NOTE BY NORSE: Santa Barbara and its neighbor Goleta are several (token) steps ahead of Santa Cruz. Santa Barbara has had a Safe Parking program on government lots for some time. Goleta now weighs in with a shower program. On the downside, activist and poet Peter Marin reports (http://radiolibre.org/brb/
Santa Cruz, meanwhile has stacked its Pacific Avenue with gun-toting cops, uniformed First Alarm “security” thugs, and “happy” Hosts adding phony public safety hysteria to its usual “clean ’em out for Xmas” program. City homeless haters are now planning to arm these “Get Movin’!” mannequins with further with “no conviction needed” stay-away powers on December 9th at City Council. (See “Stay-Away Stupidity Not on Tuesday’s 11-25 Council Agenda” at https://www.indybay.org/
Hey, what with drenching rain and dropping temperatures, who needs additional showers and shelter. There’s no plan on deck other than the usual well-intentioned pleas of a few activists to provide regular warming centers.
Goleta Council Approves Pilot Program to Provide Mobile Shower for Homeless
By Joshua Molina, Noozhawk Staff Writer | @JECMolina | Published on 12.02.2014 6:49 p.m.
Homeless people will have a place to take a shower under a pilot program offered by the City of Goleta and an advocacy group.
In partnership with the group HEAL (Hope, Empowerment & Love), Goleta will provide space outside the Goleta Valley Community Center for a mobile shower for the homeless.
The trailer is self-contained with its own water tank, heater, wastewater holding tank and air conditioner.
The Goleta City Council voted 5-0 on Tuesday to approve the project.
“I think it is a fabulous idea,” new Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte said. “I really believe it is the right thing to do. I can’t even imagine going days and days without a shower.”
Showers for the homeless people would be limited to about five minutes.
Initially, the mobile shower would be open one day per month, over a three-month period, beginning Dec. 29. The trailer would be parked in a rear parking lot of the community center, just north of the tennis courts.
The project would be a pilot program for three months, but eventually HEAL activists want to have the trailer visit regular sites, including St. Michael’s University Church and St. Mark’s Catholic Church, both in Isla Vista.
The hours would be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and homeless people would have to make an appointment to use the facilities.
HEAL activists said they do not tolerate intoxicated individuals.