NOVEMBER 19, 2013<\/p>\n
What Happened To The People Displaced By Fresno’s Homeless Camp Destructions?<\/h1>\nBy Rebecca Plevin
\n<\/a><\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mediad.publicbroadcasting.net\/p\/kvpr\/files\/styles\/card_wide\/public\/201311\/IMG_3881.JPG\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\nCredit Rebecca Plevin \/ Valley Public Radio<\/div>\nNancy Holmes, left, and Sinamon Blake, right, were evicted from their homeless encampment in October.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\nFOR AUDIO, GO TO: http:\/\/kvpr.org\/post\/what-happened-people-displaced-fresnos-homeless-camp-destructions<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nFor almost a year, Nancy Holmes and Sinamon Blake were neighbors in a homeless encampment in downtown Fresno.<\/p>\n
But city employees bulldozed their camp a few weeks ago, in an effort to rid the city of illegal structures. The two friends, and the other residents of their camp, scattered. Nancy and Sinamon ended up on a huge, dusty piece of land outside the city’s jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t care for the path that Sinamon found us, but damn, we were safe,\u201d says Nancy, 61, a borderline diabetic with asthma.
\nShe lasted there for about two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou blow your nose in the morning, and you have a mud pile,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n
Since then, Nancy and Sinamon have taken separate paths toward survival. Their current living situations shine a light on the housing options available to Fresno\u2019s homeless, now that the city is cracking down on encampments.<\/p>\n
I met Nancy last week at a house on Dakota Avenue, where she\u2019s lived for about a week now. The Dakota Eco Garden, as it\u2019s known, is the brainchild of local homeless advocates.<\/p>\n
Currently, two people live inside the home, and one is in her tent on a raised platform in the backyard. A fourth is in a small, eco structure designed by architect Art Dyson that generates its own heat and air conditioning. The backyard has a huge fruit and vegetable garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have high hopes for the people who live here, eating a lot of the food from the garden and lowering their food costs,\u201d says homeless activist Nancy Waidtlow.<\/p>\n
After living in a tent for almost a year, Nancy Holmes says she feels saved.<\/p>\n
\n“It’s between heaven and hell. Hell is out there in the dirt” – Nancy Holmes<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cI can take a shower, wash my clothes, eat food, any put my food in the fridge,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s between heaven and hell… Hell is out there in the dirt.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first time in years, Nancy finally feels like she\u2019s back on solid ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess you can say living in a motel you\u2019re homeless, but we had showers, we had a stove to cook on, things like that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Before she landed on the streets, Nancy moved from motel to motel with her daughter and grandson.=<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter is a prostitute. I had food stamps, she would pay the rent and I would buy the food,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Years ago, she says, she cooked at area restaurants and hotels, and then worked as a security guard at the Fresno Art Museum.<\/p>\n
She hasn\u2019t worked since 2006, when she lost her security job, and later had two heart attacks.<\/p>\n
Today, she says she\u2019s found a new calling. I ask her if she still considers herself homeless.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I consider myself a homeless advocate now, someone that\u2019s there to help,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
She pauses, and a smile comes over her face. We\u2019re sitting on lawn chairs, and she points toward a flower garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow sweet, a hummingbird!\u201d she exclaims. \u201cSinamon would love that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next day, I join Nancy and two homeless advocates to visit Sinamon. The dusty field is a stark contrast to the Eco Garden. It doesn\u2019t look like a hummingbird – or a human – could survive here.<\/p>\n
Soon, Nancy spots the make-shift structure that she shared with Sinamon and her dogs. Sinamon had been in the nearby canal, and was soaking wet. She met us at her camp, a sprawling structure that\u2019s ingenuously made from tarps and other found items. She\u2019s built a living room, kitchen and bedroom.<\/p>\n
\n“We’re out of view of the public, which is what the City seems to be pushing so hard” – Sinamon Blake<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cWe\u2019re out of view of the freeway, and far away from the street,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re out of view of the public, which is what the City seems to be pushing so hard, that they don\u2019t want to see us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The location is remote, but it has a huge asset: Running water. Sinamon led us down to the canal. Then she waded in to scrub the dust off the fur of her biggest dog, Sheba.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if there were nicer places that had grass, or had other things going for it, I would pick this, because running water is life,\u201d Sinamon says.<\/p>\n
Sinamon says she\u2019s been homeless most of her life. She grew up relying on welfare, school lunches, and free snacks from rec centers.<\/p>\n
