NATION: The Criminalization of Homelessness (Notes from 7/17/2014 Webinar)

No Safe Place: 

The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities.
Notes from Webinar that took place on

Thursday, July 17, 2014 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT.

This page consists of notes that I took on this National Law Center (NLC) webinar for the folks in the Homeless Services Oversight Council (HSOC) - Housing Committee, of which I am a member. All of my comments are in brackets and italicized; example: [Tim Waag]. Apologies in advance for any errors (grammar or spelling), omissions, etc. I took notes while listening, then took 42 minutes to edit and voila! - Read on! 

[Side note: I include beautiful photos of nature on many of my otherwise boring or depressing web pages in order to counterbalance them...hope that makes sense...]

Above: rare cactus at my Aunt's home near Flagstaff that blooms for only 1 day per year - this flower only lasts for 1 day, and we were there to see it at sunrise - by sundown, it had begun to wilt, and by the next day it was gone...click to enlarge.

[I believe that "Criminalization of Homelessness" is occurring in my local community of San Luis Obispo county, and have reason to believe that it is occurring all across this country. When local officials are handing out citations for things like sleeping in your car or cooking in a camp alongside the creek, they need to do more than hand out citations. They need to have an answer for the homeless person when they ask "Where should I go, officer?". The answer should not be, IMHO, to just "go away".]

[As I have stated repeatedly, I believe that "in our relatively affluent country, we should be able to feed and house everyone, regardless of circumstance". Not luxury housing. Not fancy food. Just basic, nutritional food, and a cot under a dry roof with a blanket and a bathroom].

[Tim's Summary: At 1 hour long, this webinar is a summary of trends and court cases across the US. For most of us, criminalization of homelessness is nothing new, and I did not learn as much as I had hoped from this. Many involved with HSOC are far more knowledgable about the applicable laws in the various SLO County municipalities than I am. I am not up-to-date on the exact legal reach and implementation of our current laws on vagrancy, panhandling, sleeping in public, anti-camping, sleeping in cars, urinating in public, use of public bathrooms for bathing, etc., so will have to defer to others on judging where we stand vis-a-vis this criminalization issue.]

PERSONAL: Just for Fun! Summer Kayaking at Avila Beach!

From time to time, I post some favorite (or random) photos from a recent outing. In this case, we live along the beautiful central coast of California, and try to get out and enjoy it as often as possible.

Above: normally shy harbor seals cooperate for the camera. My favorite photo of the bunch. Photo taken in one of their favorite resting places on Smith Island in Port San Luis.

Above: Artful photo of the remaining concrete supports for the whaling station operations in Port San Luis.

Above: Very nautical looking fishing vessel swaying at its mooring.

 Above: Playful California Sea Lions; upper middle individual in photo displays amazing neck flexibility!

Above: Kayakers perspective while observing Cormorants perched at the far end of Smith Island, with Whaler's Island above in the background! That's all for now - hope you enjoy these photos. Click to enlarge. Nope - not a masterful photographer - I just enjoy these images anyways!

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WORLD: $3,700,000,000 Sought for Detention & Processing Facilities for Illegals

For those not paying attention, there has been a surge in southern border crossings by unaccompanied people under 18 years old from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. This mass illegal immigration began in earnest in November 2013 and has continued unabated.

Above: Children under 18 in a US detention facility. Many call this awful. For many of our homeless children in SLO, this is a BEST CASE scenario for them. This looks a lot like the homeless shelter overflow. For privacy purposes, we are not allowed to take photos at the Homeless Shelter Overflow. This month, we take 30 homeless people every night, almost half of which are children under 18. Our Prez is proposing spending $3,700,000,000 to house them. How about housing our homeless children FIRST?

President Obama has proposed $3,700,000,000 in additional funding for the following items: 
1) $1,800,000,000 for "detention facilities for children and families" (translation: some pretty nice family housing); this translates into approximately $35,000 per person to build illegal immigrant housing facilities - for a family of 4, that would be $140,000, which could build a pretty nice modular housing unit;
2) $879,000,000 for prosecuting adults traveling with these children;
3) $295,000,000 for "Central American Governments" to stop their own citizens from leaving for the USA;
4) $45,000,000 for 40 more immigration judge teams;
5) $5,000,000 for advertising campaigns in the US to discourage illegal immigration to the USA
6) Leaving a mere $700,000,000 in funds going towards unknown purposes, but would apparently include over-time pay for Border Patrol agents.

