Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
If you want to do the homeless in Santa Rosa a favor, phone Jack Tibbetts, 707-495-7438 (his office number), and ask him to vote for Chris Rogers for mayor. The only other possibility would be Tom Schwedhelm, and if he were mayor, there would be all-out police war on the poor. Schwedhelm has had great influence on SR police, and they're keeping the homeless from their prescription medications, moving them out of every out-of-the-way place they find to camp in and, last weekend, confiscating the homeless people's campers, rv's and cars and bulldozing all their tents--all with their belongings still in them; people have lost medical supplies, sleeping bags, human services paperwork and everything else but what they were wearing. Then the police stand around and laugh at them.
Schwedhelm would require even more severe police attacks on the homeless. Please call Tibbetts this month, October; the vote for mayor is next month.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
I find this post very disturbing. Did this really happen as described, with not even a warning to get personal items? Also, I can't imagine SR police laughing at this situation. Did anyone on Wacco actually witness all this happening? How did Schwedhelm influence the SR police? I don't know him or Chris Rogers, so I'm looking for some facts here. Thanks.
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Posted in reply to the post by Moon:
If you want to do the homeless in Santa Rosa a favor, phone Jack Tibbetts, 707-495-7438, and ask him to vote for Chris Rogers for mayor. The only other possibility would be Tom Schwedhelm, and if he were mayor, there would be all-out police war on the poor. Schwedhelm has had great influence on SR police, and they're keeping the homeless from their prescription medications, moving them out of every out-of-the-way place they find to camp in and, last weekend, confiscating the homeless people's campers, rv's and cars and bulldozing all their tents--all with their belongings still in them; people have lost medical supplies, sleeping bags, human services paperwork and everything else but what they were wearing. Then the police stand around and laugh at them.
Schwedhelm would require even more severe police attacks on the homeless. Please call Tibbetts this month, October; the vote for mayor is next month.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
Tom Schwedhelm is a retired Santa Rosa Chief of Police and one of those Sonoma County Alliance types. He was on KSRO radio with Steve Jaxon discussing what should be done with the homeless. If I can find a link to the audio podcast I'll post it. Yes he was talking about moving the homeless off the bike trail and now the camper situation at the business park. This appear on the radio was a few weeks before this recent eviction. Recall he said something like "Come on, a trailer with 4 flat tires..." implying the vehicles need to be registered and road worthy which was not the case with many of them.
No I was not there that day to witness eviction. Have no first hand knowledge of what went on that day. I've been by there a few times in the past and saw the situation.
And Keith Woods who was pushing for eviction is another of those Sonoma County Alliance aligned politically active movers and shakers. Head of the North Coast Builders Exchange which is often at odds with the union advocates.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
I wasn't there when the police attacked, but the people who reported it are well known to me as trustworthy sources of information. I've watched the City Council voting for five years. Schwedhelm consistently votes against the needs of the majority of Santa Rosans. (E.g., No on rent control & just-cause eviction.) There are some SRPD officers who are good in most ways, but all of them cover for the really rotten criminals in the department.
Finally, I can well believe a lot, if not most, of the SR police would openly express amusement at others' pain. Two cops here took away from a womon with immediately obvious severe psychiatric difficulties her silky-coated teddy bear & made her watch while they threw it into a filthy, slimy dumpster. Another had 2 young adults down on the pavement, their hands cuffed behind their backs (for sitting in a car for a few minutes, during the day.) When the womon pleaded with him to be sure to keep the car door closed so the dog wouldn't get out, he grinned, opened the car door & chased the dog into the path of a moving car, which killed the dog.
On May 30 I saw yet another refuse a womon access to her prescription medications, so for all anyone knows she may have had terrifying schizophrenic hallucinations & committed suicide. Santa Rosa has a bad police department even for the US, whose cops Europeans consider disgraceful.
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Posted in reply to the post by cw707:
I find this post very disturbing. Did this really happen as described, with not even a warning to get personal items? Also, I can't imagine SR police laughing at this situation. Did anyone on Wacco actually witness all this happening? How did Schwedhelm influence the SR police? I don't know him or Chris Rogers, so I'm looking for some facts here. Thanks.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
The reality is that this happens all too often right here in Sonoma County. Poor people who are homeless lose their belongings often. As someone who used to be homeless, even in homeless shelters, people’s belongings were not respected and were all too often disposed of with no concern about the consequences to the person being basically abused. They lose their identification, their meds, the things that mean the world to them.
I don’t know about this particular story, but yes it’s quite disturbing that this happens here in this supposedly progressive place. The homeless and the poor and the mentally ill are quite often treated as animals, not real humans who have the right to respect. It should be disturbing and it needs to change.
Jessica
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Posted in reply to the post by cw707:
I find this post very disturbing. Did this really happen as described, with not even a warning to get personal items? ...
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
Thanks for moving this to General Community, Barry, where more people will see it.
Schwedhelm used to be police chief, so I guess some officers are still loyal to him. Besides that, he could be voted mayor next month, and since all bullies are cowards, a lot of officers may be toadying to him just in case.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
What a bunch of insensitive assholes they should be ashamed rude crude and socially retarded. They did not pass an empathy class for sure. Jerks glad I don t live in Santa Rosa
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
Just look at the YouTube videos. Pd links. Or go there. If you are broke living in a broken down rv and the police tag it to tow, yeah that's a warning. Of course the police laugh, that's how we humans deal intelligently with tragedy.
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Posted in reply to the post by cw707:
I find this post very disturbing. Did this really happen as described, with not even a warning to get personal items? Also, I can't imagine SR police laughing at this situation. ....
