Homeless in Fresno, CA.. being evicted from their tent cities

[annm4peace]

Please click here to see the pictures (very disturbing): http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/11/18576324.php

* please give a kick so it makes it through tomorrow

The train runs right through Fresno. and this area is near the places that provide meals for the homeless. The city officials have been abusing the homeless for years.. Fresno has a new mayor but from the same group as the good ol'boys. Fresno's unemployment is over 17%

Now Union Pacific wants to kick them out also.. where will they go ? out to the country where they won't have food? you can't get food stamps if you don't ahve an address.

The H street homeless encampment in Fresno is being fenced in by Union Pacific railroad. The City of Fresno has issued a press release protesting the action, but seems powerless to stop the railroad from evicting the homeless residents.

Several hundred homeless people live at the H street encampment. The encampment was started several years ago and has the tacit approval of City Hall. The City of Fresno has even placed portable toilets & trash bins at the encampment. Earlier today, city sanitation workers were on the site and cleaned up rubbish that had accumulated on the outskirts of the encampment.

Gregory Barfield, the City’s Homeless Prevention and Policy Manager, has been in contact with Union Pacific and he told me that he had an agreement with them not to evict the homeless. Barfield said the railroad agreed to wait until the City of Fresno’s voucher program was up and running before forcing anyone off the property. The voucher program, which has not yet been approved by the City Council, would provide homeless people with an apartment and social services. It is an essential part of the Housing First program that both the City and County of Fresno have agreed to implement.

The voucher program, according to Barfield, was going to be brought before the City Council in February, but was delayed. Barfield said he needed time to evaluate and assess the needs of the homeless at the H street encampment before taking the proposal to City Council. In a press release from the City of Fresno today, the voucher program is now expected to be presented in April. The press release from the city is below.

The press release said “The City of Fresno today again called on the Union Pacific Railroad
Company (UPRR) to delay construction of a fence surrounding two large homeless encampments on H Street in downtown Fresno. The City voiced concerns about potential safety risks to those living in the encampments as a result of the fencing.”

Barfield said, late this afternoon, that the railroad is not going to immediately evict the homeless and that he believes the City of Fresno has some time to work out what will happen next. While at the encampment today I talked to Guillermo, who is a resident of the H street encampment. Guillermo, who is from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, said he is out of work right now, because there are no jobs at local ranches. Guillermo wanted to know what was going on and if he was going to be evicted. He said nobody had told him or any of his friends what was going on and he was concerned that they were being fenced in. Mike Mitchum, another resident of the H street encampment, said he felt like Union Pacific was treating them like animals in a zoo, by fencing them in.

It is unclear, at the time of this writing, if the City of Fresno has the authority to stop Union Pacific from conducting the evictions. The railroad has their own police and often behave independently from local authorities. The railroads have previously conducted raids on the homeless, destroying their tents, arresting those who resist, and threatening the homeless with detention and arrest. Is it just me, or is anyone else concerned that a corporation has the ability to arrest people and that our local government can’t do anything to stop them?

For a list of articles and documents about the struggle for civil liberties for homeless people in Fresno, see: http://www.fresnoalliance.com/home/homelessness.htm

[NaturalHigh]

1. Do they think that these people are homeless by choice?

It's time the rich started to realize that homelessness is not a crime. Compassion for the less fortunate among us is desperately needed in this country right now.

[annm4peace]

3. Previous Mayor, a born again Christian said it was cause they drink and do drugs

I can't imagine what it would take to turn things around in Fresno. The central valley is one of the richest, as far resources, areas; yet has such extreme poverty.

It is like being in a 3rd world country at times, and there is no excuse for it

[BlooInBloo]

2. Foreclosed?

:hide:

[annm4peace]

5. this is before the foreclosures

I can't imagine what it will be like by 2010. the close mental hospitals one by one, 10 years ago.

There are no drug treatment places. read the stories and it breaks your heart

[Motown_Johnny]

4. we should set up a building with tons of post office boxes for them to get food stamps.

Cayman Island style. but for the poor

[Life Long Dem]

6. No,

they want them swept under the rug, and the working slaves hidden from the well to do.

But they still don't understand who's their boss quite yet! :woohoo:

[1]

7. the problem with tent cities are the liability issues...

if anyone were to "slip and fall" in this tent city, then the lawsuits would start against union pacific, the city of fresno, the state of california...

how do you address that issue? stop liability suits from the residents? what if a child is killed by a union pacific train?

does that help your understanding of the issue?

