the day and a place to sleep than humans have EVER had to in history.

Screwed Sideways
Guest
Screwed Sideways
3 years ago
Reply to  Geeze

Gotta start somewhere, when I was 16 the minimum wage was $1.10/hr!

“It’s America! If you don’t make enough money, make more money!” Tony Soprano

thetallone
Guest
thetallone
3 years ago

And a loaf of bread was nineteen cents.

Geeze
Guest
Geeze
3 years ago

Too bad it’s illegal to just go out and build your self a cabin, hunt and grow your own food. Independence is criminalized.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
3 years ago

If you want cheaper housing change building codes. It’s legal to sleep in a cardboard box, but not a plywood box without permits.

lauracooskey
Guest
lauracooskey
3 years ago
Reply to  Ullr Rover

Right. It’s technically illegal for me to live in my Tiny House on my own land. However, if i say it’s just for storage and i sleep outside it in a tent, then i’m okay. Ridiculous!

Justsayin
Guest
Justsayin
3 years ago
Reply to  lauracooskey

I’m in the same boat.. such bs

Xingu
Guest
Xingu
3 years ago

Unless and until alternatives to the current efforts to prohibit rather than provide change, nothing will.
And the “human scum” some of the commenters have such a problem with are actually our parents, our brothers & sisters, our children.

Guest
Guest
Guest
3 years ago
Reply to  Xingu

Not mine. Every member of my family is housed, the majority working and none have ever been jailed for a crime. Only one is somewhat of an alcoholic with accompanying poor judgement. No illicit drug users. The majority of people can say the same. If only those who make such demands would notice that the “homeless” are in fact less than .2 percent of the population yet take up way more than that percentage in money, effort and attention. The problem is not with everyone else.

For sure
Guest
For sure
3 years ago

KISS-a simple, clean, organized, managed campground, with a camp-style kitchen& simple bath house facilities would be waay cheaper to maintain than what happens now. Even using large, empty bldgs, such as the old KMart at the South end of Eureka, or the empty Rays in Mckinleyville, would easily work- as an indoor campground. There are many ppl who would be willing to get this type of solution organized, if the County were willing to allow it. But , as Laura Cooksey & ULLR state, the laws are so ridiculously ignorant concerning superfluous bldg codes, that the real criminals are the Planning Dept itself. Especially JohnFord…his face reflects his total lack of human compassion. He’s gotta GO!

Dump your kids in daycare
Guest
Dump your kids in daycare
3 years ago

These people dont want help. Shelters are never full. These people want welfare money so they can blow it on drugs , booze and gambling and when it runs out they steal. Take them to the county line and dump them off. The hypocrisy of people around here preaching peace and love but would never want this next door to them.

Tara Nicole
Guest
3 years ago

I agree with the people that they don’t want help that’s true they don’t they want they loved being out there they enjoy being miserable and smelling like s*** and doing absolutely nothing with absolutely no responsibilities, but what I don’t understand is how the people out there that are struggling so hard and so much and there’s all kinds of opportunities like Section 8 ,HUD or whatever it is that can help you, but not if you have a record from years ago ,or when you were younger or if you have bad credit, or even no credit ,you can’t get that kind of stuff, you can’t get that Aid to get low income housing . Most the time younger people that end up pregnant drop out of school , and aren’t eligible for low income housing I guess that’s a different situation you know about the homeless but there are lots of homeless families I’ve been one of them myself you have to be strong minded and know what you want and really want to make a difference in your life , I guess it would just be nice to see some of this b******* around here I don’t know it’s all f****** b******* seems like it’s just so frustrating, I can think and go on and on and on about this whole thing but it’s this is two different struggles here or talking about my bad.

Jonah Jackson
Guest
Jonah Jackson
3 years ago

Hey [edit]

I’m homeless and sober. Stop generalizing. Stop discriminating, [edit]

DivideByZero
Guest
DivideByZero
3 years ago

Simple; give them a one-way ticket to S.F. and 20 bucks. Make sure they get on the bus.

Cowabunga
Guest
Cowabunga
3 years ago

House them in the Carson Mansion. Let the wealthy members serve the meals and do something worthwhile for a change.

Eyeball Kid
Guest
Eyeball Kid
3 years ago

George Carlin describes the economic and social classes in this country… “The upper class keeps all of the money, pays none of the taxes. The middle class pays all of the taxes, does all of the work. The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keep ’em showin’ up at those jobs.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dY3GNt7sG8

Locally Yokel
Guest
Locally Yokel
3 years ago

Joe Biden supposedly got more votes than any candidate throughout history, but how did he pull that off while simultaneously breaking another record, LOWEST NUMBER OF COUNTIES FOR A WINNER!! He won just 16.7 percent of American counties, making the appearent fraud all the more tangible.

No Flies On Frank
Guest
No Flies On Frank
3 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

There was a hell of a lot more “economic activity” before the Clinton administration imposed NAFTA on this country. That “giant sucking sound” about which Ross Perot warned the US a generation ago has created this economic void, which the Clintons of course later attempted to exploit.

Since you’re such a keen observer of the election process, why not tell you readers about the time Hillary Rotten Clinton played the race card and blew that ol’ racist dog whistle as if she were channeling the spirit of Charlie Parker himself!

https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/clinton-touts-white-support/

As if the divisions between race and gender in the Democratic Party hadn’t been further exposed through Tuesday night’s exit polls — and by a very heated exchange on CNN between Donna Brazile and Paul Begala — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s interview with USA Today on Wednesday is further mining those tense depths.

“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,” she said in the interview, citing an article by The Associated Press.

It “found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”

“There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said.

Math: (2+2)
Guest
Math: (2+2)
3 years ago
Reply to  Locally Yokel

Humboldt country population: 135,558

Los Angeles county population: 10,000,4000

Any questions

Lord of the Flies
Guest
Lord of the Flies
3 years ago

Only a bourgeois [edit] would use the offensive descriptor ‘camping’ to refer to homelessness.

“Camping” is a leisure activity engaged in by sleek, well-fed bourgeois with options. Sleeping rough is what the working castes do when there’s no work to be had because the “job creators” are busy fucking off somewhere.

Smoke and mirrors
Guest
Smoke and mirrors
3 years ago

Your name is exactly what I feel about who is running the show