Aly’s porta-potties on city-owned property on May 16. Note to single post at the entry to the river trail.
At the end of this week’s council meeting, Councilman Jose F. Moreno requested the city council consider allowing a vocal homeless activist to install porta-potties on city property to service the sprawling homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River.
Back in May, progressive homeless activist Mohammed Aly illegally installed three porta-potties in The Big A section of the homeless tent city. The county ordered them removed, so he illegally relocated them a short distance onto Anaheim-owned property. City code enforcement gave him 24 hours to remove the portable latrines, or else they would be confiscated (which they were).
Council Moreno has formed a homeless policy working group a few weeks ago to look into the “root causes” of homelessness and evaluate responses like Seattle’s city-sanctioned homeless camps. Earlier during the council meeting, he communicated his belief that the city cannot enforce its way out of the crisis of growing homeless camps. His homeless policy working group includes activists who have called for a repeal of the city’s anti-camping ordinance and opening city park bathrooms 24/7 for use by the homeless. It also includes the ACLU, which maintains that enforcing the anti-camping ordinance is a violation of the 4th and 8th Amendments.
During council comments at the end of the August 15 council meeting, Moreno said Aly would like his porta-potties back and asked him if the council would consider giving the progressive activist an encroachment permit to re-install them on city property. Moreno said he was “very intrigued by the idea of a resourced and funded service to help our homeless folks on the riverbed” and requested it be agendized for August 29 (assuming Aly has submitted a permit and secured funding and insurance):
Moreno has been critical of efforts by Councilmembers Kris Murray and Lucille Kring to have the council re-affirm the anti-camping ordinance, lecturing them that it should wait until the homeless policy working group has completed its work. Given his request for the council to consider allowing porta-potties to be installed for the benefit of the Santa Ana River homeless village – thereby contributing to making it more permanent – the same standard does not apply to him.
Jose, I have supported and respect you. Unfortunately on this issue you are WRONG! This particular group of folks are not homeless due to financial issues in most cases. Welcome to drug use, welcome to bad choices etc. Invite the folks to your house for a shower. You have a wonderful home in an area that is not particularly affected by this disaster. The time for enabling is over. If these folks do not want assistance, book them and give them a hot and a cot in prison, at a medical facility or stick them on a bus back to the city they came from. I want my parks back and I want my river trail back. Look into booking Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa. It is a nearly empty facility that has everything needed to provide for these folks. They do not want assistance, they want the freedom to do as they please, drugs, theft, disturbing the public etc. Be a leader and assist the rest of the folks from Anaheim. If there are folks from Anaheim on the trail, send them to the Kramer facility. Oh yeah, that doesn’t take walk ins. Need a reservation. This current climate is a disaster for the rest of us.I look forward to watching this issue and the so called homeless group. They have been studying the issue forever and it only gets worse.
Mr. Hershchler,
I have watched Jose Moreno, Mike Robbins, Mirevette Judah and Greg Diamond (the latter two DON’T LIVE in Anaheim). Cry, Literally CRY about this issue.
Judah is a MILLIONARE realtor, In a HUGE home.
Mike and Jeanette live in MIDDLE CLASS LUXURY, with their College aged kid.
TAIT lives in a MULTIMILLION DOLLAR HOME.
Let’s let Jose, Tom and Julie, Mirevette and her FIRST TEAM friends, invite the HOMELESS to their homes. into THEIR HOMES/NEIGHBORHOODS.
These are the worst kind of hypocrites.
Well said.
Send this to KFI as well! Shine a light on what our leaders are doing to Anaheim. We are sending the wrong message to these individuals. Why are there laws for some, not all? Get all who needs help – Help and those that refuse or excuse it should be governed by the same laws we are. IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME.
Moreno needs to pay for the permits and the Johnny boxes with his own money. Go for it dude.
Why not big claw foot bathtubs with ambiance lighting???
Are they, or are they NOT catering to people who are doing something ILLEGAL??!
Moreno, you moron, your task force is made up of people trying to open our parks for the transients to camp at….and the person who’s on that task force called others nazis for agreeing with him.
It feels wrong from the beginning to allow more and more benefits to the transients who are growing everyday in numbers because you’re making it so easy for them. The o.c. register is behind you, posting cheesy articles on the “unfirtunate” but truth be told, they are offered help. There are empty beds as we speak. THEY DO NOT WANT HELP. THEY WANT JOSE MORENO TO MAKE IT RAIN WITH ANYTHING FREE TO KEEP THEM THERE AND KEEP MULTIPLYING. Idiot.
Your argument is based on illegality, as if all we need to know is what is legal and what is illegal. If that’s all we need to know before knowing what to do, then what place is there for morality?
Morality has always been at odds with legality. Do you not know that slavery was legal until we fought a war to make it illegal? Do you not know that everything Hitler did was perfectly legal because he passed immoral laws first before implementing his perfectly legal immorally genocidal reign.
This is a ROPE A DOPE.
As this situation deteriorates, GREG/CYNTHIA WARD/TOM TAIT’s cause (Anaheim’s nightmare) Arte Moreno has legal, VALID reasons to break the lease.
This situation lies at the feet of Tom Tait. So will the bill.
What is next? Look at the bucket of needles. Stay on this issue and send each article to KFI. No more funding for those unwilling to take help.
What’s next?
Since the homeless are already using needles, you are afraid to give them toilets because…? What do you imagine will come after toilets, showers? beds? food? God forbid!
I’ll tell you what’s next, a chance for them to clean themselves up, get out of the river bed, and rejoin us in civic society. — Albert Cipriani
I have to disagree with everyone. I am poor and I got lucky.. my daughter took me in. She regrets it and I may end up out on the street at well. We have small encampments everywhere in West Anaheim. Yeah it’s creepy when they beg, but the Lord would NOT want these people cast out of their home made cities. I’d like to see more porta potties and showers and maybe a medical office. Show a little kindness people, it won’t hurt you. Be God’s helpers and volunteer to go bring them food sometimes.