[provis99]

9. they're homeless. they don't have a dime to sue anyone.

or did you forget that?

[1]

11. do not be so naive...

this is america. lawyers are waiting in the wings.

like i said... if you could pass one of these special laws, like "taxing aig for bonuses @ 100%", for not making anyone finantailly responsible for accidents, injuries or deaths in a tent city... there would be much less resistance to tent cities.

deny that at you ignorance...

[Lost in CT]

8. Honestly the city has no choice... they should make sober housing and shelter space

available to everyone in those tent cities however.

[annm4peace]

10. ohh,, the city has had lots of choices

It has been run by the "good ol' boys for about 20 years. think of Tom Delay and Bush running your city.. that is what happened to fresno. With the only radio station being ran by Rush Limbaugh.

Fresno spied on it's peace activists and called them supporters of terrorists so they could
get 7 million for a couple of planes.

[Naturyl]

12. Yes, "sober housing."

Because they are all drunks, right?

[1]

13. this word "sober". it does not mean what you think it means...

but you are always on your high-horse... since they are "all" not drunks, by your logic "none" of the homeless suffer from drug or alcohol problems.

it must be so simple living in your world. your solutions are so easy.

except they are not...

[Naturyl]

14. It must be even easier living in your world. Your solutions are so hard.

Nothing can be done about anything, right? It's all so complex and intractable and persistent and... ah, guess we ought to just forget it and move on. Pass the Cheetos!

Yeah, my solutions are simple - and they will work. Trouble is, a lot of people would rather they didn't. When people believe nothing can be done, nobody has to do anything.

You don't like my approach? Fine, join the club. Feel free to add me and my high horse to your ignore list, because I've got a lot more riding to do.

[1]

15. you are so right. solutions are so easy. so let's just implement them and we'll be done with it...

problems solved. just like that.

why didn't i think of that?

[Naturyl]

16. Maybe you weren't looking for it.

How about this solution, which can be implemented in one day with nothing more than the signing of a bill?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3817932

One bill, one signature, and American poverty ends permanently.

Trouble is, a lot of people start hearing a little Hannitized birdie in their ear and get scared when they think of somebody "taking a free ride." And so, an idea like this gets nowhere while people continue to insist that "poverty is too difficult to solve."

[1]

18. i get your idea that this is all so simple. but to quote you from most of your posts...

"Trouble is..."

and therein lies the roadblock to any of your proposed changes. that pesky little "Trouble is..."

this is the solution to the problem. the solution that you have yet to come up with an answer for...

overcoming "Trouble is..."

you have to resolve "Trouble is..." before any meaningful change can occur. because until you overcome "Trouble is..." none of your proposed solutions will ever be implemented.

that is where your simple meets my complicated. in the "Trouble is..."

your simple is simply too simple because it cannot overcome "Trouble is..."

but good luck with that...

[Laelth]

23. Excellent linked discussion of Guaranteed Minimum Income.

Thanks for that. :toast:

:dem:

-Laelth

[Lost in CT]

20. If they are not drunks they would welcome sober housing till they get back on their feet.

Sober housing is used so people serious about getting a place to live can do so with more peace and safety. It is to the advantage of the homeless themselves that they are separated from drug addicts and alcoholics and other undesirables.

[smokey nj]

17. Kick

[annm4peace]

19. to "1" your name says a lot

"1" One Number 1 Uno.

your comments remind me the reasoning tactic by many fox news followers. I never said these people didn't have drug problems. and any person with common sense would know some have drug, alcohol or mental health issues. some do not. some are children. some are abused people fleeing an abuser some didn't use but now do because they are homeless.

you need to grow up and not try to use lame reasoning as to why there are homeless out on the street

and if you read some of the other stories on the link you will see that some homeless did sue.. when the city tossed the tent and all the belongings in them into a dumpster as the homeless where eatting at a shelter.. the items included all their id's, last personal belongings.. which included ashes of a grandchild and family photos. This happened even when the courts forbade it.

[Joanne98]

21. This needs to be made illegal.

And cops that evict people should be FIRED!

[Lost in CT]

22. So we should no zoning and no health or housing regulations

and jail cops that attempt to enforce public safety laws?'


Uh-huh....