NORM PETERSEN, San Clemente
Regarding the recent story from C. Jayden Smith, “Political Opposites Join Forces to Tackle San Clemente Homelessness,” I am left wondering why Donna Vidrine thinks the public should pay for housing, showers, restrooms, laundry facilities, etc. for the homeless?
What is stopping Ms. Vidrine from donating her own money for this purpose, or opening up her home for the homeless, or forming a nonprofit for providing such services?
Go raise money and become a solution rather than deciding you are going to use the strong arm of government to siphon off more of our tax dollars to throw at a problem that simply gets worse the more we do so.
The homeless population in California increased 35% between 2017 and 2020 even though spending has increased to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars annually to “solve” the problem.
Here’s a tip: the more you subsidize something, the more you get of it. The last thing San Clemente needs is to create programs or services that will simply bring more homeless to our city.
Let’s incorporate what the City of Coronado is doing, which has eliminated the homeless from their city. The city doesn’t tolerate encampments along their sidewalks, or other code violations such as being drunk in public or urinating in public or defecating in public.
Per the city’s mayor, Richard Bailey, “What ends up happening is an individual either chooses to get help or they end up leaving.” Unless the goal is to become more like Downtown LA or San Francisco, cities that have become cesspools, let’s try a different approach.
