Unhoused People & Environment Summit: our 60 seconds @ the open mic...
entire reason we even bothered at all is because 1.) Richard Santos inspired us with his talk at BCAC.. a gathering of people with the authority to take action! -not just talk... and 2.) Our cherished friends the Wilson's, they were willing to sit through another... who knows how many hours, and how much BS, to get that 1 minute to speak..
so, we were inspired by them also
and thank them here again for driving..
-k-, so, we each wrote our 1 minute talks, which i will share in this post as i receive copies of them..
and, as you can see from the agenda, we had to wait through 3 hours of...
and this is where Jesus won! -where i am concerned..
because, i am not exaggerating to say that it took some 911 silent prayer activity on my part not to stand up on my seat and make a scene
stand up on my seat, and start yelling.. "Enough of your BS! already.." i held myself to my seat with both hands
and i'd like to thank the Holy Spirit here for helping me exercise the fruit of the spirit named, self-control.
God can only help, if you ask, otherwise it would be called God-control, not self-control; -write,
but anyway,
it is also a good thing I didn't have this with me:
-because i think i would have stood up on my seat and started listing, in bullet point fashion, the $$$$ from since 2015 that has been provided for the homeless cause;
[employ facetious/sarcastic tone here]: -for our veterans, mentally ill, drug addicted, unhoused, impoverished.. the most vulnerable among us.. -they use this angle every time to get the money; that then disappears...
and it still sickens and disgusts me that this $$$$ is unaccounted for; the problem has only grown and no one seems to be being held accountable.. -criminal!
so, to listen to each and every panelist associated with a homeless non-profit,
-continue to ask for more money... -to make pathetic excuses for not knowing where previous millions went.. -create stories around why it isnt their responsibility.. or, share a mistakes happen, attitude, and suggest we are all just supposed to ignore, forgive, and give more money.. the utter lack of accountability on anyone's part;
disgusting.
anyway, -i could go on and on.. how stacked and dramatically unbalanced the summit was; i mean, just look at the agenda..
one woman expressed upset during her 1 minute, that there were no, unhoused, people on the panel.. and how unfair that was..
i agree. -although hard not to recognize how well they were represented by leaders from non-profits that support them and plead their cause
while the HTLC population goes ENTIRELY IGNORED, [Hard Working, Tax Paying, Law Abiding Contributors]
there was ONE, -ONE- brief and vague mention of a public safety issue with a Valley Water Employee trying to clean near a creek, under a bridge..
and the rest of the three+ hours was homeless advocates asking for more money, explaining how homeless people are homeless exclusively, apparently, because of lack of affordable housing, and how lack of affordable housing is to blame for their drug and alcohol addictions
this is a little bit lost on someone like me, because all i could do was afford to rent a room (divorced, mom of two young children) and work multiple jobs, crazy shifts to do just that
so while i agree 'affordability' and 'living wages' could be improved; and i do support smaller rent increases, over longer periods of time, with more warning..
struggling to find shelter and pay rent, and or, purchase a home, are pretty common struggles, and a poor excuse for 'now i'm addicted to drugs, steal to pay for them, can't hold down a job, no one can trust me, and i am colonizing the creek, and it's someone elses responsibility to get me out of this mess
we directly know, -have cherished friends and beloved family members who have ALL MOVED out of CALIFORNIA, to other states in the U.S. exactly because it is too expensive here. They relocated to where the cost of living is better; there is less traffic; where they can find employment, and/or retire; and afford a place to call home..
the lack of affordable housing did not land them in the creek, or leave them panhandling on the streets, did not cause them to buy or sell drugs; beg or steal.
and it is worth noting here, it is the HTLC Community.. the Hard-Working, Tax-Paying, Law-Abiding, Contributors -LEAVING CALIFORNIA... while our creeks, waterways in general, encampment populations continue to grow.. -take that to 'scale'
heard the term "humanitarian" crisis, multiple times at this summit, but never, "public safety crisis"
-which it actually is..
-not mentioning in detail here, the impact of encampments on our waterways.. and not mentioning how way too soft 'bio-waste' sounds compared to, 'homeless defecating in and on..' compared, maybe to
-the amount of human sh&% accumulating in the waterways (on sidewalks, in parking lots.. in front of stores and restaurants) -and 'litter' is way too soft a vocabulary for the toxic garbage, the poisonous trash that accumulates at encampments -these euphemisms are not helping.
i was disappointed there was not a more balanced problem solving panel, which i've been advocating for since NOTonNOBLE initally sounded alarms.
