Hello Soumya, I've read, a few times, your 'San Jose Considers Arresting Homeless...' article; and have read your NYT bio,
My husband and i have been very active regarding the issue of homelessness in our neighborhood and city
I will provide links at the end of this should you be interested to read more, but to keep this short in respect of your time, -request the following consideration:
We have been hearing, and re-reading, and as was covered in your article, the root cause of homelessness as an 'economic' issue; directly correlating with 'cost of living.'
And the picture painted with your words: tesla drivers, leather seats, charging their cars/cell phones, while directly across the street, charity groups handing out peanut butter sandwiches to homeless campers..
Actually, -it is an easy picture to capture; contrast directly across the street.
There is a more, equally real, equally worthy, but more difficult picture to capture, which, instead of juxtaposing tesla owners with homeless tent dwellers
juxtaposes homeless tent dwellers with:
the enormous amount of people who -exactly because the cost of living is so high- moved out of the area, to other places within california, to other states; to other countries. These people responded to the high cost of living by MOVING out of the area; FINDING NEW EMPLOYMENT.. FINDING new places to work, contribute, raise their children. There is a LARGE population of people who did not -have not- will not, respond to the current 'economic' circumstances by staying put, living on the streets, begging, panhandling, loitering, taking/selling drugs, colonizing store fronts, parks, creekways, accumulating toxic waste.
We would love to see this juxtaposition covered: tent dwellers / the hard working who relocated. We have both friends and family members who have left the bay area; moved to Montana, moved to Idaho, moved to New Mexico, moved to Texas, moved to Washington; they would all rather be here
We have watched, what we call the HTLC Community [hard working, tax paying, law abiding, contributors] -leave
while we watch the homeless populations grow; colonize creekways with pollution, colonize shopping plazas closing stores (where people were working); one by one until entire shopping areas are boarded up, closed and covered in graffiti.
We stand with our Mayor, Matt Mahan, who seems to be working tirelessly on this issue. We want to save our shopping plazas; support our local business owners; restore San Jose to its former glory
We want to bring people up; not ALL be brought further down.. which is the current trend, when homeless colonize and close once thriving areas.
Thank You for reading and caring.
Additional reading if time/interest allow:
NOTonNOBLE.blogspot.com [a long, hard fought victory to not have 100 bed homeless site built on our local park across from an elementary school].
Blessings, Robert & Sandra Mickanen, San Jose, CA
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