Obama is calling this an "emergency funding request", though labeling this an "emergency" is inaccurate on its face, at least as I understand an emergency. This problem has been known for 8 months, and the administration has been unwilling to visit and console the "victims" of this "emergency" by visiting the border or the numerous "detention facilities" throughout the country.

Above: click to enlarge. You can read the most recent (2013) census of the homeless in SLO county by clicking on this link to the report in pdf format.

What did I choose to write on this topic? Because we have a massive number of homeless children in SLO County. First, I would like to see our government (federal or otherwise) fund and build "detention facilities" for our local homeless children in a manner and $$$ level similar to those proposed for illegal alien children. Then, if there is any money left over, build the proposed housing facilities for these recent immigrants from Central America. 

How many homeless people are there in SLO? According to the 2013 homeless census, around 2,200. Extrapolating from that number, there are about 3,500 who are homeless for part or all of 2013. Unfortunately, this report does not make clear how many of the 2,200 homeless were under 18, but I can get it is a large percentage.

I have massive empathy for the children that have flocked en masse over our border and into our country. Given the expensive ($5,000 to $12,000 per child) fees charged by Mexican criminal coyotes to transport 1 child across Mexico and into the USA, these are not poor parents sending their children here (who has that kind of money?). However, what kind of parent would risk turning over their children to drug cartel coyotes to make the 2,000 mile (Mexico's a big country - look at a map!) crossing through Mexico? Is life in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala so bad that I would risk my child's life with such a dangerous crossing? Please note: I don't know the answer to that question. 

Final thoughts: It is staggering how much money our Federal Government wastes, while we, the people, struggle on tiny budgets to do far more good. At the homeless shelter overflow, located at a local church, we house 30 to 45 homeless people EVERY NIGHT with volunteers, and the actual costs for us to do this is about $500 - $700 for the ENTIRE MONTH!

Let's play with that math: At that rate of expense, we could house all 50,000 Central American Illegal Immigrants for $750,000 per month. With Obama's proposed $3,700,000,000 in funding, we could house (but not feed) all 50,000 of them for 14 years!

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HHH: Hunger, Homelessness and Housing

*****6/26/2014: I've tried explaining this to the SLO PD but to no avail:

The Problem: People experiencing homelessness often receive citations for public nuisance offenses and then fail to appear in court. Homeless defendants fail to appear in traditional courts, not because of a disregard for the court system, but due to their status and condition. For many homeless people, their day is consumed with a search for food, clothing and shelter. Most homeless persons are not in a position to fight the procedural or substantive issues a case presents.

People experiencing homelessness are aware that the court requires a decent appearance. Not wanting to make a bad first impression, a homeless person with poor hygiene or without a place to store belongings may choose not to appear in court at all. Many homeless people are reluctant to attend court given the uncertainty of court proceedings and the threat of custody. Unresolved legal issues can ultimately preclude homeless people from accessing desperately needed services such as employment, housing, public assistance and treatment programs. 

I "borrowed" the above italicized quote from the annual San Diego "Taking the Court to Stand Down" which you can read more about by clicking here.

Below: For these dry boring blog posts, I always take the chance to add some color to them. A recent Kayak Adventure at Port San Luis with some of my favorite girls. click to enlarge.

*****6/20/2014: CAPSLO Update.  Just got a notice from CAPSLO who operates the Maxine Lewis Memorial (Homeless) Shelter (MLMS) here in SLO, as well as operates the logistics for the Homeless Shelter Overflow. I will summarize their June 2014 notice (note that these are my words in summary):

Over the last few years, some funding for the MLMS has dried up, which CAPSLO attributes to the shift in funding from "Emergency Sheltering" to a "Housing First" model. Therefore, MLMS and the Prado Day Center (both run by CAPSLO) is shifting to adopting a sobriety-based service model that promotes jobs and permanent housing for the clients.

These changes are occurring because (1) limited funds must serve those who seek jobs and permanent housing (again, my words), and (2) those seeking alcohol and drug abuse should get in line behind those who are sober.

Note that I agree with this "shift", given limited funding. Note that on these pages in the past I have supported the "Housing First" model for the medically disabled, but did not take a stand on the same approach for the homeless. Note, of course, that there is significant overlap between the 2 (homeless and mentally disabled).

Mini-update on 7/11/2014: After the first week of serving at the homeless shelter overflow, I have observed the results of this policy: a young couple and their 3 year old daughter got booted from the overflow for 30 days because one of the adults allegedly "failed" their breathalizer test. I do not know the exact alcohol testing policy being used (frequency, randomness, alcohol level for test failure, etc.), but will attempt to find out.