She has, she says, \u201ca lot of memories of blanketless or sheetless beds, a mattress in the corner of the room, and about 8 or 12 kids sleeping and sharing that bed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why, then, I ask her, didn\u2019t she want to move into the Eco Home with Nancy? One reason, she says, is she couldn\u2019t take all of her dogs, who she loves like daughters. She says she values freedom for herself, and her dogs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t raise them like that, to sit in the corner, and wait to fetch,\u201d she says. \u201cI taught them to roam around, keep an eye on things, and run and be alive. She doesn\u2019t have the space for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
To an outsider, it might be tough to see Sinamon living alone like this. But she says she\u2019s less likely to get raped, robbed or jumped here, than in other areas where the homeless stay.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s safer out there than it is to sleep in the doorway of a business downtown, or anywhere in town, actually,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s safer here than it is to sleep at Roeding Park, or Woodward Park, or Kearney Park, or any of the missions.\u201d<\/p>\n
As we say goodbye, Nancy, Sinamon and the homeless advocates point out to me the taller buildings of downtown Fresno. They can make out the women\u2019s old encampment. It was a reminder that these women\u2019s homeless journeys could be long from over.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Wed October 23, 2013<\/div>\nFourth Fresno Homeless Camp, Considered A ‘Neighborhood’ By Residents, Is Razed<\/h1>\n\nBy Rebecca Plevin<\/a><\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mediad.publicbroadcasting.net\/p\/kvpr\/files\/styles\/card_wide\/public\/201310\/IMG_3677.JPG\")
<\/a><\/p>\nEnlarge image<\/a><\/div>\n\nCredit Rebecca Plevin \/ Valley Public Radio<\/div>\nHomeless advocates were prepared to resist the destruction of the encampment.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\nLISTEN TO AUDIO AT http:\/\/kvpr.org\/post\/fourth-fresno-homeless-camp-considered-neighborhood-residents-razed<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCinnamon has lived in a make-shift structure near the grain silos, west of Palm Avenue and H Street, for more than two years.<\/p>\n
She says the homeless encampment there is different from others that have cropped up in downtown Fresno.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not a camp, we\u2019re a neighborhood, a family,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all look out for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
The encampment has rules. For example, the residents decide \u2013 together \u2013 if a new person could move in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not supposed to do anything that intrudes on your neighbor,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re not supposed to take from your neighbor.<\/p>\n
When it comes to anything that affects each other, we\u2019re all supposed to agree on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This morning, Cinnamon and other residents agreed on something else: Despite the city\u2019s order to clear the homeless encampment, they didn\u2019t want to leave. They also didn\u2019t have a choice.<\/p>\n
Over the last two months, City of Fresno employees have dismantled three homeless encampments in downtown Fresno. This would be the fourth to go.<\/p>\n
Tears streamed down Cinnamon\u2019s face as she wondered aloud how she\u2019d pack up all her belongings, or where she\u2019d go. A friend handed her a mug of coffee that had been cooked over a small fire.<\/p>\n
\n“They call us homeless – it’s true, we have less of a home, by their standards – but this is a home” – Cinnamon<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cIt\u2019s not a clean-up, it\u2019s a lock out,\u201d she said. \u201cThey call us homeless \u2013 it\u2019s true, we have less of a home, by their standards, but this is a home, this is where I rest my head, this is where I kept my food, this is where I was safe, and I had a sanctuary, at least for a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across the railroad tracks, city workers began bulldozing the remnants of a nearby encampment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve certainly done enough of these now,\u201d said city spokesman Michael Lukens. \u201cWe are doing it by the book, we are doing it the way we are supposed to. We\u2019re going in, we\u2019re packing belongings, if people want to keep them, we’re going to document them, we\u2019re storing them as we\u2019re required to do, we\u2019re trying to do everything we can to work with these folks, and we need to take the illegal structures down.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stressed that the goal of this clean-up, and past ones, is to rid the city of camp structures, which are considered to be public health and safety threats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re aware that people will still be on the streets, and there\u2019s not enough housing, we just want to make sure these structures don\u2019t come back up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n“We’re aware that people will still be on the streets, and there’s not enough housing, we just want to make sure these structures don’t come back up” – Michael Lukens<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAbout a dozen homeless advocates were prepared to resist the destruction of the camp where Cinnamon lived, including Dixie Salazar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the last encampment, the