SafeGround advocates rallied at Sacramento City Hall this morning. Over 150 people congregated in support of SafeGround and to rally around the push for a moratorium on the city’s anti-camping ordinance. The rally started at 10am, but was preceded by SafeGround music written and performed by Glen Bailey. The Rev. David Moss started the rally out with a prayer asking city officials for a favor, to have “compassion, justice, and mercy “ and “for something that is a basic human right for most people, but not the homeless – the right to sleep in safety.” Joan Burke, a homeless advocate, read a declaration from the Sacramento Democratic Party announcing it’s support for the SafeGround movemen

Sacramento Police investigators don't believe a homeless man found dead near an American River levee Tuesday morning was the victim of a homicide. The Sacramento County coroner must determine the cause of death. The man, believed to be in his 30s, died at his secluded campsite below a popular bike trail near the former Tent City. The family has not yet been notified, so officials are not releasing the man's name, said Sacramento Police Sgt. Norm Leong. Another homeless person found the man dead in a wooded area behind a commercial/residential neighborhood near 16th and North C streets and reported the death to police at 7:56 a.m. The area, which is used by homeless campers, sits betwee

In its June 22, 2009, issue, one of our country's major political magazines, The Nation, takes a deft look back at Sacramento's Tent City in a lengthy piece "Tales of Tent City," while tangentially musing about tent encampments and homelessness, generally. With reflective time since the tarps were rolled up like scrolls, The Nation has done one thing almost every other major media source has failed at: getting the facts mostly right. Here, one paragraph that says the most: In the end, Sacramento dealt with its Tent City with more compassion than can usually be expected. "If they had a great big rug they could sweep us under somewhere, they would," predicted Karen Hersh, and she was rig

By Philippe "SHOCK" Matthews We drive by them everyday in cities and towns around the country. We turn our heads when we walk past them and frown if they make verbal contact. They are ignored and ridiculed, sometimes assaulted. They are human beings struggling to find their way. They are us one or two paychecks missed. They are the homeless population here in Sacramento. Recently, I had the privileged of meeting Jodi Nerell at a downtown social function where Jodi shared with me that she was the Program Director for the Guest House Homeless Clinic for El Hogar Community Services here in Sacramento. After my conversation with her, Jodi invited me to sit in on one their first advisory boar

Since the existence of tent city gained national attention on the Oprah Winfrey Show, a firestorm of controversy has ensued. A lot has been said in the last few weeks about the ‘homeless problem’ in Sacramento. Government officials have scrambled to free up shelter beds and come up with enough funding flush into alternative housing programs. But, the issue of homelessness does not appear to be going away anytime soon and throwing money at it may not be the answer. “You can put government money on the table,” say Mark Chaclan, former Loaves and Fishes volunteer, “but there are still going to be people that have to resort to tent city.” Chaclan visited tent city twice last week to join fell

As the John Deere vehicles loaded the remaining items of Sacramento's Tent City into large garbage trucks Thursday, an observer could easily think that campers' belongings were getting hauled away along with garbage. But at least two homeless campers said the police and cleanup crews were not throwing out their belongings. Carol Davis, who lived at the Tent City, was sitting near the site Thursday. She said no one took her belongings from her. Asked about the items being hauled into garbage trucks, Davis replied that the items left at the site were trash. Thom Dickens lives at a campsite near Tent City. He said police "haven't taken nothing from me yet." Sacramento police said the proce

News Analysis Nearly all of the homeless people who lived at the “Tent City” on the American River had left the site by Thursday morning, but the media outlets were still there. Sacramento’s Tent City has received so much news coverage that the media hubbub itself plays a large part in the story. The city’s removal of the campsite Thursday was no exception. Television journalists from several outlets — including KCRA Channel 3, CBS Channel 13 and Noticias Univision Channel 19 – were at the scene, covering the camp’s removal. While the media has seized on the Tent City story, campgrounds created by homeless people are not a new phenomenon in Sacramento. For years, homeless people have b

The following is a photojournal including photos and observations from the removal of Tent City on April 16 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. : Around 100 inmates on 5 busses were transported from Sacramento County Sheriff's Work Project  to help clean up Tent City.  Some helpers piled remaining large objects that were left behind from Tent City dwellers who had already left. Smaller items were put into trash bags. Foreground: large bulldozers with pinching claws attached transported the aforementioned piles onto dump trucks. Background: a cargo train passes by. Foreground: a police officer in a city truck picked up some items of value which were supposedly taken into storage. Backgroun

The Midtown Monthly blog is reporting that homeless advocates and charity workers are asking community members vigils this week as the police disband the homeless encampment known internationally as Tent City. In a letter to the Monthly, Greg Bunker of Francis House of Sacramento writes, "We are willing to be arrested on behalf of our homeless folks rather than see them be moved or be threatened with an 'arrest' if they do not move when they have NO SAFE PLACE to go!!!!" Sister Libby Fernandez of Loaves & Fishes, Paula Lomazzi of SHOC and Mark Merin of Mark Merin Law Firm also signed the letter.   The letter calls on community members to "bare witness" to police action at the Tent City

Sacramento's "Tent City" has become national, even world-wide, news over the last two weeks. This article is Sacramento Press' take on the situation based on a visit by myself and our photographer, Anthony Bento, earlier this week. I had been by there before, on several occasions, and expected to see a dozen or so tents and a large pile of trash. But what I found blew my mind. After ascending a certain hill (I'll leave the exact location undisclosed in this article) the gathering comes into view. It is, by my estimation, at least 10x larger than it was in July 2008. Hundreds of tents scattered over several acres make up "Tent City", and a city it is indeed. Estimates of the total number

Last week it was Oprah. Today it was CNN. And on Monday morning, NBC's "Today" show will focus on Sacramento's growing homeless population. NBC crews will be in Sacramento on Saturday and Sunday to do their special report. They plan to interview officials from Loaves & Fishes, several other nonprofits, and city officials, including Mayor Kevin Johnson. Sacramento has become the focus of a mini-media frenzy because of a sharp rise in its homelessness population. The jump in home foreclosures has left hundreds of families (yes, children too) without homes. The sudden jump in homelessness has overwhelmed nonprofit providers and resulted in a virtual "tent city" along the American River. Las