They ARE being offered help Patricia. In abundance. How kind is it to have tent city along the river bed??? It’s not kind for anyone.
….AND…..please don’t quote the Lord without His permission. You don’t speak for God. Get the help offered. Grandma’s house of hope for one has a bed for you. I’m not going to just drop off food like Amazon for you. Take the offered help and don’t squat illegally. I hope you listen.
Patricia, you are so wrong. There is so much help being offered. We are enabling a population that does not want assistance.
Have them stop with all the. needles. That is a choice. Have them accept assistance when it is offered. We do not need folks to bring anything to these encroachment locations. Go to a. church, maybe a helper will take someone in. I am glad your daughter is assisting you. Be thankful. We no longer want our parks, river trails affected. No more enabling.
You do not support the addicted, you help them to get off of what they are addicted to. No more enabling is right. Give all the help to get going off of what they are addicted to, off the streets and on to a better life. Those that do not choose to accept the help should be governed by the laws we all are. If they are unable to make the decision for themselves then it should be made for them.
Where are the needles coming from. Do you think this is the right way to help them? Do you think that whatever is in those needles helps those injected? No it just gets them through another day and then when they wake up they are in the very same position. No more enabling them, it is not help.
Thank you Jose Marino home for your humanity.
We are talking toilets, people. So do you anti-Moreno folks really want the homeless to P in the river? This is a pragmatic matter, not an ideological issue.
It does not matter what your feelings are about homelessness or the cause thereof. The facts are that they are here and we have yet to figure out a solution to their problem. In the interim of figuring out that solution, please, show some humanity by allowing them to relieve themselves somewhere else then in Our public waterways. Respectfully, Albert Cipriani
Albert, we are showing humanity. I am a Moreno supporter. However, not on this issue. Their poor decisions usually lead to their situations. There is so much help being offered and they reject it. Please show your humanity and invite them to your house or church. We are tired of enabling and watching the situation get worse. Bring back our neighborshoods and river trail.
Moreno gaslighted you! First sign it’s wearing off.
Hlarry, right. The poor decisions by the homeless have lead them to our riverbanks toiletless. What should we do about it? Make them and the river suffer? Or help them help themselves at that desperate point in their journey by allowing them to have the toilets they’ve already paid for?
Your mentality is to insist that they P in our river; Yeah, that’ll show them! Whereas my mentality is to keep on offering them chances to make better decisions (like peeing in toilets rather than in bushes).
Not everyone is as bright as you and me or as morally put together. Knowing this, you should also know that it takes some of us an entire lifetime to learn how to make better decisions. You simply can’t demand it of them. Children are like that too.
But Congratulations! The fact that I am talking to you and you are talking to me via the internet tells us both that we have made better decisions than the homeless. Except for right now… for as of now, you have given up on them ever making better decisions and I haven’t. That is our difference.
Agreed!
If you feel that strongly, OPEN YOUR ON BATHROOM DOOR TO THEM. Do not make our public area private to them and their needles.
MAKE THEM OBEY THE LAW LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
OK. I will open my bathroom door to the homeless currently peeing in our river the moment you open your kitchen door to the starving children. Fair enough?
Albert do your words “show humanity” mean to enable humanity? Rather sometimes showing humanity does not mean taking the easy way and make them comfortable but instead showing the way out of a bad situation, and this may be hard work. That may mean they may not like the road out but once they take it and they arrive to experience a better living arrangement and life. You can not say giving something addicting to an addict helps them. You cannot say allowing them to live in squalor is helping them. It may in fact be humane to give them the help they need and if THEY choose not to take it, they are then subject to the law.
It is not okay while they decide which path they take that they involve those around them in their life decision making. DID YOU SEE THE POST WITH THE LONG LIST OF HOUSING/HELP OPTIONS THAT HAVE AVAILABILITIES?
MHHA,
Yes I saw the long list of alternate options for the homeless. But that misses the point.
The point is that the homeless, by ignoring the same list I am ignoring, prove to us all just how poorly they are choosing their path through this vail of tears. That long list only proves how poorly they continue to choose. The question for you and for me is what to do about their poor decision making.
My answer, is to support them with toilets, food, even clean needles, anything and everything that will help to ensure that they live another day to make even more poor decision if they find that necessary. Why? Because I, unlike you, have total confidence in the real power of what is good or right. I know that even the dullest person can only continue to make the wrong decisions for so long before starting to make right ones.
In short, I believe my God is more powerful than their God. They can only serve their Satanic god of drug addiction and sloth for a limited time before the wages of their sins bankrupt their vested interest in homelessness. I have confidence in the redemptive process. You do not.
Albert: I unlike you would not enable an addict by giving them their addiction. It is called tough love Albert. I will not judge you as you appear to have a kind heart. You in turn should not judge me as you do not know me.
THEY ARE USING NEEDLES (USING) IN PUBLIC. WE HAVE HELP FACILITIES FOR THE SHOWERS/TOILETS/BEDS AND FOOD THEY NEED. THEY DO NOT GO. ARE THEY REALLY GOING TO GET CLEAN WHILE THEY ARE PROVIDED WITH THE TOOLS OF THEIR ADDICTIONS?
What’s next?
Since the homeless are already using needles, you are afraid to give them toilets because…? What do you imagine will come after toilets, showers? beds? food? God forbid
I’ll tell you what’s next, a chance for them to clean themselves up, get out of the river bed, and rejoin us in civic society. — Albert Cipriani