DO NOT MAKE RESERVATIONS HERE says (me!) ~tops
what intrigues me is the online rating of 4.1 stars and the 1,644 google reviews.
i don't suppose this means ALL star ratings and reviews are unreliable resources; but the amount of digging and reading and researching you would need to do!
check my record.. i don't give bad reviews.. i praise whenever, wherever i can
-has to do with the bible passage in Philippians, and also, the starve what you don't want; feed what you do attitude; the shrink the bad, magnify the good mentality.
and, remember, i was born and raised in the bay area.. my tolerance for questionable transients, for homeless, for vagrants is not zero
but what happen here is that.. 'oh my an entire homeless encampment..
hmmm... group of potential gang... don't make eye contact... -is that guy breaking into that truck? is that guy over there.. mental illness? drugs?
and it did not matter what direction i looked in.. boarded up building.. a lot of unpredictable people and behavior
-wouldn't stay if the price was free. -danger zone.
and sad, sad, sad.. broken, broken..
even when we left for a safer location, -just getting back on to the freeway required lots of hope and prayer.. a fire was burning near the on ramp, vagrants in large numbers, litter, trash,
plain scary.
but it sounded so pretty initially and was, geographically, about where we wanted to land based on several upcoming visits with different family and friends.
Best Western Inn At The Meadows...
We chose a different, safer, cleaner, nicer Best Western -the cancel/new reservation process was quick and easy. but of course! of course it argues for space and attention in my mind
what type of leadership can return something that broken to its former glory? and in my imagination, -since we know no one is going to be staying there in the near future.. -what if it was repurposed for the homeless?
it just bothers me to no end that leaders are spending gazillions of dollars creating new buildings, new infrastructures for the homeless, drug addicted and mentally ill, when we have so, so many vacant, unoccupied buildings doing nothing but taking up space -buildings that already have the infrastructure; rooms, plumbing, garbage.. etc. repurpose! do not build new
and then i was like... what if they turned it into a church!? and then i wondered.. what did it used to look like? and if we came back two or five years from now.. what then?
it is entirely unignorable though; unshrinkable; unstarvable
the way the homeless population has increased in so many cities and states -crisis levels everywhere
i do not have or know the answer
most people who can are responding the way we did with the hotel.. relocating to different cities and different states; everyone looking for a safer, cleaner environment. those who can't afford to move their entire families, or who don't have 'portable/remote' jobs are just getting slowly engulfed..
part of me wanted to go back just to take pictures to share; but i assessed that as way not worth the risk.
as i mentioned before... sometimes i start going on like i have a doctorate on a topic i know very little about, but i remember...
i do remember
more than one charlie rose interview with rudy giuliani -and his stats, and his record for turning unsafe neighborhoods and sleazy business districts into safe and clean, livable, visitable places..
so, it can be done.. and i sure wish.. and i sure hope.. and i sure pray.. and i sure vote..
in Jesus name, amen.
posted by SANDRA HARRISON KAY @ 7:38 PM
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