Anaheim Observer Civic affairs in OC's largest city.
The Orange County Public Works (OCPW) department has begun posting notices informing the homeless living in illegal encampments along the Santa Ana River by the Honda Center will have to leave by July 17.
According to the notice, OCPW will be “conducting maintenance and/or flood control project activities in this section of Flood Control District property” and will install “permanent security fencing and a gate to control access” to the this section of the river bank from Katella Avenue to the railroad bridge located 2,300 feet upstream.
As is the case with all the homeless encampments along the Santa Ana River, adjacent business and neighborhoods have been suffering an serious increase in crime. The Honda Center, for example, has had property stolen by camp denizens, who also heave trash over the fence into the Honda Center parking lot – trash that contains hypodermic needles and other unsanitary objects. This has prompted complaints from Honda Center employees who understandably are reluctant to touch this refuse.
This writer drove up to a wing of the encampment a few weeks ago to take a photo and was threatened with violence by one of the residents.
As it did when the first big Santa Ana River encampment was evicted earlier this year, the County will store the property of encampment residents for 90-days. This time around it will be at the “Big A Storage Site” -next to the main encampment downriver. The homeless left behind a mountain of debris and detritus during the previous eviction. The ACLU sued to force the County to store all this “property” for three months – and at the end of that period not a single piece of “property” was claimed.
The County appears to have learned from that embarrassing experience: the notice warns the “following items are subject to immediate disposal without being stored: (1) trash (ii) items that are objectively determined to be intentionally abandoned by the owners and (iii) items that would present a potential health hazard to store.” That would have covered 90% of the stuff left strewn in the wake of the earlier encampment eviction. Hopefully, this time around, county taxpayers won’t have to foot the bill for bagging, tagging, storing and guarding a small mountain of unwanted junk.
I’m so happy to hear this…however they will just move this problem a few miles up. They need to move them to the beach. They will figure it out. Maybe the Bay area would work. Marin County is beautiful.
Why the beach? My daughter just did a cleanup at the beach and they found needles in the sand! We don’t need any more of that
When will our elected leaders learn that you don’t make this problem go away by feeding and clothing men and women capable of being productive citizens.
You don’t cure a drug addict or an alcoholic by enabling them.
This is no different in 90% of the cases.
We feed them, clothe them, give them healthcare and ask for nothing in return??
For those that truly need mental help then get busy opening up the institutions that were once around to help those in need.
When there is more people in the cart than those outside pulling it then the system is destined to fail.
All these young men under 40 will most likely relocate south of Katella or north of the restricted area and all the residents in either area are going to be directly affected. This is a real problem they have no running water no toilet facilities and no place for personal hygiene and many of these people resort to crime and panhandling along the roadways and freeway exits n order to get money
Pack them to Fairview. The facilities are already in place
A long proposed and accurate assessment. Why does not one respond? NIMBY
OCPW you can’t just evict the homeless near the Honda center, they will just relocate north and south of it and into our neighborhoods and parks! OC Parks, Anaheim Police Department, Orange County Sheriff and all you politicians had better come up with a better solution ASAP! Everyone in Orange County has had enough!
Agreed.
I agree move them to the beach there is plenty of open sand.
I say move them to the large old blimp hangers in Irvine. Open fields, large shelter and they’re empty. My concern is them moving to the streets and now many are camped at freeway on and off ramps. Cities have camping and loitering ordinances that need to be enforced. Going to the Stater Brothers grocery store at La Palma and State College is a hassle with the homeless accosting people just trying to get into the store. All of State College has turned into a hassle. Provide a location and enforce they either go there or get a job and place to live like everyone else. And stop giving able bodied homeless money….it only encourages to remain in that lifestyle. Orange county should provide a large faculty like these hangers, medical services inside, and the homeless and come and go but you can’t live on the streets. You want out of the hanger living….get a job.
They won’t be moved to the hangars in Tustin. A large area of the old reserve base at Barranca/Dyer and Red Hill is being built up with condos, stores, restaurants etc. Last I heard one of those Hangars was considered to be used by the city because they’re putting a park there and they wanted to use it for events. The problem with that was the military and city couldn’t come to an agreement over who was supposed to be financially responsible for repairing the part of the roof that collapsed. The hangars are under the jurisdiction of the Navy. I can’t imagine the liability if someone got hurt in one of those.
Great idea, but Irvine would never give up that prime property, but I like it!