last stand, and we were willing to stand between the bulldozers, if they were coming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But by mid-morning, it looked as though the act of civil disobedience might not be necessary. Camp residents were generally complying with orders to pack up their belongings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was ready to get arrested, if that\u2019s what it took to try to keep them from harming these people,\u201d she said. \u201cThe people have been harmed by these clean-ups, or destructions \u2013 that\u2019s what they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nancy Holmes fears the harm she could face once she\u2019s back on the streets – wherever she ends up. She\u2019s lived in the camp for eight months, and says her neighbors protect her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent a couple nights in Roeding Park, and that was the most frightened I\u2019ve ever been,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cI\u2019ve had the safety of my neighbors, and now we don\u2019t, so I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
City spokesman Mike Lukens expects this to be the last encampment that workers dismantle. In an e-mail, he said a city taskforce is working to ensure illegal structures don\u2019t return. The taskforce will strive to discover and deal with the structures<\/p>\n
before they become full-blown encampments, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Tue September 10, 2013<\/div>\nAs Homeless Camps Are Dismantled, Street Pastor Soldiers On<\/h1>\n\nBy Rebecca Plevin<\/a><\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mediad.publicbroadcasting.net\/p\/kvpr\/files\/styles\/card_wide\/public\/201309\/IMG_3469.JPG\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\nCredit Rebecca Plevin \/ Valley Public Radio<\/div>\nPastor Ray Polk provides support through his homeless ministry.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>\nAUDIO at http:\/\/kvpr.org\/post\/homeless-camps-are-dismantled-street-pastor-soldiers<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOn Monday morning, Pastor Ray Polk comforted a man who was packing up everything he owned.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou alright?\u201d Polk asked. As the man expressed his pain and frustration, Polk replied, \u201cI know, I know, I know, we got to keep going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along H Street in Downtown Fresno, the homeless were stuffing their possessions into plastic bags and shopping carts, as city workers bulldozed and raked the debris left behind.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, City of Fresno workers dismantled the third homeless encampment in three weeks. Overall, the effort has displaced a total of about 250 people.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s part of the city\u2019s efforts to rid Fresno of permanent homeless camps, which officials say are a health and safety threat. They say the goal is to connect people with housing and services.<\/p>\n
But Polk said he wouldn\u2019t take down the street church he constructed in the camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me I would have to dismantle it myself and if not, they will bulldoze it down,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I told them I couldn\u2019t do that, I couldn\u2019t defy God like that, and tear down something that God had me put up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The church is made of white slats of wood. Polk has covered them in proverbs and Bible verses. It\u2019s covered with a blue tarp, and contains about 10 white, plastic chairs.<\/p>\n
\n“I would not upon any circumstances take that down” – Pastor Ray Polk<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cThey make the decision,\u201d he said of city officials. \u201cI would not upon any circumstances take that down.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also ran a food distribution from the church. Next to it, he constructed a memorial to the homeless who have died. There are flowers next to each makeshift headstone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI figure, I\u2019d take a piece of wood, paint it white, put their names on it, at least they can come and pay tribute to a friend or loved one, even if it\u2019s just once a year on Memorial Day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On Monday afternoon, city spokesman Michael Lukens said the memorial could remain, but that the church would be put into storage.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time that Polk, and the homeless he serves, have been displaced. But this time, Lukens says, they city has formed a task force to ensure that the camps don\u2019t re-emerge.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re making every effort, certainly more than we have in the past, to make sure we\u2019re on top of making sure structures don\u2019t come back up and encampments don\u2019t return,\u201d Lukens says.<\/p>\n
He says the city is working with local agencies, like the Housing Authority, to find people housing.<\/p>\n
But 28-year-old Lena Richardson has no idea where she\u2019ll live now. She had lived in the camp for six months. Yesterday, she stood on the side of the road with her dog, Princess.<\/p>\n
A shopping cart contained her belongings:\u00a0 \u201cMy tent, my blankets, my batteries, my solar panels so I can have electricity, that\u2019s about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she felt puzzled, confused, and sick.<\/p>\n
