SLO: GleanSLO.org and Food Bank!

The continuing saga of Housing, Hunger and Homelessness. We encourage the people of SLO to participate in GleanSLO.org, a Food Bank program to pick unused or unwanted local crops used for to stock their warehouse with fresh produce for those who are underfed.

My wife Sue and I participated in our first "Glean" event last Saturday 7/19/2014 at Rick's Avocado Orchard in Morro Bay. During the event, I had a brief discussion with Jen Miller of GleanSLO/Food Bank. In it, I informed her that I learned about GleanSLO from our meetup.com group, "The Common Good" (which I highly encourage SLO folks to investigate). 

The Common Good group seeks to encourage activities that unite us and do not divide us. "Gleaning" is one such activity. In addition to benefiting all of society, it also enables us to get back in touch with our hunter/gatherer roots, a time (not so long ago!) when our ancestors developed their humanity. Thanks GleanSLO (and Food Bank), for your wonderful work to enhance the common good. Cheers!

The Saturday 7/19/2014 Glean event was covered on the front page of today's Tribune (7/23/2014). The article features several photos by me, and so does this web link about the event which you can read by clicking here.

Below: A few more photos of the day's 2-hour event (click to enlarge):

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LOCAL: Sick and Tired of Putting Up With the Homeless in SLO!

Reference: SLO County Homeless Count Report 2013
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/PL/Housing/2013+Homeless+Point-In-Time+Count.pdf

Reference: CAPSLO Programs
http://www.capslo.org/programs

Reference: "Change for Change" Downtown Parking Meter Program
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2014/04/24/3035936/parking-meters-prado-day-center.html

Dear Jenny,

This response is being written by a long-time Homeless Shelter Overflow volunteer who also works full time and volunteers for many other community non-profits (not related to homelessness). I would be happy to talk with you about this subject at any time, so that you may hear another perspective.

Thank-you for your detailed and thoughtful letter. We are all dissatisfied with our homeless situation, and the differences lie in what approach we take to the problem. It would take a thesis-length paper to address every single point that you bring up, so instead, this response addresses your concerns in a more general way. Please give this response your most thoughtful consideration.

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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