Put a restroom like in parks on the edge of the river off of Lakeview for them and let them move there. A lot of open space and they can have basic sanitation.
Those who say move to beaches are nuts! Beaches are already taxed with junk, and scum who bury their trash, beer cans and dirty diapers. Where do you think this stuf goes? Right into the ocean and our food eventually. Seen Mecico?
Or we just kill em all, problem solved.
Kill them all really?!
Mhafer: I AGREE! That was a comment that should not be allowed. (George)
The homeless should get all the help they need, including all medical forms needed. If they refuse then they should be governed by the law. The laws that EVERYONE is governed by.
Since when are Tustin Fields (aka Tustin Legacy) within the city limits of Irvine?
As a Tustin resident I don’t want to repurpose something historical value just to silo these fools. There does need to be one additional shelter built in OC (Santa Ana is working on two), but most of these people don’t want to go to shelters. Shelters have rules (no drugs, etc) that most street urchins don’t want to be saddled with.
And OC Rescue Mission is 1/4 mile from the hangars. Most of these homeless near Anaheim don’t even go there for services even though they already could.
I put it all under website
I say all the men under 30 force them in to the service where they will learn life skills and be able to go to school to learn a trade at least the ones who live…..the women the same thing…they can also get the medical treatments they need to get off the drugs and get healthy,,,,all the older ones not really sure what to do with them but that whole area needs to be vacated and cleaned up and made safe for all who use the river trails
👍👍👍 move them to the desert lots of room there…!!!
That is spot on. This cannot continue in urban areas. The failure of past “practice” – handouts, “shelters” public encampments is obvious here and in every city.
The problem with your logic is that a very large percentage of homeless are military vets. So perhaps if we took care of our servicemen and women when they returned we’d have far fewer homeless to “deal with”…
ExACTLY!!! Take care of our Vets! Many of the ‘older’ ones are Korean & VietNam vets! Wondering how many of them suffer from what we now call PTSD? It occurred then also, just not recognized and acknowledged. YES! Take care of those who gave so much for us, and have received very little, if anything in return!
Move them anywhere! These are not “nice” people, they are drug and alcohol users and they are in our neighborhoods stealing our things that we work very hard for. Those make shift tents increase daily it seems…..they sit by the off-ramp with their signs and I have seen them throw food down when someone gives them some….they just want money for their habits!! Terrible, terrible people….but they all have really nice bikes! Gee, I wonder when those came from!
You should go right along side them you asshole!
That’s isn’t true about all homeless people thought a great price of them are like that there are some who aren’t. I am unfortunately one of the homeless people who is out here. I an my better half aren’t using drugs we don’t drink. And thought we don’t do it often but maybe once a week my husband will go an try to get money holding a sign on the freeway off ramp on ball. We are very grateful for everything anyone can help us with. I have health issue an am not always about to do much more than rest. But thought I get SSI it’s not even enough money to rent a place to live. An my husband has been trying to get a job doing anything but with no luck. Cuz no one absolutely no one wants to hire someone who has a hard time with being well keep. At the same time he’s worried about something happening with me who’s going to help me if I’m all a lone cuz he’s trying to find work. We don’t want to be living like this cuz it’s not living just exciting is all. We want help to get a place of our own but not buy living in one of these places where you and everyone else sleeps in the same space together. There just as bad if not worries then the streets. But there has been no one out here who has come out to help us.
As a resident who lives a couple miles south, right off of the Santa Ana River, this move REALLY concerns me. Forcing them out of their current location will just make them move further north or south along the river..where they will continue to do the same thing! My apartment complex already faces a TON of car break-ins as it is, all of which are attributed to people hopping over the short wall separating our parking lot from the river trail (as said by Anaheim PD!) and the closest dwellers are still a mile away (the bulk being a bit further). What is Anaheim going to do when they move?? Keep pushing until it’s out of the city border then leave it for another city to clean up?? There has to be stronger penalties to deal with this. I understand that homelessness is often not avoidable, but these people have VERY nice bikes and tents and supplies. And this is all courtesy of the items they’re stealing!
Agreed. This this a systemic issue with significant quality of life issues at hand.
Spot on. Move the encampments to police station parking lots and/or civic center parks. The only way for officials to understand the implications of and devastating effects fostered by encouraging concentrations is for them to experience this daily.
We learn nothing, obviously. “Projects by the river” just pushes them to other places. How much longer will we pussy foot around this issue that has become an epidemic? These are not solutions and they are lazy ways of handling a serious problem.