-not one small business owner on the panel.. not one resident that lives near these creek encampments, -no one (individual, family or business owner or staff) no one representing anyone who has been victimized by a homeless criminal, or anyone who has had to change their route to school, work or shopping due to safety issues caused by homeless; no one to discuss the small businesses colonized and closed.
no healthcare workers, no ER staff on the panel; no fire-fighters, no police officers.. not one of the high school students who had to have their own uprising due to multiple crimes from homeless taking over their campus.
add on, that rumor has it, there were movers & shakers, authority figures & leaders invited to this summit, that for one reason or another, didn't attend.
the upshot for me, /and i may be speaking on behalf of many others..
PANELS -as a forum for this type of problem solving are a huge waste of time, energy, human & financial resources -especially, with such dramatic lack of balance
but panels are a waste any way you slice it, from my experience
when someone can just drone on and on, make up stories, make excuses, fast-talk, BS.. and never be interrupted or challenged, sing a fiction song, and then just pass the mic along..
that's a waste. and essentially we listened to the same thing being said over and over, just in a different order, by a different person
i argue here,
[especially having been required to edit my talk to 60 seconds..!]
but perhaps someone really, one day could, -assess and evaluate what i'm about to say, for the truth; the actual time and numbers:
but, if you remove all the platitudes -all the atta boys the panel gives each other..
and you remove any/all repetitious talk, -so that each valid point is made only once, by one person on the panel..
like if you remove every time we heard a variation of.. this is a complex problem, there's no silver bullet; its going to take all of us, and take a long time... /and lots of money...
i suggest you place all of that on a big visible bulletin board/screen of some sort.. and require panel members themselves to EDIT THEIR TALKS
sorry.. no more panels. -they should be banned. where was i? -yes! if you remove all platitudes, atta-boys, repetitions.. this 3 hour + summit meeting could have been accomplished in 20 minutes.
what you want, if you really want to problem solve, is ROUND TABLES, with more voices/perspectives represented, -timed/edited/thought-out ideas being shared, with opportunities to challenge, to request clarity; to add on... to what if.. etc.
and these roundtables should be made public.
no more waiting through 3 hours of BS for a few people to talk for 1 minute; long after the most appalling things were already said as if wonderful, genuine, fact and true.
***** here is what we had to say,
we = Elva Wilson, Tom Wilson, Robert Mickanen, Sandra Harrison Kay ****
60 SECONDS @ the SUMMIT, by Sandra
This is a
public safety nightmare. We are in a
state of emergency.
We continue
to advocate for Dignity Acres Emergency Campground.
And advocate
for Santa Clara County Fairgrounds as the place
for Dignity
Acres Emergency Campground.
The
fairgrounds has over 100 acres. The
fairgrounds already has infrastructure.
The
fairgrounds give first responders a place to relocate homeless individuals
IMMEDIATELY. NOW. TODAY. While we
resolve the crisis in a more comprehensive way.
And This
would be appropriate use of Prop 1 funding.
We are
RE-submitting here today, Our outline for
Dignity
Acres Emergency Campground.
Which is
available to the public at NOTonNOBLE.blogspot.com
60 SECONDS @ the SUMMIT, by Robert
The term
homeless is too one-sided and misleading. The homeless we see on the streets
are not in their situation because of financial difficulty. The people who end up homeless are the ones
who destroy their relationships by their own actions. The actions that force
friends, family, and apartment managers to have these dysfunctional people
removed from their residence are as follows:
physical
violent assaults,
intimidation,
fear,
threats,
stealing,
destroying
the property,
drug addiction,
verbal
assault,
conducting
criminal activity,
not respecting others,
not obeying
the home rules,
filth,
and refusing
to be productive and get a job.
Just draining their friends and family
financially and mentally. After many chances, there comes a point when their
friends and family can’t take the abuse from them anymore and they must leave.
NOTE: there were a few people talking over robert's 60 seconds, 'homeless arent criminals!'
/which brings me over and over to: YES, a % of them are! there is more than one demographic; the homeless population colonizing our creeks, and sleeping/begging in front of our local businesses are not 100% domestic abuse victims, or 100% people unable to find affordable housing
exactly the point robert was making..