Related to this is the issue of "Case Management" (CM) at CAPSLO. Though I believe that Case Management is indeed necessary for getting the homeless back to work and in housing, I have long maintained that there should still be a lower level of Case Management for those who are less hospitable to the authorities or have just "given up hope".

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Tim's Ten

"Tim's Ten" is a quick summary of my take on the issues of the day. When I hit 10 separate topics, I will close this blog page and start another one. Here goes!

Blog pages are boring without photos. Here's the obligatory photo. From our trip in May to Havasupai Reservation in Arizona. No, that's not me, but I did make this jump (so did Mark). Click to enlarge.

EIGHT 7/7/2014: 

Yes, Social Security IS an Entitlement!

Social Security is a tax on those who are working, to pay retirement payments to those who paid into previously. However, how much you end up taking out before you die has little to do with how much you put in.

For instance, my parents (aged in their 80's), with a middle class income for 30+ years, have received Social Security payments WAY in excess of what they have taken out. In fact, the amount they collect in 1 year equals approximately what they put in in ALL their years of contributing! On the other hand, the amount that my wife and I have paid into the system is MUCH MORE than we will ever collect, unless we live much longer than expected.

Does this mean I am against the New Deal and Social Security. It simply means that people are wrong when they say that people EARNED their Social Security payments; what they should say is that they PAID INTO the system, and are now collecting out of it. It is a "pay as you go" system, and by the time we collect, I predict that my wife and I will be "means-tested" out of Social Security and collect little or nothing from it, because our federal government is bankrupting our country through endless deficit spending.

Note also that Social Security is a massively progressive system, where those who put little in but qualify to receive it will get MASSIVELY more than they ever put into it, whereas those who have contributed well into 6 figures into it, will get dramatically less in proportion.

SEVEN 6/26/2014: 

Veteran Actor Eli Wallach Dies on 6/25/2014 at Age 98!

Eli was a great actor in so many different roles, but my favorite was always alongside Clint Eastwood in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly". May he RIP. Read more about his amazing acting career as one of the best character actors EVER by clicking here.

SIX 6/19/2014: 

Want Some Good News? Two Subspecies of Island Fox Should Go Off the Endangered Species List!

Do you often complain (like me) that there is no good news in the news to read? Well, read THIS: Two subspecies of fox that live on 6 of the 8 Channel Islands off of Southern California have sufficiently recovered. A scientific group reported that they have recovered so quickly that they should be taken off the endangered species list. Educate yourself about the Island Fox by clicking on the Channel Island National Park Island Fox web page. Beautiful image of the Island Fox below (click to enlarge):

CALIFORNIA: Archaeological and Historical Weekend Workshops. Many dates and locations during May - Sept., 2014

Your are invited to attend!

*****6/25/2014 UPDATE!

I received my confirmation via email today from Beth and Chris that I am enrolled in their upcoming advanced workshop in Artifact Identification and Description. 

Dear Tim,

Thank you for contacting us about the CASSP (California Archaeological Site Stewardship Program) workshop on September 20-21. We are pleased to confirm your registration.

We will begin at 9:00 on both days, and we'll end at 4:30 on Saturday and at 2:30 on Sunday. Lunch (sandwiches and salads) will be provided on both days, and we'll take a group photo before we leave on Sunday. The San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society (SLOCAS) lab is located near Cuesta College and El Chorro Regional Park, on Cabrillo Hwy (Hwy 1). We would like to plan a pot-luck supper on Saturday at El Chorro Park. We'll send more information about the pot-luck and detailed directions to the lab in another e-mail.

Please contact us if you have any questions. Thank you for supporting site stewardship. We look forward to seeing you in September.

Sincerely,

Beth and Chris Padon

CASSP coordinators

(562) 427-3474

*****6/12/2014 UPDATE! ADVANCED WORKSHOP SATURDAY 9/20 - SUNDAY 9/21/2014 IN SLO: The last CASSP workshop of this fiscal year will be an advanced training on artifact identification and description, held on Sat. Sept. 20 - Sunday Sept. 21, 2014 at the San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society (SLOCAS). The host agency is the BLM Bakersfield Field Office. I have signed up to attend this advanced workshop - hope you can join me.

CASSP advanced workshops are hands-on, learning-by-doing activities. At this workshop, participants will help catalog items from the SLOCAS collections, some of which came from the Carrizo Plain before parts of that area became BLM lands. SLOCAS Board chairman Luther Bertrando, SLOCAS curator Christina Macdonald, BLM archeologist Tamara Whitley, and CASSP coordinators Beth and Chris Padon will provide this training.