You know it costs the county more to have people live on the streets, right? It would save the taxpayers money to get them off the street but we would rather criminalize them. Why?
Because they commit crimes….break ins, thefts, drug use, prostitution, physical violence.
Very accurate point, and has well documented crime/incident reporting directly corollated to this populus.We’re not the first city and county to have to deal with this scenario equitably; let’s get it done.
It’s one thing to be homeless and need help…i get that but it’s another when crimes are committed and they are being committed. And many just plain old don’t want help because others keep providing hand outs so there’s no drive for them to actually support themselves.
They should have busses there and give them a free ride to Sacramento. Let MR Brown deal with them.
How true..
Giving money to the homeless for long period of time is not a solution, give them a job to sustain their lives. They need to take responsibility for themselves. Right, Sacramento is a right place for them. Clean Anaheim our neighborhood!
We need to help all those that need/want help and for the rest enforce the laws. If they are unable to ask for help bring in professionals to help them, but help them and for the rest enforce the laws. People have very good intentions to help everyone but it enables them. A bus to Sacramento is an idea. Gov. Brown needs to see this right in his neighborhood.
Oh by the way the resort bus stops on Ball Rd. are well taken care of with decorative metal dividers that don’t allow sleeping.
There are only 2 types of long term homeless people. They are either crazy, but we can’t do anything about that, or they want to just lay around and do drugs, drink and commit crimes all day. The typical, “I’m a good person but just had bad luck story” that the media would like you to believe is statistically non-existent. Those people don’t stay homeless. They get back on their feet and contribute.
So since we are really only talking about the two kinds of people mentioned already, I would rather have them in the riverbed than filtering through the streets like they are now but I say keep moving them until they have had enough and decide that sponging off of tax payers just isn’t worth the hassle.
The newly proposed homeless assistance center at 883 South Anaheim Blvd. is under way….unless we state our objections.
Did you hear the news from the city council meeting Tuesday night: Under the umbrella of the Coming Home Anaheim initiative, the City established the Homeless Assistance Pilot Program (HAPP) for homeless families in 2015 and more recently, launched the Chronically Homeless Individuals Pilot Program (CHIPP), which both provide rental assistance and supportive services for persons who are homeless in
Anaheim. However, to date, the City has lacked a centralized Anaheim-based location
where these services can be delivered. In order to address this gap, the Authority is
seeking approval to initiate the operation of the Anaheim Service Center (ASC) at the
property located at 883 South Anaheim Blvd. The center will be operated by the
Illumination Foundation (IF), an organization that, since July 2008, has worked tirelessly
to break the cycle of homelessness for Southern California’s most vulnerable population.
IF is the service provider for both the HAPP and CHIPP program. The building has
recently undergone significant rehabilitation, including upgrades to address accessibility
issues, and is ideally configured for the delivery of services including intake, case
management, and peer group meetings. In addition to serving as the headquarters for the HAPP and CHIPP program, the ASC will operate as a resource center for individuals and families who are at-risk of
homelessness, as well as persons who are already experiencing homelessness and are seeking services.
I am against the use of our Anaheim asset of this beautifully redesigned historic home to be leased for $1 a year to attract more homeless to our community! It is in the newly trendy Packing House District and right next door to the rebuilding Anaheim White house Restaurant. Let the Anaheim City Council know that this is not the right project for this area.
I am against it too. What a stupid move. I thought that building was going to be another restaurant or something. Are we trying to build up that area or not?? I guess not! Let’s make Anaheim a hip Skid Row–yay!! 🙁
COME TO THE NEXT MEETING AND SPEAK UP TO MAYOR TATE AND MORENO
*tait
LINA, YOU ARE RIGHT. I LIVE IN THE AREA AND FEAR THIS WILL IMPACT MY HOME’S VALUE. THE CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS MUST NOT LIVE IN OUR AREA.
WHY DO WE HAVE TO RELOCATE THEM? MANY HOMELESS ARE HOMELESS BY CHOICE. WE NEED TO RELOCATE OR HELP ONLY THE PEOPLE THAT ARE INFIRM OR SICK.
After all the money spent on building the bike trails most cyclists won’t use them because of the homeless throwing things at them or just walking right in front of the cyclists. Currently only half of the trail is usable.