60 SECONDS @ the SUMMIT, by Tom
Homelessness has become a major crisis in my City, and yet, it isn’t being treated as such. The number of people living on the streets in San Jose rivals those left homeless after earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, and floods. But, for San Jose’s homeless disaster, no federal relief is available. Why is that? Isn’t the suffering of homeless people just as real as the suffering of those displaced by catastrophic events?
The time to act is now! It’s time to lobby the federal government for funding, and It’s time to build-back our mental health and drug rehabilitation institutions. Doing so will take many years, so, in the meantime, we must immediately build tent cities large enough to shelter the entire homeless population of San Jose. Too, it’s time to find new, innovative solutions. The course of action taken thus far has been a very expensive, and very massive failure, with the biggest outcome being an ever-increasing population of those living on the streets.
We the taxpayers, will no longer accept the current trend of slowly building expensive temporary shelters for a projected outcome that only addresses a small percentage of the needed units, and which won’t come online until many years from now. Concurrently, the City is funneling the lion’s share of funding to non-profits to care for the homeless on the streets. This is a failed business model that only serves the non-profits. It doesn’t get people off the streets, in fact, it enables them to remain on the streets.
San Jose not only tolerates camping in public spaces, but encourages it by providing free goods and services like food, medicine, transportation and healthcare to campers. People in need will always migrate to where their needs are met—it’s human nature. People migrate from all over the country to live homeless in San Jose. They survive on the streets with no money, no home, no car, no insurance, and no food. The only thing they aren’t given are the tools needed for reintegration!
60 SECONDS @ the SUMMIT, by Elva
Here is a version of my commentary given at the Unhoused Summit last week. The actual in-person commentary had to be a bit cut short, due to time limitation.
The explosion of mentally ill and drug addicted living in squalor in our streets and in our creeks is destroying the quality of our lives. The lives of the invisible community of residents affected by this crisis. The same community you keep looking to as taxpayers for solutions to this crisis. The community that is not represented here on any panels, either.
The mentally ill and drug addicted floundering on streets need to be stabilized in residential treatment facilities, not in safe sleeping sites, not in expensive Tiny Homes, and definitely not in permanent housing.
The County of Santa Clara, not the City, not the Water District, has the legal jurisdiction, funding and technical expertise to take care of those with mental health and drug addiction (behavioral) issues living on our streets.
The City and County’s singular focus in addressing this crisis by providing exorbitant funding to community non-profit service providers as the primary solution to the homeless crisis has been a massive failed solution, with no accountability for results. The growing inhumane suffering of the homeless on our streets is a loud and clear broadcast of the failure of these non-profits to manage and improve this crisis. It's time to stop funding failure. ( i underlined that...)
It is mind boggling that after 3 hours of discussion from government agencies and non-profits here today at this unhoused summit, I did not hear any new solutions to this crisis that does not involve seeking more funding from taxpayers.
The County has under-utilized land available throughout the 15 cities (not just in SJ) under its jurisdiction which must be explored to develop residential treatment facilities for the homeless who are mentally ill and drug addicted.
The County keeps buying up hospitals, but continues to shirk its responsibility of utilizing these facilities it acquires as desperately needed mental health and drug rehab institutions to house and treat our mentally ill and drug addicted. Please start acting on behalf of the people you were elected to represent.
****
from the archives: roundtable flyer from NOTonNOBLE protest
while we are on this topic:
the population is enormous, but how do we answer the questions for
just this one individual?
-who, by the way, a friend of mine and i just encountered recently on the corner
of hostetter and capital. we were at a red light at the intersection, my passenger side window down, and he was only a few feet away. he was talking, then yelling, then screaming in a language unfamiliar to me.
i could sense his hostility growing and felt him trying to get my attention
life experience told me not to make eye contact
our light turned green, and we carried on.
*****
ALSO -in my 'here's a fair question' category..
HOW ARE WE DEFINING -SAFE-
PUBLIC SAFETY.
Actual definition?
For me, -in my imagination: Where you can have a grandma, mommy with baby & stroller
walking together, from here to there, and
not just -feeling- safe; but BEING SAFE.
Where it is clean and safe for families to walk, picnic, shop, live, study, play, rest, work;
free from any kind of violence, harm or threat.
oh! these places are the goal! growing more and more safe places for families.
selah!
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