Alright, I admit it: This one’s a bit of a bait-and-switch. We start out with my daily walk, and end up confronting one of the big deal social issues of our time. Well, it’s a big deal if you live in an urban area at least. But just consider it the price of admission to my blog. Hey, it can’t be all NYer cartoons and silly internet memes y’know. So sit back, relax, and buckle yer seat belts. We’re almost ready for takeoff.
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Today’s journey along Sacramento’s River Walk begins innocently enough with a few nature shots of local wildlife.
In addition to sunning themselves, these seals like to bark. And let me tell you, they are louder than a bunch of drunken sailors on shore leave. (Apologies to any US Navy vets out there.) Now, we’ll put up with barking seals and geese that tend to sh*t where we intend to walk, because, well, they were here first, right? OK, hold on to that thought….
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The River Walk came into being when West Sac decided to try luring office workers over to Yolo County on the opposite bank of the river across from downtown Sacramento. And the effort has been largely successful.
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Remember I said “bait-and-switch?” Well, it’s time to pay the piper.
Just on the other side of the I-Street railroad bridge, a mere stone’s-throw from the CalSTRS building, are reminders of the portion of the human population who are not office-workers.
See those clothes on the line, those toys? Families with children live here. Think about that for a moment and let it sink in: Children. Live. Here. I don’t know about you, but the thought of our indifference – when compared with our treatment of geese and seals – saddens me.
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On my drive back down I-5 to Sac on Monday, I was listening to the radio. And up popped a news story about oral arguments before the Supreme Court in a “camping ban” case brought against the city of Grants Pass, Oregon – a logging hub in the state’s southern mountains. It caught my attention because I had just driven through Grants Pass. So I was like… wait… WHAT?
“Camping ban” is a euphemism. The gist of these laws banning “camping” is to make it illegal for people to sleep in public spaces. You know, places like on park benches or in libraries. People fighting against these laws say it is “cruel and unusual punishment” for being homeless. As such, it is prohibited by the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I’m no legal scholar, but I see their point.
The conservatives on SCOTUS (or as I like to refer to them, “The Voldemort Faction”) are focused on enforcement issues: How to implement these laws without undue burdens on average people. And the shrinking liberal wing of the court (whose number is now just three justices) are like, “Are you freakin’ kidding me?” This isn’t like gun ownership where you can take it or leave it. You know, “If you don’t like firearms, don’t buy them.” This is more a case of, if you don’t have a place to sleep, what are you supposed to do? Just not sleep?
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Ben’s company, ABD, moved offices last year from a spot near Portland’s waterfront to a place further uptown because, post-pandemic, it was getting unsafe for employees to walk the streets after the sun went down. And believe me, I am sympathetic. But I will say this much: Homelessness is a real and present reality in urban areas where the climate is warm enough that people can stay through the winter. And moving out of downtown is simply not an option for everybody.
The solution to homelessness, some say, is affordable housing. Twenty years ago, they took the old downtown Denver YMCA and converted it into FREE housing for homeless people who used to spend most of their time in and out of jail and chewing through Emergency Room resources every time they got drunk enough to fall down and break something. And you know what? As a net average, the cost of simply providing those folks with a secure place to sleep, along with a pretty strict no-drugs-or-alcohol-on-site policy, was a net REDUCTION in expenditures by the city. Think about that for a moment: Free housing was cheaper than letting the chips fall where they may. (You can read about it here.)
Homelessness, along with abortion, immigration, and inflation, are the issues most likely to determine who wins the upcoming election in November. I’m no public policy expert; neither am I an elected official. (Or, as I often like to say, “I’m not even running for dog-catcher.”) But solutions like the one implemented at the downtown Denver Y are the kinds of things that can make a positive difference in people’s lives, whether they’re homeless, or office workers walking to their cars after sunset. Municipalities saving on costs at the same time? Sure sounds like a win-win to me.
There are of course other smart solutions to this problem. Many of them, like IHN where I once worked, or the Salvation Army, are faith-based initiatives serving the needs of the last, the least, and the lost. It certainly isn’t one-size-fits-all. IHN caters to (mostly) single-moms with kids transitioning to home ownership, while the Salvation Army fills a gap for (mostly) hard-core homeless men in dire need of temporary shelter. And of course, there’s the fine low-cost housing work of Habitat for Humanity, made famous by ex-POTUS Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn. What all such successful efforts feature is a focus not just on needs-of-the-moment, but on getting people on a sustainable long-term path to housing, health-care, and gainful employment. As a famous itinerant preacher once said, “Against such there is no law.”
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Thanks for listening to my rant.
As always, comments are welcome,
even from the Voldemort Faction.
After all, if you made it this far,
you’ve already paid the price of admission.