I believe mr spitzer has room for this in HIS BACKYARD
Me and my husband were talking: “How about Featherly Park? It’s not close to neighborhoods, it’s county, has rest room facilities. Get Food Banks to help out. Volunteer organizations to help with health care, etc. For heavens sake, our daughters did missions in India and South Africa, supplying medical needs in the shanties and townships there! Can’t we do the same here??
Talk of needles or manipulation?
Not all homeless are junkies but hearing this it’s ok to scrub them from surface? Dirty and needles condemned them. How easy was that
Why don’t we get the developers to bribe ..err I mean lobby the city governments and convince them to put up much more needed luxury housing from which the tenants can have a commanding view of all the riff-raff homeless below in the distance. Seriously, I have had it with the constant mantra that we need more “affordable housing” in every newspaper article and report I hear and NOTHING gets done. Oh wait, the luxury housing gets built without a doubt which squeezes even middle class citizens that are literally a paycheck away from joining ranks with these homeless along the river. Wtf kind of a society do we have here? Where are the promised affordable housing developments? Why are the city leaders not standing up and seeing that the mania to make money by every landlord and developer AND the cities themselves who are getting the tax dollars from this back room dealing, is greatly causing the increase in the homeless populations. When are we collectively going to actually join ranks and work on this problem?
I was going to buy a 2 story tent and move to the riverbed but will have to settle for my current home by the DISINTEGRATING streets at Midway Dr and Anaheim Blvd. that the city has neglected since the early 90’s.
Plenty of land at the Salton Sea. There’s already like minded people living there and they seem to enjoy it.
I live in Tustin and they’ve migrated here and set up camp next to our library. The library closed months ago due to a water leak and I doubt it will be opening anytime soon, due to this situation. Only positive is, our police station is located there too!
Orange County lost an opportunity when The Great Park took over El Toro. Humanity seems to come up the loser to greed. Scout a location, spend some dollars and create a humane solution. If the homeless leave this spot you would still have a location to return them. There is the possibility many would be rehabilitated.
All residents of Tustin needs to attend the meeting July 18th @ 7:00 PM to address our Tent City problem…!!!
Everyone says move them he removes them there but the fact of the matter is you can’t move these people where they don’t want to go. And as you can see they want to be on the river bed it’s close to the freeway exits as mentioned for panhandling it’s close to the recycling center at Ralphs on Main and Chapman so I see him all the time on bicycles with their little trailers and they’re going around digging in the trash cans pulling out recyclables and going up there to recycle and getting their money. They are sick mentally dependency on drugs and alcohol they have no desire to be a functioning part of society nor do they have any desire to conform to what we think they should be doing or where they should be doing it. I don’t remember where it’s at but there’s a new homeless Center not too far from here shelter that has a hundred beds and they have volunteers out there all the time trying to get people to go to the shelter and off the street but as you can see the street is where they want tobe. They know where the beaches are they don’t want to be there it’s enforced you can’t be on the beach after 10 the cops are there the lifeguards are there there’s too many rules and regulations that they would have to conform with and they’re not interested. I don’t have the answers but I do know that these people need help most of them need to be in a rehab center the ones that are mentally ill it’s a toss-up this country is not big on helping those with mental illness and some of them sorry to say it just can’t be helped and the rest of them don’t want to be
The timing and execution of this level of intervention is interesting; it begs the question as to if firing the Anaheim city manager a few days ago contributed to getting things rolling on these issues. If so, let’s keep momentum and equitable follow through. Out with the over compensated lackluster leadership in Anaheim and in with intelligently planned progress….please! BTW any idea if these posted figures are accurate? It’s astonishing: http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/anaheim/
This action has nothing to do with the firing of the Anaheim City Manager.
This is a county government action on county owned property.
Thank you for reply with the good clearification; my other take ways still stand relevant.
A social worker (Who is working with families located there) told me that the land isn’t even owned by the county. She mentioned that it’s state owned property, and that’s why nothing has been done for so long. Now that’s just her word, but if that’s true, is the county truly able to relocate people from this area? Food for thought.
Short and sweet.
Band-aid therapy.
They will treat the symptom, but not the disease.
This accomplishes NOTHING
Part of me that understands moving that encampment another part does not; not until there’s a worthwhile solution. It is large and visually noticeable from various points. I do find it interesting that The County’s Public Works Dept is stepping in to lead this move. Haven’t read where they expect all those people to go. That should be interesting…
I read a post a while back that other states are giving free bus rides to California for homeless people that complain about harsh weather. Perhaps we should send them back to the State they were born in.