\n“What if they woke up the next day and they don’t know where they’re going?” – Lena Richardson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cWhat if they woke up the next day and then don\u2019t know where they\u2019re going?\u201d she asked. \u201cThat\u2019s depressing.\u201d
\nThat\u2019s where Pastor Polk comes in. He says he\u2019ll still be there to provide spiritual support to the homeless.<\/p>\n
His role he said, is \u201ccomforting my brothers and sisters, hugging and embracing them while they cry, and try to uplift their spirits<\/p>\n
like I always have done, and try to continue to give hope where hopelessness has filled.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lukens says the city might demolish one more camp in the next 30 days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Tue October 22, 2013<\/div>\nVisalia’s Oval Park, Ground Zero For Homelessness<\/h1>\n\nBy Ezra David Romero<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mediad.publicbroadcasting.net\/p\/kvpr\/files\/styles\/card_wide\/public\/201310\/IMG_9447.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\nCredit Ezra David Romero \/ Valley Public Radio<\/div>\nEric and Eva both frequent Lincoln Oval Park regularly. Eva refers to the park as a “cesspool” that is hard to escape.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nFOR AUDIO GO TO:\u00a0 http:\/\/kvpr.org\/post\/visalias-oval-park-ground-zero-homelessness<\/wbr><\/wbr><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nThe City of Visalia is known to many as the small town with the good restaurants on the way to the giant sequoias. Its bustling downtown district is home to a thriving music scene and dozens of shops and entertainment venues. But less than a mile to the north, in one of the city\u2019s oldest neighborhoods, Lincoln Oval Park is home to a much different Visalia. It\u2019s ground zero for the city\u2019s homeless population.\u201cThe people in this park are a cesspool, they go around and around and around and around and they never stop, they\u2019re insane,\u201d says Eva, a homeless woman who has called the park next to Highway 63 home for over a year.<\/p>\nThis century old public space has dealt with issues of alcohol, drugs and homelessness since its inception, according to Ryan Stillwater.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a stack of old newspapers articles and some old photos and apparently it has always been a real problem,\u201d Stillwater says. \u201cIt was referred to a sheep pen a number of times, a trash heap.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was hired by the Visalia Rescue Mission two months ago to reinvent the park. His initiative will launch in the coming months as ovalpark.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n“The people in this park are a cesspool, they go around and around and around and around and they never stop, they’re insane,” – Eva, an Oval Park Resident<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cI got this quote on my board from 1893 where someone had wrote in and said the park project is a good one, everyone should lend a hand and be interested in it,\u201d Stillwater says. \u201cSo it\u2019s always had this unfinished project mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that is why the city and organizations like the Visalia Rescue Mission have banded together to curb the issue. \u00a0A shopping cart ordinance went into effect on October 7. The ordinance forces anyone with a cart outside of the bounds of a shopping center to turn it over to authorities. Come December stores will be fined $50 for every cart found on the streets.<\/p>\n
Under the new law, any homeless person found with a cart will be given a bag for their belongings. They\u2019ll also have the option of storing their goods in a trailer at the Visalia Rescue Mission. Since the ordinance went into effect, 30 carts have been confiscated from homeless people and over 100 carts have been corralled city-wide.<\/p>\n
Jessica Cavale is the director of development with the mission. She says the condition of Lincoln Oval Park helped spur the community to take action.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrevious to the shopping cart ordinance it was filled with shopping carts and homeless people, prostitution, the police are always out there, and recently the city council has realized like, hey, we need to enact some step,\u201d Cavale says.<\/p>\n
Visalia Mayor Amy Shuklian says that working with non-profit organizations will be key to revitalizing the area. She estimates there about 1,000 homeless people in Visalia.=<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gotten to the point where enough is enough,\u201d Shuklian says. \u201cThe citizens are noticing it, it\u2019s creeping more into the downtown and outlying areas and so we\u2019re working on something\u2019s that will help manage the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mediad.publicbroadcasting.net\/p\/kvpr\/files\/styles\/card_280\/public\/201310\/IMG_9434.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\nCredit Ezra David Romero \/ Valley Public Radio<\/div>\nOval Park supporters hope that the park will see better days and an improved look including a new playground and more.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nA five tier plan to revitalize the park was submitted to the Visalia City Council earlier this month. The council requested more information about the cost of the plan. The improvements include a new playground, security cameras, a walking path circling the park, an amphitheater, and an iron fence on the busiest side of the park. Restrooms which were once a venue for crime have now been demolished.<\/p>\n
