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Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Sacramento City Police Arrest 17 Homeless Campers
by Justin Wandro, published on September 4, 2009 at 3:52 PM
Storyline: Sacramento's Anti Camping Ordinance
Community Tags
anti-camping ordinance
camping
homeless
humane refugee
sacramento
safe ground
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Sacramento City Police once again have raided the small SafeGround camp site in downtown. This time they weren’t just looking for illegal tents and sleeping bags, instead they came looking for people.
They arrived around 7:30 am, with a warrant, and quickly proceeded to handcuff and line up most all the campers still on site. With over half a dozen squad cars, seventeen officers, the police van, and the CSI unit, they were able to arrest and move downtown seventeen campers including retired Methodist Minister Rev. David Moss. As of this writing, the campers are being processed and released with a citation and court date for October.
Six of the campers along with Sister Libby of Loaves & Fishes were arrested but later released onsite without being charged. According to officer Leong they weren’t detained further because they didn’t have any prior camping citations.
After all the police left I spoke with one of the campers who was not cited. Tipp, is a very jovial man, and despite the stress of the mornings events was able to laugh at the irony of the situation. “I’ve got three tents and two sleeping bags in police lock up.” And if things keep going this way, who knows how many tents the police may take from him.
So how many tents have to be taken from Tipp before somebody realizes he can’t go anywhere else? Sergeant Leong, of the Sacramento Police department stated himself that “Arrests are not a solution to this” but that the police department will continue to do it’s job and enforce the anti-camping ordinance.
So, if the police are going to continue doing their job, enforce existing laws and the homeless are going to keep doing what they have no choice but to do, sleep outside. Then how do we end this viscous cycle? Perhaps our City Council members can take up the matter and lead us to a humane, dignifying, and economically sensible solution.
Contact your City Council member now and tell them you want a humane, dignifying and economically sensible solution to homelessness.
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Your article is right on!
Why can't the City give a piece of land NOW and let those who are homeless stay their SAFELY withour drugs, alcohol and violence like they are already doing at this Safe Ground UNITL WE HAVE MORE HOUSING AVAILABLE?
Also... why is the Mayor so silent in this situation? Didn't he just have burgers bought with fod stamps with these people? Now his police department is out arresting them. Weren't the burgers any good? WTF!?
Dan Wilson
The only people who will benefit from this wrongheaded move are the ding-a-lings who put this together, because simple minded people will buy into the notion that they are trying to help the homeless and want to give them more money, and Mark Merin who has another lawsuit against the city waiting and will collect a handsome fee.
As I said, if the mayor's office is intent on "finding real solutions to homelessness," they will continue to do so.
Hopefully there are people working on these issues in more effective ways than calling people "ding-a-lings."
Wonderful.
Are these macho jerks going to define the quality of discussion of SacPress?
arrogant
elitist
macho
jerk
These are your words.
And you still haven't addressed the issue of why you're supporting programs that force homeless people to remain on the street.
"Are these macho jerks going to define the quality of discussion of SacPress?"
It's a fair question. "Macho jerks" plural -- and their ignorant, arrogant behavior -- degrade SacPress and should not be allowed to dominate here.
"And you still haven't addressed the issue of why you're supporting programs that force homeless people to remain on the street."
And when did you stop beating your wife?
Libby Hernandez and Mark Merin have made themselves public figures and are open for criticism. No body was attacking other posters on this thread until you came along. Try addressing the the contents of the article and the comments instead of making personal attacks.
And yes....yYou still haven't addressed the issue of why you're supporting programs that force homeless people to remain on the street.
If TimRunge took his own advice and "Try addressing the the contents of the article and the comments instead of making personal attacks," he wouldn't be calling public figures "ding-a-lings" and pretending it's "criticism."
Which brings me to...... You still haven't addressed the issue of why you're supporting programs that force homeless people to remain on the street.
"Sister Libby and the other ding-a-lings that set up this campsite have set back all the progress the County has made with it's 10 Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness."
TimRunge was the one doing the name-calling.
"The breakdown usually occurs when posters resort to name calling as a way of avoiding the deficiencies in their arguments."