Interesting. A family friend who is a social worker currently assisting families and children down there said that there was no way to “evict” anyone living down their because that land isnt owned by the county, but rather the state. I suppose declaring maintenance will solve the problem initially. But do they plan on having “maintenance” on that area indefinitely? Either way, people are just going to move around, not leave entirely. Very sad.
They go where they are allowed and tolerated. Put them in Mayor Tait’s neighborhood and see how swiftly he changes his path.
No more free playdoh and coloring books
No more safe zones – accept help or be accountable
It saddens me to see all the “not in my neighborhood” comments. This is obviously a complex problem and nobody wants to foot the bill! It is going to cost a ton of tax payers dollars to fund a permanent solution and nobody is going to vote for that. Nationwide there is a homeless issue. They will continue to be pushed down the road until a solution is resolved. It is true that many are vets, many are mentally ill or addicted to drugs. Our government needs to address the issue because it is on a National level. Our county and state does not have enough money to fund such a program. It is already over-run by unemployment, food stamps, medical care, disability, etc by the strain from illegal aliens and the huge increase in population in the area. So many support programs are underfunded already and overburdened by supply and demand.
Perhaps what we really need is a bill that could be passed which places homeless rehab centers in each state with funding from the government similar to all these other programs that help people with home addresses. Homeless people don’t have an address which already limits a lot of the help they could get.
Until the government gets involved, all the way up to the White House, we will not have a permanent solution to this problem. It is wide spread and underfunded.
Expect to continue to see makeshift tents and crime until this is addressed on a national level.
What you just commented is music to my ears. I’m not a resident of Anahiem but I see this problem often when I volunteer with Grid Alternatives at the City Gardens Apartment complex. I’m resident of Los Angeles and we have the same problem. Simply initiating ordinances is only going to be a bandaid on the issue. In fact the non profit I volunteer with won’t discriminate against job training a person who is homeless the problem is we need people who are rehabilitated. Many of these people who are homeless have mental issues beyond their capabilities. In Los Angeles we voted on a Help the Homeless initiative, and it’s not the perfect solution but it’s a step in the right direction. Everyone in here who I’m sure is much older and smart enough to comprehend this old saying is it takes a village to build a city and as a community you gotta be more collabortive on solutions if you want these issue to be fixed. Sure it’s convenient to have the police arrest them or jail them and some of you sadly think killing them is the solution but look in the mirror and ask yourselves could that be me one day. Unless you vote on it, start a petition, or even get involved in the political process to fix the complex issue you have no right to complain. At the end of the day it’s either you’re a part of the problem or part of the solution.
You, like others, state the obvious. But nobody suggests viable solutions. State and or federal funding involvement is naive. Long time back because CA state couldn’t afford certain social programs a few bills were passed to de-fund various mental institutions. As a result, that put most of that segment of people on the streets. Over time those numbers have increased. Today, there’s still no place for them to go. Add the dumping of criminals on the streets and the affects of poor economy; people living on the streets has grown beyond what anyone could have imagined in a state that’s rich in so many ways. However, to expect cities, states or federal governments can afford funding and care for this serious problem, is a recipe for disappointment. Remember, city, state and federal, all get their funds from hard working citizens, that already cope with the strain of excessive taxing. To ask citizens for more money to help a segment of people that, by and large, are not willing to do what’s necessary to better their living conditions, expects too much.
Does anyone know if Greg Diamond or Vern Nelson camped out at Disneyland on Friday night?
Of course not. Greg “made his bones” with OCCUPY by never sleeping on a tent. While I believe Vern has experience being one step away from homeless. But these are keyboard cowboys at they’re best.
Now Jose Moreno took his kids on a fancy vacation this weekend and “rich kid” Tait enjoyed his million dollar home.
Neither of us did. Commence with your anonymous lame-brained accusations of hypocrisy.
Matt, are you REALLY OK with your pasty anonymous commenters denouncing bloggers as “keyboard cowboys”? I am shocked, shocked.
I “made my bones” in Occupy by negotiating with three City governments and a fractious group of activists to establish the longest-lasting continuous Occupation in the country, committed to principles of non-violence in a county where anything else would have detracted from the story we successfully told. You’re going to have to try harder than that to hurt my feelings, punky!
I have to admit, though, it was fun lassoing voters and stampeding them out to vote against Jordan Brandman and Steve Lodge! Pretty hard to do THAT from a tent! Yippi-ki-yay, snowflake!
