Forum at Methodist Church Third in Series
Tonight’s forum on the homeless and homelessness in Ocean Beach is the third in a series of community events organized by an array of local churches. It will be at 7pm in the fellowship hall at Point Loma United Methodist Church, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd. There will be reports from focus areas addressed by the first two forums, to include public facilities, community, government, and community activities.
Most OBcians are aware of the heated controversies involving the homeless that have swirled around the village since last Spring. There were complaints from merchants and residents about a “new breed” of homeless who were thought to be overly-aggressive in their panhandling. There was the underground hate campaign unleashed on homeless people, signified by several leaflets calling for their removal from a once-tolerant community. There was the sticker wars that led to a campaign to boycott the Black headshop for selling the ‘don’t feed our bums’ logos on stickers, hats, and shirts, and the counter sticker that pledged ‘to end homelessness.’
First forum on homeslessness - July 6, 2010.
The context of all this was a severe national and regional economic downturn – the worst since the Great Depression – and subsequent reports of increases in the homeless on the streets, and reports that one-quarter of homeless were veterans.
Then, in the vacuum of nothing being done by government, community organizations, or service groups, a coalition of local churches stepped in to attempt to undercut the vitriol and potential for violence, and to bring the community together in a healing process. There was the first forum on July 6th – which drew 250 people, a follow-up one on August 24th, and there was a community alley clean-up.
All these efforts appeared to bring caring people together, but did not at the same time rope in those from the neighborhood who had been the most incensed about the perceived abuses by homeless. It did bring together those who felt incensed about the fact that there were so many homeless on our streets and who believed that attempts to blame some of them fell on all of them.
Alley clean-up on August 21.
Tonight’s forum reports will be given by the task forces charged with :
- PUBLIC FACILITIES – Bathrooms, Showers,
- COMMUNITY – Center, Outreach, Centralization, Emergency Shelter, Services, Garden,
- GOVERNMENT – Involvement in OBTC, OBMA, City Services (Police, Fire & Lifeguard), Cohesive voice of OB at City Council, and
- ACTIVITIES – Community Clean-ups, Festivals, Education, Family Outreach, Cross-generational.
They will update us on what is needed to implement the tasks they have decided to undertake. This is a good place for you to volunteer your time and energy to better our community on a grassroots level. United for a better OB!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
To the picture: Yes you are human, dude. And we should never forget it, not for a moment.
Ummm yeah could you please stop pissing on th side walk and mabe clean up after yourself?
The homeless are not the problem. It’s the “travelers”. And they are all “Schwillies” now. The homeless here are all seemingly vibrant and vital members of our community; the old guy who plays chess, the guitarista outside of Hodad’s, many of the local drunkards all serve a purpose. One of the drunk guys even has a job watching the tortillas at El Rodeo, making sure they don’t get stolen from the time they are delivered until they open.
Sarah and I live on the front lines of this circus and see the cops come almost hourly and break up fights, arrest people for intoxication, harassing the “normals”. Last week a group of about 4 “travelers” accosted a guy for a burrito and the locals stepped in and nearly started a mini riot. Many of you have no clue what really goes on. It’s quite ugly. Humans shouldn’t allow other humans to live and foster such an environment. I’m very thankful there’s no young children down there.
Our front porch gets shat upon a couple of times a year; don’t know if any of you have had to clean human excrement (before coffee) from your residence, but it’s not a pleasant experience. But so many romanticize this lifestyle choice….(Can I shit on your porch? Just askin’.)
What’s it going to take to fix this? Things are so out of balance I’m afraid that the only thing we can do is invite more! Let’s max out our resources until the apathetic get so fed up themselves about this problem of not just homelessness, but the revelry of living like human dogs. This is the life these kids choose for themselves! I know, I’ve talked with many of them! All they want to do is get fucked up day in/day out and “Stick it to the man”. Personally I salute them for “Sticking it to the man” because now I don’t have to!
Let’s build a social network (I can do that) and print up some cards informing these kids to “visit the site and get here”. We could arrange rideshares from every part of the country to Ocean Beach, the “Wonderland” of the West Coast. Let’s see us hit “Critical mass” by the new year! Trolls in every doorway. Let’s give SDPD a new project. We have to pour the gasoline on it and wait for the spark.
You know I’m being sarcastic, right? But “what if”…
No, you can’t shit on my porch, but please feel free to wander into my backyard and piss on the grass.
All this time I thought it was the local dogs leaving the yellow stains, but tonight we caught a dog of the two-legged type seeking a bit of privacy for his pre-bed bathroom break.
My tolerance is legendary and it’s worn thin. “They” need to leave, or “we” need to provide facilities for them and set up a little camp with latrines and washing facillities. I don’t care about labels, but I care about behaivor. Next thing, we move up away from the beach and leave it to turn into a urinal and an ashtray. Is that the solution? Abandon our residence to the scum that uses it as a bathroom?
I also care about spelling. :-) behavior
Last week some one decided to have a picnic on the trunk of our new car, left a mess of food and empty cans behind. It’s stuff like that that starts to wear you down and make you less tolerant.
A little more respect needs to be shown for the people who live and work in OB.