There is no fee for this workshop. Lunch will be provided on both Saturday and Sunday. The workshop is limited to 25, and advanced registration is required (contact Beth or Chris at bpadon@discoveryworks.com or 562-427-3474). When you register, please let us know if you are interested in camping at the nearby El Chorro Regional Park of San Luis Obispo County.

PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED REGULAR WORKSHOPS: Before the advanced workshop in September, four regular CASSP workshops will be held:

- June 21-22 at Tahoma (Lake Tahoe), for the Sierra District of California State Parks.

- June 28-29 at Placerville for the Eldorado National Forest.

- July 19-20 at Goleta for the Los Padres National Forest.

- August 23-24 at Hollister for the BLM Hollister Field Office.

Please visit the CASSP web site (www.cassp.org) for more information about these regular volunteer training workshops.

NATION: Private Unions Good - Public Unions Bad

*****UPDATE: 6/27/2014

This story has been highly publicized in the national media, and for good reason. It is a landmark ruling, but one that will take many years to have any impact, IF IT EVER DOES. My money is on teacher tenure in California NEVER changing in a material way.  California politicians and the California Teachers Unions are in bed together and that will never change. Why complete for your job, when you can have it guaranteed for life? Hard to argue with that logic FROM THE TEACHER'S PERSPECTIVE. How about from the student's perspective, when they are stuck with a bad teacher who has tenure?

A few more points on this topic:

Education reformers are hoping that the Teacher's Union and the California Politicians get together, take matters into their own hands, and reform this terrible system. I hate to tell you, folks, but its just NOT gonna happen. Union teachers see this as "just another attack on teachers" and are hell-bent on preserving the status quo. 

Heck, if I could preserve my job in the private sector by performing well for a mere 18 months, then receiving automatic pay increases forever, I might just think the same way. After 2 years of acceptable performance, I could never be fired for the rest of my career - say, another 30 or 40 years - that would we awesome! What a deal! I can see why they're hanging onto to tenure like a pit bull. The teacher's union see this as merely a slippery slope to privatizing public education - a smokescreen if I ever heard one. 

How is it possible that lay-offs based on seniority is the system that ensures that the best teachers will keep their jobs? People perform better when pushed to do the best job possible. Otherwise, they risk getting laid off during bad economic times, when the best teachers should be kept on the job. Many complain that during layoffs, the "best and brightest" teachers often lose their jobs and never return to teaching - is that what we want? Well, that is what we've had for decades, and its NEVER going to change.

College professors receive tenure after a difficult, long and trying process; many never gain tenure. Professors have a legitimate claim that tenure is needed to preserve academic freedom, and protection from politically disputed opinions. K-12 teachers face a much shorter and easier tenure process, and should not, in general, be teaching disputed subjects. Thus, there is no "political" reason for K-12 tenure.

Teachers argue that without tenure, they are subject to the whims of the principal and other administrators of the school for their continued employment. In other words, they have to make their boss happy, whether they agree with them or not. To that I quote: "welcome to the real world, Neo". Sure, I'd be great to just do what I want at work and not worry about making my boss happy, or earning a bigger wage. 

*****ORIGINAL ARTICLE 6/11/2014

INTRODUCTION: This is a sad story - not a happy story. As such, I will not commit a beautiful photo to this blog page, because it does not deserve it. To see why it is a sad story that will end badly, continue reading until the end.

Over the years, I have observed that California Teacher Unions represent the interests of the teachers well, and the students - not so much. Teacher claims that their only interest is the "best interests of the students" appear to not be true. Most of the problem, IMHO, is the alignment of the interests of politicians and the teacher's unions, against the interest of the students. Enter Vergara v. State of California.

SOME FACTS IN THIS CASE: The Judge in this case noted facts that "shock the conscience":

FACT: How many public school teachers in the state of California (out of 280,000 equivalent full-time teachers) have been fired in the past 10 years? Answer: just 91! Of the 91 fired, only 19 were fired for poor performance as a teacher. The rest, assumedly, were fired for criminal activity or other non-teaching behavior.

FACT: How many years does it take to receive tenure as a California Public School Teacher? Answer: Less than 2 years (yes, its true). 98% of teachers in the LA Unified School District are granted the lifetime guarantee of employment after only 1 year and 7 months (by March 15 of their 2nd year of teaching). By then, many teachers have not yet received their teaching credential. 