Occupy was a failure. You have yourself a title in an organization that didn’t want titles. Occupy accomplished nothing.
Hypocrite. Invite the homeless to bathe in the pool of your house
You mean the kitchen sink of his apartment . . . in BREA? Sorry, its got too many rubber duckies.
Homelessness in Anaheim is a failure of the Tait majority. Shame on you Jose Moreno, Denise Barnes and Tom Tait fit your failures to deal with this problem.
Will you drive them up here, wait for them, and drive them back? Meet me halfway, your “High”ness.
I’ll Uber them over. They’ll be staying. Buy more TP
“Hypocrite. Invite the homeless to bathe in the pool of your house”
Commenting anonymously AND moving the goalposts? That’s like chicken guano with a cherry on top!
Pay for Uber both ways. Send money for snacks and extra TP. I have no problem with letting strangers who need to be refreshed swim in my pool. So who’s the hypocrite, chicken guano? (In another blog, that would rhyme.)
Aren’t you supposed to get kicked out of the Democrat party Diamond?
The homeless go and stay where it is allowed. Many cities don’ t allow it and then don’t have it as an ongoing issue. It is easy to be frustrated when you live near the situation. Get those needing help all the help they need. Those that do not want the help then they need to be accountable according to the law. It is a hazardous situation for all. If you build it they will come. If you tolerate it they will come.
JOSH NEWMAN JUST VOTED TO RAISE THE GAS TAX .60 A GALLON. Even though we are trying to recall him, he is so arrogant that he voted yes to RAISE our GAS TAX ON TOP OF THE RECENT GAS TAX. He must know he is on the way out and gave/sold “gov” brown his vote. This will raise a single driver using a tank of gas a week 600.00 a year ON TOP of the recent tax. THIS BUYING AND SELLING OF VOTES BY OUR LEADERS MUST BE CRIMINAL.
Wake up California it is time to rise up and show our power with our votes.
Wow were is humanity have any of you even tried to help? We do not grow up and wish that we are homeless life has a crazy way of working out we all have made terrible decisions in our life but we have been fortunate to have someone bail us out of our situations. Most homeless people haven’t had our fortunate lives and they pay for it. God crated us all equal and we must help the unfortunate people its the right thing to do if we all made the effort it would solve the problem.
Our neighborhood has completely lost trust in our city, council, our representation, the county, and all of the corrupt people who have allowed this to get dumped into the motels on Beach.
We worked really, really hard to revitalize Beach Blvd with the Beach Blvd Specific Plan, which was not easy. As we watch Buena Park, Garden Grove and Stanton make changes, we have officially been set back decades with this.
The motels have been owned by people who have historically proven to have had multiple code violations, endless history with police, crime, and repeat activity inconsistent with a what helps make a good neighbor. We are dumped on over and over and over and over in west Anaheim. And just when we were at the very beginning of getting some focus on this area, they did this to us. The motel owners do not care, it’s all about money, of course. But there really are some good people who live in these homes nearby, who actually care about district one, and one of them is me.
It’s heartbreaking to see the distruction of my beloved community just unravel before my eyes, and I’ve cried many times over what I’ve seen.
The bottom line is its unfair to concentrate the large amount of transients into an already struggling area. It’s illegal of the county to do it the way it was done, and mark my words, they will never leave.
No matter how you word it, the motels are converted homeless shelters. The condition SART was left is the new motel strip on Beach.
Remember me, and my warning words, this is just the beginning. This time next year, the transients will be at those motels, the city and county will still be making excuses, having meetings, and nothing will have changed.
Our community has really list all hope, and we are just waving goodbye as our neighbors move. It’s just sad, and has left us all with such a bad taste in our mouth for trust in the people who should have protected this community.
Those to blame are the county, the city council, the motel owners and the advocates themselves who are profiting from suing the county for them to stay. Those advocates do not live directly behind these motels. Their lawyers do not either. It’s comical watching how they dodge quesions, do not reply, lie or thank the advocates, it’s pathetic how uneven it is to the actual neighborhood and activists who try to better this community are ignored.
We have endlessly repeated we have offered services, they refuse for whatever reason, it is not the motels job to house them, it’s unfortunate for their sutuation, but that’s the truth. If there was a distribution of transients, some with VERY long criminal histories, it was certainly not fair, west Anaheim received the majority. Maybe they should stay in the motels themselves. See how safe they feel.
It’s beyond unfair, it’s corrupt.