There is no argument. I said, "If the mayor's office is intent on "finding real solutions to homelessness," they will continue to do so" and "Hopefully there are people working on these issues in more effective ways than calling people "ding-a-lings."
No one called for "intervention from the moderators." The question was put to the community whether TomRunge will drive off people who find his behavior unbearable. Or maybe they will just ignore him.
What TomRunge is calling "argument" is a strawman, set up by him, based on his false assumptions, for someone else to defend what he pretends is "their point of view."
Classic internet bully. Ignores what is actually being said and tries to force his lies on other people,
Anyone who is "up to the challenge of defending their point of view" can do it without acting like a hostile brute, TimRunge.
We need the Mayor and City Council Members to have the courage to be assertive and speak out in favor of Safeground. We need to look at the next round of Elections and replace the cowardly politically corrupt fools who are on the City Council. lf one does not take a position that is right, that is humane and that respects the dignity of human beings because of mere political considerations, then, to that point one become corrupt and certainly distorted in relation to the fairness and justice of the truth. We ought to look at running one of our own for the next round of elections. ~ Peter S. Lopez ~peter.lopez51@yahoo.com ~
Potential talking points could include:
"Don't worry about the smell from the port-o-potties.....they get cleaned once a day."
"Why worry about funding supportive housing units when a tent on a dirty lot will do just fine."
"We're better than you because we care about the homeless."
I'm sure you can get Mark Merin and Mo Mahanna to use some of the money they've looted from the City to foot the bill.
The mayor and city council or county supervisors would be insane to further involve themselves with the Safe Ground movement. It's so far left politically it's in the seats on the other side of the foul line. It is extreme-complaint oriented, unable to see itself or appreciate the stance of any position that doesn't toe its line.
Indeed, until the crazies who manipulate the homeless people are put out of the boat, people trapped in a homeless circumstance in Sacramento will be having to endure increased suffering.
Loaves & Fishes has property in its complex from a recently raised building. It also had $2 million in cash and liquid assets at the end of 2008. It had a donation-getting spree during the Oprah-fueled thing last spring. The path toward helping the homeless is broad, but Sr. Libby prefers to play the part of the martyr. One day, she's gonna get incarcerated, damn it! And get a street or park named after her.
for teens from their parents. There is no excuse for someone
to go out into the world with limited or no life coping skills.
It is the most important thing in life. Moral values, day to day
skills and how to communicate as a mature adult. Homelessness
can be dealt with but a stronger effort must be made sooner than later towards
wellness.
Canada. They all seem to have low or no motivation. Sleeping,
panhandling, drug & sex trade is all they know! This kind of life
style will get you nowhere fast. I hope that things change in town
because there have been many, many issues and some deaths
concerning these folks. You can get better if you make that change.
Social services is there to bridge the gap. It is not a lifetime way
of living. I think that things can get on track if street people meet
health professionals halfway. No one is perfect! But we all have
to try the best we can in this world. Respect, peace, and hope are
a great way to start!
Try shopping at Whole Foods and FoodMax, 7/11 and McDonalds...you can see the difference rather easily.
Did anyone else see that news photo of Michelle Obama working at a food kitchen serving meals to the homeless, where the homeless being served whipped out their Blackberrys to get a picture of her?
Expensive phones and services for cellphones are rare in Sacramento, but for some homeless people, understandably, a phone is important and a high priority, to search for work and stay in contact with family.
Welfare fraud is a huge problem....Immigrants from other countries are taught how to scam the system, and they do a great job of it. Many believe that welfare is a way of life. There are companies in Sacramento (Russian/Ukrainian/Philippino) that actually recruit people (placing add's in foriegn websites and in newspapers) to come here and suck off the system..especially elderly, who the quickly sign up for Social Security and Medi-Care, which the companies take a percentage of. These same companies, which are subsidized by (SHRA) own the low income housing units where these people live and get Section 8 funds....(Keep in mind that if you're an American and did not pay enough into the system you would be denied social security)
If we cut off all immigrants (They should not be allowed to move here and live off welfare and social security) and investigated and prosecuted and DEPORTED those who commit welfare and social security fraud... we would have BILLIONS of dollars to help needy homeless Citizens.