Leaders claim compassion while embracing conservative Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to punish unhoused even if no shelter is available; Martinez affordable housing drought continued in 2023
The failure to face and try to alleviate what is a growing housing crisis for very low, low and no income residents of this city just reinforces my take that Martinez is actually a stagnant, insular hamlet. Sure, home values are climbing (I myself moved here because in 2011 I found a neglected Mountain View home that I could afford that is now worth 2x as much) which is very beneficial to earlier buyers but curtails growth among newcomers who potentially could truly enhance this place: the young, the ethnically diverse, creatives, etc. The kind of people that made SF such a magnet for the yuppies and tech bros that wanted to be "cool." I watched it happen and it was sad.
Anyway, the Martinez Council et al are delighting almost exclusively around development and economic growth, but without any recognition of what makes a hamlet (er, city) a thriving place to live: culture (so long, Armandos); variety (eg, diverse public events and places to bring people together for entertainment, learning, sharing, etc); a spectrum of diversity of population; strong supportive social welfare resources...
Geez, I've gone on too long, I guess, but my in initial point is that it's time for a Council, et al, to get real about the multi-faceted aspects of being unhoused and do something about it in practice and policy by assessing existing services (eg, CORE, public health, the library, transportation, food rescue etc), identifying further needs, and FUNDING an integrated system of public and private resources to help people live better lives while BUILDING and CONVERTING housing that is truly affordable/sliding scale by today's economy. I served as a volunteer social worker with Noralea at Camp Hope. It was a safer, healthier environment than camping alongside a freeway but like most efforts to give shelter was reliant on donations and the good will of committed volunteers. Churches/faith-based groups and others (eg the Concord Shelter, White Pony food rescue) do their best to help the unhoused. As usual, it's volunteers and grass roots who do the actual work. Anyone who wants to experience (by observing) and understand better how hard it is to be poor in Martinez should go to the Waterfront Park (360 Ferry) on a Friday morning. The volunteer organizations that set up there are, without judgement or restrictions or being "better than", providing groceries, prepared meals, hot showers, clothing and more. There is a mobile health clinic on site! I hope you will be motivated to meet your unhoused neighbors, volunteer, donate, and show up at City Hall to fight greed and demand humane policy and the implementation of housing for all. Thank you.
Armandos, a private business, failed and was bailed many times. I hate to break it to you, but it is the natural progression of places to go from dumps, to boheme, to gentrification. This is a documented phenom and people such as Grey Brechin have been writing or filming about it for decades, even if they hate it. My San Francisco is gone, and so is going my Martinez. But the problem with the homeless is drug use that has led to a group of druggies that have robbed many of us and establishments and they organize in their homeless camps, Noralea's Hope Camp produced the very group that robbed her of $120,000, my neighbor, my mother, and a couple of our small markets. One can have SSI or a part time job and have a van and live under the radar that way. Homeless camps are rife with substance abuse and piles of tweeker debri. If people just lived quietly and cleanly like any dweller anywhere, less resistance to their existence. But no, they trash everything and organize for purposes of crime on those that have somehow bothered to keep it together. Why do people need free food when one person gets $300 month in food stamps? I would agree housing needs to be built, but it should be for sale housing, even if it means market-rate or city supplemented/reverse mortgages. The results of meth and other drugs are people who cannot keep a place no matter what. BTW, Riverhouse is rife with bed bugs, I kid you not. And I bet it is just a matter of time before the library and senior center are infested too and then everyone else picking them up.
Thank you, Craig. This housing issue wasn’t concentrated on because most of the council was fixated on getting the marina up to snuff, as well as the pier. Then, the marina management they hired have quit on us, which put another cog in the wheel. I was never aligned with “Friends” as they only thought of themselves and not about those who were (are) in dire need of somewhere to plant their feet. We have children who are not housed. Have they thought about them? Do they even care? There is an open space directly across the old hotel on Main Street that could be developed into housing and not the ones where rents are unaffordable. The new apartments that are being built downtown, what are those rents? Over $2000? Martinez is in a world of hurt and how embarrassing that we are at net zero!