Ryan Stillwater\u2019s office is in a building at the park that the rescue mission has remodeled into an event center. The mission leases the building from the city for one dollar a year. Stillwater\u2019s main goal isn\u2019t to serve the homeless population but to slowly change the park\u2019s culture by producing events.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy main job is not to act as a case manager; it is really to focus on bringing a positive influence to the park and to change its reputation,\u201d Stillwater says. \u201cWe\u2019ve considered rebranding it, but we decided we rather redeem Oval Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the homeless in the city are skeptical about impending changes. Eric got out of prison three months ago and now calls the park home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis park changing – you can\u2019t change the park you got to change the people in it,\u201d Eric says.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where Ryan Stillwater comes in.<\/p>\n
\nShuklian says she hopes to see homelessness reduced “to a manageable way so that it doesn’t interfere with the quality of life of all Visalians.”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cFortunately with the restrooms being torn down, the shopping cart ordinance going into effect,\u201d Stillwater says. \u201cWhat that\u2019s doing \u2013 at least my hope \u2013 is there is a less of a convenience to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
And by doing that, the Rescue Mission hopes that those living on the streets of Visalia will make their way to the mission for food and what they call restoration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t hope that they are moved out somewhere else, we hope that they are moved down to the rescue mission where we have a new community center that opened last September,\u201d Cavale says.<\/p>\n
Mayor Shuklian says Visalia is at the beginning stages of change, but the rapport they have with the homeless and community organizations is vital.<\/p>\n
Shuklian says she hopes to see homelessness reduced \u201cto a manageable way so that it doesn\u2019t interfere with the quality of life of all Visalians.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also says the city and Rescue Mission will launch a campaign later this year educating the public on best practices on homelessness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NOTES BY NORSE:\u00a0 The same cold-blooded methodical destruction of homeless survival camps is happening in Santa Cruz, night after night, week after week, month after month. With no expansion in shelter services (less than 5% of the population is housed–even … Continue reading
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<\/a><\/p>\nFOR AUDIO, GO TO: http:\/\/kvpr.org\/post\/what- For almost a year, Nancy Holmes and Sinamon Blake were neighbors in a homeless encampment in downtown Fresno.<\/p>\n But city employees bulldozed their camp a few weeks ago, in an effort to rid the city of illegal structures. The two friends, and the other residents of their camp, scattered. Nancy and Sinamon ended up on a huge, dusty piece of land outside the city’s jurisdiction.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t care for the path that Sinamon found us, but damn, we were safe,\u201d says Nancy, 61, a borderline diabetic with asthma. \u201cYou blow your nose in the morning, and you have a mud pile,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n Since then, Nancy and Sinamon have taken separate paths toward survival. Their current living situations shine a light on the housing options available to Fresno\u2019s homeless, now that the city is cracking down on encampments.<\/p>\n I met Nancy last week at a house on Dakota Avenue, where she\u2019s lived for about a week now. The Dakota Eco Garden, as it\u2019s known, is the brainchild of local homeless advocates.<\/p>\n Currently, two people live inside the home, and one is in her tent on a raised platform in the backyard. A fourth is in a small, eco structure designed by architect Art Dyson that generates its own heat and air conditioning. The backyard has a huge fruit and vegetable garden.<\/p>\n \u201cI have high hopes for the people who live here, eating a lot of the food from the garden and lowering their food costs,\u201d says homeless activist Nancy Waidtlow.<\/p>\n After living in a tent for almost a year, Nancy Holmes says she feels saved.<\/p>\n \u201cI can take a shower, wash my clothes, eat food, any put my food in the fridge,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s between heaven and hell… Hell is out there in the dirt.\u201d<\/p>\n For the first time in years, Nancy finally feels like she\u2019s back on solid ground.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess you can say living in a motel you\u2019re homeless, but we had showers, we had a stove to cook on, things like that,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Before she landed on the streets, Nancy moved from motel to motel with her daughter and grandson.=<\/p>\n \u201cMy daughter is a prostitute. I had food stamps, she would pay the rent and I would buy the food,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Years ago, she says, she cooked at area restaurants and hotels, and then worked as a security guard at the Fresno Art Museum.<\/p>\n She hasn\u2019t worked since 2006, when she lost her security job, and later had two heart attacks.<\/p>\n Today, she says she\u2019s found a new calling. I ask her if she still considers herself homeless.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I consider myself a homeless advocate now, someone that\u2019s there to help,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n She pauses, and a smile comes over her face. We\u2019re sitting on lawn chairs, and she points toward a flower garden.