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Title: Column: Why is the Governor's mansion empty while California's homeless crisis gets worse?
Source:
LA Times via Yahoo
URL Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/column-g ... nsion-empty-let-123019002.html
Published: Feb 2, 2022
Author: Anita Chabria
Post Date: 2022-02-03 00:06:20 by Dakmar
Keywords: None
Views: 536
Comments: 5
The governor's mansion in Sacramento looks like a good place to shoot a horror movie — looming and empty. It sits on a busy corner at a nexus of our dual crises of homelessness and unaffordable housing — topped by a turret where Kathleen Brown once tossed water balloons at trick-or-treaters while her father, then-Gov. Pat Brown, was out of town. One of Sacramento’s largest homeless service providers is walking distance away. But the neighborhood is also gentrifying after a decades-long slump. Kitty-corner to the mansion, a 492-square-foot studio is renting for upward of $1,800 a month. California sends the wrong message by leaving the People’s House empty while rents shoot up and homeless people wander by. The governor isn’t using the place. Should we give it to someone who can? We are at a unique moment with homelessness. The pandemic, for all its hardship, has generated a slew of federal funds. This year, the state budget is also flush, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing to add billions in spending for shelter, mental health services and cleanups of encampments, urging us to "advance a resourceful mindset" during a Los Angeles news conference Monday. But anger is piling up as quick as the money, and people are tired of hearing the same old same old. We are increasingly skeptical and frustrated — and in need of radical proof that this moment won't be wasted. I asked the governor's staff for a tour of the mansion, though I didn't mention my idea of offering it to new tenants. They politely rebuffed my requests. So I turned to someone familiar with the property, John Ackerley, a landscaper who said his five years tending the grounds has brought him a lot of pride. Talking to me through the wrought iron fence when I stopped by recently, Ackerley said he thought my idea was terrible. Most people did. Poster Comment: Why are college dorm rooms, vacation homes owned by move stars, luxury hotel rooms, yachts with sleeping quarters, churches, synagogues, all not stuffed full with homeless? Why are normal people spending their days working when they could be shopping and preparing extravagant meals for the homeless, taking them to the latest Hollywood blockbusters and buying them designer clothes and jewelry?
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#1. To: All (#0)
You didn't build that, homeless junkies did
Why is there food just sitting on grocery store shelves, while there are plenty of people that could quit their jobs and collect that food and distribute it to those who don't feel like going to the store?
FWIW, I'm not a totally heartless bastard, I know there are people who truly need and deserve help. What I am against is the morons who bleat about how we should help everyone who asks, regardless of whether or not they could be trying to improve their own lot, and oblivious to that fact that their vision would render the rest of us paupers.
#5. To: Dakmar (#3)
You should be, so should I. I spend more money on others than I do on myself. I earned that privilege. I pick 'em myself. I just found out that my '93 Sonoma, 59k miles that KBB say is worth $800 is a bit low. I gave it to my lawn guy. My '13 Tacoma, 10k miles, geared up would bring $45k. I offered to an electrician on a jobsite a year ago for $30k. I was an idiot, he was a bigger one.
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#2. To: All (#1)
#3. To: All (#2)
Replies to Comment # 3. FWIW, I'm not a totally heartless bastard...
...I know there are people who truly need and deserve help.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 3.