SANDRA WEAVER, San Clemente
I am continually appalled and dismayed at the people here in San Clemente who simply won’t give up on harassing and demeaning their less fortunate brothers and sisters, whom they refer to as “the homeless” but think of them as “those people,” vagrants, panhandlers and much worse.
They have moved them from North Beach to a homeless “park” with more rules and regulations than a religious boarding school. Now, to make sure they don’t camp out at the train stations again, they enacted an ordinance designating those areas “ticket-required areas.”
No ticket, move on. Riders say they are held “hostage” because they have to walk from the train to their car and be confronted by whatever awaits you there? These pompous, holier-than-thou folks don’t even consider “those people” human beings.
There are signs now at 7-Eleven stores telling people not to offer food or assistance to people gathering there. Why don’t they tell it like it is and post a sign: Please do not feed the birds. And there’s more!
Now they are telling our less fortunate brothers and sisters they cannot have a four-sided tent. Why? Because law enforcement can’t see what’s going on inside. So, that means all of us who are fortunate to have a four-sided domicile must leave one door open at all times so that law enforcement can see what is going on inside? Fair is fair.
Oh, and, yes, those large tents take up considerable space at parks and can be an “eyesore” in green spaces. I have seen the many mansions here in San Clemente that our “fortunate” call home. They take up quite a bit of green space, too.
We have just enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday, and most of us “fortunate” spent it with family and friends and lots and lots of delicious food and drink. Our city does offer those in need (an opportunity) to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner one day that week, and a local pizza establishment issues an open invitation to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner with them.
Now the city is being sued once again for not doing enough to provide shelters to those in need.
Will those “fortunate” here in our city ever open their hearts and minds to recognize those in need as their brothers and sisters and lend a hand?
It remains to be seen.
Okay Sandra, you need to get your head out of the sand and educate yourself to the real issue with the current “homeless” that have invaded our parks, canyons, train platform, North Beach and North Beach parking lot., south end of town behind Carl’s Jr., etc.. These are not families down on their luck that want help and want to better their lives. These are homeless by choice, with addiction problems and/or mentally ill that choose this lifestyle with no rules, and refuse help to better their situation. Fact! They are smart enough to know how to work the system and are able bodied enough to do some type of work. The (poverty pimps) attorneys are a large part of the problem as well telling them what they can get away with, and suing San Clemente to line their own pockets. Enabling them with food leaves extra money for them for drugs/alcohol and makes their situation worse. There are county armory shelters available in Santa Ana and Fullerton now so there is no excuse for them to be out in the rain, etc.
Clearly Sandra is part of the misinformed here in San Clemente. Is she referring to the “fortunate” as those who have worked their asses off to be where they are today?
Shari–
Lot’s of people “work their ass”off and don’t get the breaks. I got breaks–
born white
able bodied
I went to work like a lot of other folks who worked as hard as I did but misfortune hit them.
Have some compassion, well…like Jesus taught us maybe?
This writer should be ashamed of herself, .the lies she tell says so much about who she is as a person. She writes this letter to try to shame SC for not wanting drug addicts and drunk lying around at our beaches, our downtown area and attacking our citizens. i love the part about the rules for living in the camping area are worse that a religious boarding school…There were rules, no drinking, no drugs, no fighting…rules that everyone has to live with but they weren’t enforced all summer until it got so out of hand that the police weren’t safe walking into the camp. She then calls us Fortunate? Fortunate me made the decision to not take drugs or abuse alcohol, Fortunate me choose to work 60 hrs a week to afford to live in SC. Fortunate me only get one day a week off to enjoy the beach, Fortunate me doesn’t get to sit on my ass at the beach 7 days a week, abusing drug and alcohol, have food delivered 4 times a day, be on disability because of my drug abuse, get free medical get food stamps and a free phone. Fortunate me has to work for all that I have and pay for all that the homeless get for doing nothing….So she can take her whiny letter and her homeless and get the ___ out of SC.
what frosts my hide is Sandra’s friends take the best also,, like all the tables and bench’s ,, all the good space for views and picnics .. all the paper goods and leave a mess behind of what was a clean and sanitary environment
Finally somebody gets it!! Sandra knows the truth, as opposed to commonly spread lies and mistruths. No one denies there is a problem. No one wants people sleeping in parks and having aspects of their private lives shared with all. That’s why we need solutions, and yet the real solutions are continually fought. We need local emergency shelters, and we need supportive housing for disabled people who need it, and regular affordable housing for disabled people, seniors, and others with low incomes.
Maura do you live in San Clemente? You don’t do you? How many shelters are in your town? How many PSH Housing units? How many Tents? I”m guessing NONE since you brought all your trash to our town, Until you get a shelter in your town and PSH housing next door to you we don’t care what you have to say….YOU DON’T BELONG IN SC AND YOUR NOT WELCOME IN SC.