<\/p>\n \u201cHow sweet, a hummingbird!\u201d she exclaims. \u201cSinamon would love that.\u201d<\/p>\n The next day, I join Nancy and two homeless advocates to visit Sinamon. The dusty field is a stark contrast to the Eco Garden. It doesn\u2019t look like a hummingbird – or a human – could survive here.<\/p>\n Soon, Nancy spots the make-shift structure that she shared with Sinamon and her dogs. Sinamon had been in the nearby canal, and was soaking wet. She met us at her camp, a sprawling structure that\u2019s ingenuously made from tarps and other found items. She\u2019s built a living room, kitchen and bedroom.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re out of view of the freeway, and far away from the street,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re out of view of the public, which is what the City seems to be pushing so hard, that they don\u2019t want to see us.\u201d<\/p>\n The location is remote, but it has a huge asset: Running water. Sinamon led us down to the canal. Then she waded in to scrub the dust off the fur of her biggest dog, Sheba.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if there were nicer places that had grass, or had other things going for it, I would pick this, because running water is life,\u201d Sinamon says.<\/p>\n Sinamon says she\u2019s been homeless most of her life. She grew up relying on welfare, school lunches, and free snacks from rec centers.<\/p>\n She has, she says, \u201ca lot of memories of blanketless or sheetless beds, a mattress in the corner of the room, and about 8 or 12 kids sleeping and sharing that bed.\u201d<\/p>\n Why, then, I ask her, didn\u2019t she want to move into the Eco Home with Nancy? One reason, she says, is she couldn\u2019t take all of her dogs, who she loves like daughters. She says she values freedom for herself, and her dogs.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t raise them like that, to sit in the corner, and wait to fetch,\u201d she says. \u201cI taught them to roam around, keep an eye on things, and run and be alive. She doesn\u2019t have the space for that.\u201d<\/p>\n To an outsider, it might be tough to see Sinamon living alone like this. But she says she\u2019s less likely to get raped, robbed or jumped here, than in other areas where the homeless stay.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s safer out there than it is to sleep in the doorway of a business downtown, or anywhere in town, actually,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s safer here than it is to sleep at Roeding Park, or Woodward Park, or Kearney Park, or any of the missions.\u201d<\/p>\n As we say goodbye, Nancy, Sinamon and the homeless advocates point out to me the taller buildings of downtown Fresno. They can make out the women\u2019s old encampment. It was a reminder that these women\u2019s homeless journeys could be long from over.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n LISTEN TO AUDIO AT http:\/\/kvpr.org\/post\/fourth- Cinnamon has lived in a make-shift structure near the grain silos, west of Palm Avenue and H Street, for more than two years.<\/p>\n She says the homeless encampment there is different from others that have cropped up in downtown Fresno.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not a camp, we\u2019re a neighborhood, a family,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all look out for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n The encampment has rules. For example, the residents decide \u2013 together \u2013 if a new person could move in.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not supposed to do anything that intrudes on your neighbor,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re not supposed to take from your neighbor.<\/p>\n When it comes to anything that affects each other, we\u2019re all supposed to agree on it.\u201d<\/p>\n This morning, Cinnamon and other residents agreed on something else: Despite the city\u2019s order to clear the homeless encampment, they didn\u2019t want to leave. They also didn\u2019t have a choice.<\/p>\n Over the last two months, City of Fresno employees have dismantled three homeless encampments in downtown Fresno. This would be the fourth to go.<\/p>\n Tears streamed down Cinnamon\u2019s face as she wondered aloud how she\u2019d pack up all her belongings, or where she\u2019d go. A friend handed her a mug of coffee that had been cooked over a small fire.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a clean-up, it\u2019s a lock out,\u201d she said. \u201cThey call us homeless \u2013 it\u2019s true, we have less of a home, by their standards, but this is a home, this is where I rest my head, this is where I kept my food, this is where I was safe, and I had a sanctuary, at least for a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Across the railroad tracks, city workers began bulldozing the remnants of a nearby encampment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve certainly done enough of these now,\u201d said city spokesman Michael Lukens. \u201cWe are doing it by the book, we are doing it the way we are supposed to. We\u2019re going in, we\u2019re packing belongings, if people want to keep them, we’re going to document them, we\u2019re storing them as we\u2019re required to do, we\u2019re trying to do everything we can to work with these folks, and we need to take the illegal structures down.\u201d<\/p>\n He stressed that the goal of this clean-up, and past ones, is to rid the city of camp structures, which are considered to be public health and safety threats.