Homelessness and Our Plaza
I go to the Plaza often with my wife and baby girl. It's a beautiful place, but sometimes we don't feel comfortable there because of the activity of some of the people who hang out there.
If people are not doing anything illegal, even if they are unkempt, they should be left alone. I don't want to live in a society where police can tell people to leave a public square just because other people don't like the way they dress, or don't like the way they wear their hair. I don't want a Stepford Plaza.
We need to have a police officer assigned specifically to the Plaza who can get to know the people out there and work with them. Getting to know the people will help the officer make sure that criminals on the Plaza don't stay on the Plaza. Also we need to give the officer more choices when he or she confronts a person violating the Plaza rules. If someone is smoking or drinking, the officer does not have to immediately ticket them or arrest them but talk with them -- like the old time beat cop. He or she can give them a chance to follow the rules or help them get to my proposed Integrated Shelter for Integrated Services (ISIS) -- a one-stop service center where all of the services necessary to help the homeless person will be at one location. (See below)
Tolerance is important for people who have many other more serious problems. The ISIS Center would take care of most of those problems. But at some point if repeated Plaza violations continue the officer will have to resort to more stringent alternatives. We have to be tolerant, but I don't think people should flaunt laws we set up in order to protect public spaces that we make comfortable for everbody to be able to enjoy. At some point a repeat offender cannot continue to smoke cigarettes or marijuana in a public place where smoking is not permitted, drink alcohol in a public place where alcohol is not permitted, or buy and sell drugs, undress or urinate in a park where families gather and children play.
Direct action with the Plaza is only one part of our homeless problem in Arcata. We also need long term solutions that help people get shelter and the services they need.
Let's first acknowledge that most homeless people are not homeless by choice. Studies show that many are addicted to alcohol and/or other drugs and many are mentally ill. Many lack any job skills and this county lacks entry level jobs that pay a decent wage.
A civilized society takes care of its downtrodden. But here, our federal government is not doing that, our state government is not doing that and our county isn't doing that. That means that if we want something done Arcata has to find its own solutions.
We need a multifaceted facility that will integrate the services that in part are being offered by non-profit organizations, the city and the county. I envision a place that offers transitional housing, mental health counseling, twelve-step programs, and vocational and job placement programs, a respite for those without a home, a place to congregate. We might call it ISIS--Interagency Shelter for Integrated Services.
We want to help people who are ill get the treatment they need and if possible reconnect them to their families.
San Francisco has a program called "Care Not Cash" that was very controversial in the beginning, but which most residents of that city would acknowledge as highly successful. There the city eliminated the $355.00 a month general asssitance payment to the poor, and gave them instead $51 a month along with housing and other suport services.
The program reduced homelessness in the city in half almost overnight because many of the people left to look for a city that would pay the money instead of the services.
Arcata can't control what Humboldt County does but we can try to shape policy. I suggest that the City Council urge the county to look to a care not cash program as well.
We need to get our homeless people the shelter and treatment they need, and we can find the money to do that. We need to take away any incentives that encourage criminal elements to come to our city and linger here and to take advantage of programs intended to help the disadvantaged and needy. We want to help the people who want to be helped. We want to leave alone the people who cause no trouble. And we want to deal with the people who refuse help when its offered and who break laws intended to keep the city a safe and enjoyable place in which to live.
We need to think creatively and act decisively.
If people are not doing anything illegal, even if they are unkempt, they should be left alone. I don't want to live in a society where police can tell people to leave a public square just because other people don't like the way they dress, or don't like the way they wear their hair. I don't want a Stepford Plaza.
We need to have a police officer assigned specifically to the Plaza who can get to know the people out there and work with them. Getting to know the people will help the officer make sure that criminals on the Plaza don't stay on the Plaza. Also we need to give the officer more choices when he or she confronts a person violating the Plaza rules. If someone is smoking or drinking, the officer does not have to immediately ticket them or arrest them but talk with them -- like the old time beat cop. He or she can give them a chance to follow the rules or help them get to my proposed Integrated Shelter for Integrated Services (ISIS) -- a one-stop service center where all of the services necessary to help the homeless person will be at one location. (See below)
Tolerance is important for people who have many other more serious problems. The ISIS Center would take care of most of those problems. But at some point if repeated Plaza violations continue the officer will have to resort to more stringent alternatives. We have to be tolerant, but I don't think people should flaunt laws we set up in order to protect public spaces that we make comfortable for everbody to be able to enjoy. At some point a repeat offender cannot continue to smoke cigarettes or marijuana in a public place where smoking is not permitted, drink alcohol in a public place where alcohol is not permitted, or buy and sell drugs, undress or urinate in a park where families gather and children play.
Direct action with the Plaza is only one part of our homeless problem in Arcata. We also need long term solutions that help people get shelter and the services they need.
Let's first acknowledge that most homeless people are not homeless by choice. Studies show that many are addicted to alcohol and/or other drugs and many are mentally ill. Many lack any job skills and this county lacks entry level jobs that pay a decent wage.
A civilized society takes care of its downtrodden. But here, our federal government is not doing that, our state government is not doing that and our county isn't doing that. That means that if we want something done Arcata has to find its own solutions.
We need a multifaceted facility that will integrate the services that in part are being offered by non-profit organizations, the city and the county. I envision a place that offers transitional housing, mental health counseling, twelve-step programs, and vocational and job placement programs, a respite for those without a home, a place to congregate. We might call it ISIS--Interagency Shelter for Integrated Services.
We want to help people who are ill get the treatment they need and if possible reconnect them to their families.
San Francisco has a program called "Care Not Cash" that was very controversial in the beginning, but which most residents of that city would acknowledge as highly successful. There the city eliminated the $355.00 a month general asssitance payment to the poor, and gave them instead $51 a month along with housing and other suport services.
The program reduced homelessness in the city in half almost overnight because many of the people left to look for a city that would pay the money instead of the services.
Arcata can't control what Humboldt County does but we can try to shape policy. I suggest that the City Council urge the county to look to a care not cash program as well.
We need to get our homeless people the shelter and treatment they need, and we can find the money to do that. We need to take away any incentives that encourage criminal elements to come to our city and linger here and to take advantage of programs intended to help the disadvantaged and needy. We want to help the people who want to be helped. We want to leave alone the people who cause no trouble. And we want to deal with the people who refuse help when its offered and who break laws intended to keep the city a safe and enjoyable place in which to live.
We need to think creatively and act decisively.
posted by Jeffrey Schwartz, Arcata at 9:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home