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
Regarding the City's response in towing vehicles from the Business Park, and making homeless tent campers move from behind the Roseland Dollar Tree... there is another side. That other side is that people who live near those encampments, own property, or businesses nearby, don't want them there. I think that's a fair position. There are many behavior problems, to say the least, associated with homeless encampments, that impact the neighborhood.
Another aspect I sense is that the City doesn't want to attract more homeless people to this area, they'd rather the homeless leave. So they make it uncomfortable for them, by disrupting their camps, towing their vehicles, involving the police. That's a reasonable response. If they are too hospitable to the homeless, more homeless will move here. This is not rocket science. Not all homeless people are angels just down on their luck. Some homeless are mentally ill. Many don't want to live in a shelter or supervised housing. Face it. Some want to live on the streets, or in the parks, next to the river, and harm the public commons, with waste, poor sanitation, illegal activity, and so on.
The City has devoted resources to Catholic Charities, the homeless centers on A St, Morgan St, and Wright Road, providing a degree of relief and assistance. City authorities and the police have generally been compassionate to the homeless. It's a thankless job. I'm sure it's a difficult challenge for the Police Dept. There is no beautiful solution that will make everyone happy. There's a middle ground somewhere: I think the City is reaching for that.
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Posted in reply to the post by rossmen:
Just look at the YouTube videos. Pd links. Or go there. If you are broke living in a broken down rv and the police tag it to tow, yeah that's a warning. Of course the police laugh, that's how we humans deal intelligently with tragedy.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
Tents are starting to pop up along the Joe Rodotta (bike) Trail again, from Dutton to Stony Point to Fulton Road. The tents had been almost completely gone for a while. They are using County Parks people to drive back and forth along there and advise people no camping there. I saw the County parks staff stop for quite a while and supervise a couple guys pick up their stuff and move off the trail.
What's happening now is that in the evening, after the last patrol goes by, tents start getting erected. And in some cases small cardboard leantos get put against fences, to apparently keep a low profile and the Parks Staff does not bother them.
BTW the shelter when initially approved was to be limited to 60 men, so as not to concentrate homeless in this low income area (my backyard). And it was said future shelters would open in other quadrants of the city, not just the Roseland/SouthWest. So, soon after it opened it was bumped up to a capacity of 80 men. Then at some point it went coed. And bumped up to 120. Now supposedly it is approved for up to 230 in the winter months. They used to cook their own meals in the commercial kitchen in the facility, and they could volunteer for kitchen duty, assume responsibility and maybe get some skills. Now I am told they do no cooking there, food is brought in. Cooking became unmanageable, too many people, etc.
Time to build a new shelter in the Northeast part of town where the rich snobs reside and shrink Sam Jones Hall back down to a capacity of 80.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by tommy:
Regarding the City's response in towing vehicles from the Business Park, and making homeless tent campers move from behind the Roseland Dollar Tree... there is another side. That other side is that people who live near those encampments, own property, or businesses nearby, don't want them there. I think that's a fair position. There are many behavior problems, to say the least, associated with homeless encampments, that impact the neighborhood.
...
There's a middle ground somewhere: I think the City is reaching for that.
Everyone: Just please don't let Schwedhelm become mayor; that would be a life-threatening disaster for the poor and thus an embarrassment to typical Santa Rosans. Remember: Tell Jack Tibbetts you want to live in Mr. Rogers's neighborhood; ask him to vote for Chris Rogers for mayor.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
There is nothing compassionate about the city's response to the eviction of the camps.
porta-potties were not allowed by the city
The city does not care what it does to these folks.cops are doing their jobs and take out their anger on the people and their stuff.
It takes money to move. What happens to the homeless population when the FEMA trailers are no longer available?
The solution is to provide an alternative to anything that is currently available. here in the county but established and working in other places.
since you think homeless will flock to the county for it's resources, how many more will join the current population?
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Posted in reply to the post by tommy:
Regarding the City's response in towing vehicles from the Business Park, ...
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
Here's how it went down last time when the choice was between Schwedheim and Chris Coursey.
Tibbetts said he’s been told quite plainly that it would be a huge mistake to vote for a law-and-order Republican over a moderate Democrat like Coursey.
“If I wind up going with Tom [Schwedheim], I will end up getting burned very badly,” he said.
Council watchers say Mayor John Sawyer and Olivares support Schwedhelm while Julie Combs and Rogers support Coursey, leaving Tibbetts the swing vote on the issue.
Tibbetts said he’s trying to make a decision based on what’s best for the city as a whole, and not out of fear for his “future political viability.”
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6...-vote-falling?
BTW, why is Coursey not going to seek re election? Sounds like he has plans for higher office.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
The Council members usually rotate the office of mayor among themselves; it ought to be Combs's turn this year, but the majority of the Council members resent her showing them up, as they resented Gary Wysocky.
Re: Protect Santa Rosa's poor.
I've watched it for longer than I care to admit.
From back when Sharon Wright, Janet Condron, Mike Martini were there as the Sonoma County Alliance and Chamber of Commerce reps for the business interests and mainly the developers.
And on the other side of the coin Marsha vas DuPre, Noreen Evans, etc for the Sierra Club and SEIU. Often referred to as "the Environmental" candidates.
They did not rotate mayor based on seniority. They decided which of the two opposing forces had the majority. Then those of the majority side took turns.
You had Sharon Wright then Janet Condron, then Mike Martini take turns as mayor since "The Alliance" was in the majority. There was also Bob Blanchard and another woman, I forget her name, representing "the Alliance." The abuses they got away with was disgraceful.
Alliance vs Environmental, polarized just as if you had Republicans vs Democrats. Sharon Wright was a Texas Republican conveniently registering as a Democrat while in politics here locally. I think Condron was just a Republican, and didn't game her registration.