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re aware that people will still be on the streets, and there\u2019s not enough housing, we just want to make sure these structures don\u2019t come back up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n About a dozen homeless advocates were prepared to resist the destruction of the camp where Cinnamon lived, including Dixie Salazar.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the last encampment, the last stand, and we were willing to stand between the bulldozers, if they were coming,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But by mid-morning, it looked as though the act of civil disobedience might not be necessary. Camp residents were generally complying with orders to pack up their belongings.<\/p>\n \u201cI was ready to get arrested, if that\u2019s what it took to try to keep them from harming these people,\u201d she said. \u201cThe people have been harmed by these clean-ups, or destructions \u2013 that\u2019s what they are.\u201d<\/p>\n Nancy Holmes fears the harm she could face once she\u2019s back on the streets – wherever she ends up. She\u2019s lived in the camp for eight months, and says her neighbors protect her.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent a couple nights in Roeding Park, and that was the most frightened I\u2019ve ever been,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cI\u2019ve had the safety of my neighbors, and now we don\u2019t, so I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n City spokesman Mike Lukens expects this to be the last encampment that workers dismantle. In an e-mail, he said a city taskforce is working to ensure illegal structures don\u2019t return. The taskforce will strive to discover and deal with the structures<\/p>\n before they become full-blown encampments, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n AUDIO at http:\/\/kvpr.org\/post\/homeless- On Monday morning, Pastor Ray Polk comforted a man who was packing up everything he owned.<\/p>\n \u201cYou alright?\u201d Polk asked. As the man expressed his pain and frustration, Polk replied, \u201cI know, I know, I know, we got to keep going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Along H Street in Downtown Fresno, the homeless were stuffing their possessions into plastic bags and shopping carts, as city workers bulldozed and raked the debris left behind.<\/p>\n Yesterday, City of Fresno workers dismantled the third homeless encampment in three weeks. Overall, the effort has displaced a total of about 250 people.<\/p>\n It\u2019s part of the city\u2019s efforts to rid Fresno of permanent homeless camps, which officials say are a health and safety threat. They say the goal is to connect people with housing and services.<\/p>\n But Polk said he wouldn\u2019t take down the street church he constructed in the camp.<\/p>\n \u201cThey told me I would have to dismantle it myself and if not, they will bulldoze it down,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I told them I couldn\u2019t do that, I couldn\u2019t defy God like that, and tear down something that God had me put up.\u201d<\/p>\n The church is made of white slats of wood. Polk has covered them in proverbs and Bible verses. It\u2019s covered with a blue tarp, and contains about 10 white, plastic chairs.<\/p>\n \u201cThey make the decision,\u201d he said of city officials. \u201cI would not upon any circumstances take that down.\u201d<\/p>\n He also ran a food distribution from the church. Next to it, he constructed a memorial to the homeless who have died. There are flowers next to each makeshift headstone.<\/p>\n \u201cI figure, I\u2019d take a piece of wood, paint it white, put their names on it, at least they can come and pay tribute to a friend or loved one, even if it\u2019s just once a year on Memorial Day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On Monday afternoon, city spokesman Michael Lukens said the memorial could remain, but that the church would be put into storage.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time that Polk, and the homeless he serves, have been displaced. But this time, Lukens says, they city has formed a task force to ensure that the camps don\u2019t re-emerge.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re making every effort, certainly more than we have in the past, to make sure we\u2019re on top of making sure structures don\u2019t come back up and encampments don\u2019t return,\u201d Lukens says.<\/p>\n He says the city is working with local agencies, like the Housing Authority, to find people housing.<\/p>\n But 28-year-old Lena Richardson has no idea where she\u2019ll live now. She had lived in the camp for six months. Yesterday, she stood on the side of the road with her dog, Princess.<\/p>\n A shopping cart contained her belongings:\u00a0 \u201cMy tent, my blankets, my batteries, my solar panels so I can have electricity, that\u2019s about it.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she felt puzzled, confused, and sick.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat if they woke up the next day and then don\u2019t know where they\u2019re going?\u201d she asked. \u201cThat\u2019s depressing.\u201d His role he said, is \u201ccomforting my brothers and sisters, hugging and embracing them while they cry, and try to uplift their spirits<\/p>\n like I always have done, and try to continue to give hope where hopelessness has filled.\u201d<\/p>\n Lukens says the city might demolish one more camp in the next 30 days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This century old public space has dealt with issues of alcohol, drugs and homelessness since its inception, according to Ryan Stillwater.