California is one of 5 outlier states where the teacher tenure probationary period is 2 years or less. 41 states have a probationary period of 3 years or more. Four states have no probationary period whatsoever, just like the private enterprise world (this would be my first choice). Union officials claim that 2 years is plenty of time to determine if a teacher is good enough to never be fired in the next 30 or 40 years of job performance. It is just not possible to make this type of projection on job performance. Our students deserve better than this: teachers should perform well EVERY YEAR that they teach, and should be fired if they don't. That's how it is for almost every single job in the private enterprise world.

FACT: Unwieldy dismissal procedures make it nearly impossible to fire teachers no matter what heinous acts they have committed. Only .0002% of California teachers are dismissed for conduct or performance in any given year (yes, that's two ten thousands of one percent). For other California public employees, that number is 1% (5,000 times higher rate) and for private employers, that number is 8% (40,000 times higher). These numbers strongly indicate the reality that there is really no way to fire a bad teacher. 

FACT: LA Unified spent $3,500,000 to fire just 7 teachers between 2000 and 2010 for poor performance. Of those 7, only 4 were permanently fired. Of the 3 retained, 2 received large settlement payments (assumedly for somehow being wronged during the course of this "due process"), and 1 continues to work after being "fired".

FACT: LA Unified has at least 350 grossly ineffective teachers that it has not even considered dismissing, due to the costly and time-consuming process which seldom results in an actual dismissal. Instead, these teachers continue to teach our children. This has got to end; sadly, this court ruling will not end this situation, IMHO (read on to find out why).

FACT: State law mandates that new teacher hires get laid off first. The Judge pointed out that this policy encourages the state to retain poor teachers, and deny students the right to have competent teachers. I agree.

FACT: These tenure policies disproportionately affect poor and minority students; i.e., the worst teachers end up in poor and minority school districts. For all those defending tenure, how can you claim to want quality education for poor and minority students?

FACT: Research has proved that teacher quality is the single biggest in-school determinant for student performance, and also, student income once they graduate. Good teachers results in good students getting good jobs after graduation. No surprise to me - it seems obvious. We all went to school - most of us, like me, to a public school. We all know the positive influence that great teachers had on us, and also, our lack of motivation when we have bad teachers.

FACT: In the state of California, the average annual teacher's salary is just under $70,000. The long-standing sentiment that teachers, in general, are underpaid is not true, IMHO. I believe that truly extraordinary teachers are indeed, underpaid. However, the average teacher is well-compensated for the 9 months a year that they work - again, IMHO. If there was a market wage for teachers and no teacher's union, I believe that the market would decide that teachers should get paid less than they do now. However, we will never know, because once public unions get installed as an institution, the are never dissolved. We will have teacher's unions forever, IMHO. Thus, the teacher's unions will continue to serve themselves well, and the students? not so well. Sigh.

THE GAME IS NOT OVER: Sadly, it does not end with this ruling. The teacher's unions are appealing, and the judge's orders will not be followed until this appeals process runs its course. The Judge is encouraging the California legislature to "fix" the unconstitutionality of the laws the Judge has ruled against. This will take many years. There is no urgency in this matter, as with most things government. So what if this "shocking" situation continues for years and years. Who cares? Not our state government and not our teacher's union - at least not enough to speed up the process to fix this problem and improve our public schools.

MY SAD PREDICTION - CALIFORNIA STUDENTS WILL LOSE AGAIN:  This will work its way through the appeals process without end. Nothing will actually change, because of the strength of the very public alliance between California politicians and the teacher's unions. The politicians need the union's donations, and the teachers need the politicians to maintain their tenure policy. The politicans will not dare to offend their primary source of political donations and support. However unlikely, if the Calif. legislature ever does "fix" the problem, it will do so in a way that merely continues the current state of affairs, just with legal wording that implements the same basic policy. In other words, the students will lose again, and the low-performing teachers will keep on teaching.

SAN LUS COASTAL IS PRETTY DARN GOOD: Thanks for reading this. We were lucky enough to have good public school teachers for our children, because San Luis Obispo attracts quality teachers, due to the high quality lifestyle of the area. Thanks to the many wonderful teachers that our children had (note that they weren't all wonderful - some were mediocre or worse, and in a private school, they would have been FIRED and not laid off). This doesn't mean I don't care about the students throughout our great state that get stuck with uninspiring teachers with no motivation other than their paycheck. All our students deserve a quality public school education that we, as taxpayers, are paying for but not getting.

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