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got a stack of old newspapers articles and some old photos and apparently it has always been a real problem,\u201d Stillwater says. \u201cIt was referred to a sheep pen a number of times, a trash heap.\u201d<\/p>\n He was hired by the Visalia Rescue Mission two months ago to reinvent the park. His initiative will launch in the coming months as ovalpark.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI got this quote on my board from 1893 where someone had wrote in and said the park project is a good one, everyone should lend a hand and be interested in it,\u201d Stillwater says. \u201cSo it\u2019s always had this unfinished project mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n And that is why the city and organizations like the Visalia Rescue Mission have banded together to curb the issue. \u00a0A shopping cart ordinance went into effect on October 7. The ordinance forces anyone with a cart outside of the bounds of a shopping center to turn it over to authorities. Come December stores will be fined $50 for every cart found on the streets.<\/p>\n Under the new law, any homeless person found with a cart will be given a bag for their belongings. They\u2019ll also have the option of storing their goods in a trailer at the Visalia Rescue Mission. Since the ordinance went into effect, 30 carts have been confiscated from homeless people and over 100 carts have been corralled city-wide.<\/p>\n Jessica Cavale is the director of development with the mission. She says the condition of Lincoln Oval Park helped spur the community to take action.<\/p>\n \u201cPrevious to the shopping cart ordinance it was filled with shopping carts and homeless people, prostitution, the police are always out there, and recently the city council has realized like, hey, we need to enact some step,\u201d Cavale says.<\/p>\n Visalia Mayor Amy Shuklian says that working with non-profit organizations will be key to revitalizing the area. She estimates there about 1,000 homeless people in Visalia.=<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s gotten to the point where enough is enough,\u201d Shuklian says. \u201cThe citizens are noticing it, it\u2019s creeping more into the downtown and outlying areas and so we\u2019re working on something\u2019s that will help manage the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n A five tier plan to revitalize the park was submitted to the Visalia City Council earlier this month. The council requested more information about the cost of the plan. The improvements include a new playground, security cameras, a walking path circling the park, an amphitheater, and an iron fence on the busiest side of the park. Restrooms which were once a venue for crime have now been demolished.<\/p>\n Ryan Stillwater\u2019s office is in a building at the park that the rescue mission has remodeled into an event center. The mission leases the building from the city for one dollar a year. Stillwater\u2019s main goal isn\u2019t to serve the homeless population but to slowly change the park\u2019s culture by producing events.<\/p>\n \u201cMy main job is not to act as a case manager; it is really to focus on bringing a positive influence to the park and to change its reputation,\u201d Stillwater says. \u201cWe\u2019ve considered rebranding it, but we decided we rather redeem Oval Park.\u201d<\/p>\n But the homeless in the city are skeptical about impending changes. Eric got out of prison three months ago and now calls the park home.<\/p>\n \u201cThis park changing – you can\u2019t change the park you got to change the people in it,\u201d Eric says.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where Ryan Stillwater comes in.<\/p>\n \u201cFortunately with the restrooms being torn down, the shopping cart ordinance going into effect,\u201d Stillwater says. \u201cWhat that\u2019s doing \u2013 at least my hope \u2013 is there is a less of a convenience to be.\u201d<\/p>\n And by doing that, the Rescue Mission hopes that those living on the streets of Visalia will make their way to the mission for food and what they call restoration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t hope that they are moved out somewhere else, we hope that they are moved down to the rescue mission where we have a new community center that opened last September,\u201d Cavale says.<\/p>\n Mayor Shuklian says Visalia is at the beginning stages of change, but the rapport they have with the homeless and community organizations is vital.<\/p>\n Shuklian says she hopes to see homelessness reduced \u201cto a manageable way so that it doesn\u2019t interfere with the quality of life of all Visalians.\u201d<\/p>\n She also says the city and Rescue Mission will launch a campaign later this year educating the public on best practices on homelessness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NOTES BY NORSE:\u00a0 The same cold-blooded methodical destruction of homeless survival camps is happening in Santa Cruz, night after night, week after week, month after month. With no expansion in shelter services (less than 5% of the population is housed–even … Continue reading
\nShe lasted there for about two weeks.<\/p>\nFourth Fresno Homeless Camp, Considered A ‘Neighborhood’ By Residents, Is Razed<\/h1>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nAs Homeless Camps Are Dismantled, Street Pastor Soldiers On<\/h1>\n
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\nThat\u2019s where Pastor Polk comes in. He says he\u2019ll still be there to provide spiritual support to the homeless.<\/p>\nVisalia’s Oval Park, Ground Zero For Homelessness<\/h1>\n
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