As to your questions about Thousand Friends, I think the comments in their newsletter last year on the Housing Element speak for itself. No commentary is necessary to show whether they view the housing crisis/affordable housing as a priority or topic of significant concern. The priorities of the candidates they back for elective office when it comes to housing also appears to speak for itself. It's not at the top of the list. That's been my observation from seeing the City Council in action, and I know of no one in the city who attends more council meetings than I do. There used to an unwritten rule in politics that older generations leave their children with more opportunities for success and happiness than they had, but that's clearly been blown to pieces by this crisis. They're all welcome to espouse the beliefs and priorities they care about, but when marginalized communities suffer as a result, they might want to be a bit more careful about throwing the word "compassion" around at public meetings and in election campaigns. Individual acts of compassion are not the same as compassionate public policy, and, in my experience, the former are often used by the powerful and privileged to justify inaction on the latter.
Craig, then how does that fit with your "white privilege theory if you think privilege should grow from generation to generation???? Moreover, don't you think the flood from the Land Down Under causes even more housing constriction?????
You do, Craig…sadly. I certainly appreciate your attendance since I cannot go half the time. We lost the Gazette and now have to rely on you, who I am grateful for, believe me. It’s maddening, nonetheless.
Yes, Craig, and on that note....do I owe you money? I have had to replace alot of my cards and at one point got a notice from your newsletter about it. Am I straightened out?
The failure to face and try to alleviate what is a growing housing crisis for very low, low and no income residents of this city just reinforces my take that Martinez is actually a stagnant, insular hamlet. Sure, home values are climbing (I myself moved here because in 2011 I found a neglected Mountain View home that I could afford that is now worth 2x as much) which is very beneficial to earlier buyers but curtails growth among newcomers who potentially could truly enhance this place: the young, the ethnically diverse, creatives, etc. The kind of people that made SF such a magnet for the yuppies and tech bros that wanted to be "cool." I watched it happen and it was sad.
Anyway, the Martinez Council et al are delighting almost exclusively around development and economic growth, but without any recognition of what makes a hamlet (er, city) a thriving place to live: culture (so long, Armandos); variety (eg, diverse public events and places to bring people together for entertainment, learning, sharing, etc); a spectrum of diversity of population; strong supportive social welfare resources...
Geez, I've gone on too long, I guess, but my in initial point is that it's time for a Council, et al, to get real about the multi-faceted aspects of being unhoused and do something about it in practice and policy by assessing existing services (eg, CORE, public health, the library, transportation, food rescue etc), identifying further needs, and FUNDING an integrated system of public and private resources to help people live better lives while BUILDING and CONVERTING housing that is truly affordable/sliding scale by today's economy. I served as a volunteer social worker with Noralea at Camp Hope. It was a safer, healthier environment than camping alongside a freeway but like most efforts to give shelter was reliant on donations and the good will of committed volunteers. Churches/faith-based groups and others (eg the Concord Shelter, White Pony food rescue) do their best to help the unhoused. As usual, it's volunteers and grass roots who do the actual work. Anyone who wants to experience (by observing) and understand better how hard it is to be poor in Martinez should go to the Waterfront Park (360 Ferry) on a Friday morning. The volunteer organizations that set up there are, without judgement or restrictions or being "better than", providing groceries, prepared meals, hot showers, clothing and more. There is a mobile health clinic on site! I hope you will be motivated to meet your unhoused neighbors, volunteer, donate, and show up at City Hall to fight greed and demand humane policy and the implementation of housing for all. Thank you.
Maybe you will join the efforts of
Armandos, a private business, failed and was bailed many times. I hate to break it to you, but it is the natural progression of places to go from dumps, to boheme, to gentrification. This is a documented phenom and people such as Grey Brechin have been writing or filming about it for decades, even if they hate it. My San Francisco is gone, and so is going my Martinez. But the problem with the homeless is drug use that has led to a group of druggies that have robbed many of us and establishments and they organize in their homeless camps, Noralea's Hope Camp produced the very group that robbed her of $120,000, my neighbor, my mother, and a couple of our small markets. One can have SSI or a part time job and have a van and live under the radar that way. Homeless camps are rife with substance abuse and piles of tweeker debri. If people just lived quietly and cleanly like any dweller anywhere, less resistance to their existence. But no, they trash everything and organize for purposes of crime on those that have somehow bothered to keep it together. Why do people need free food when one person gets $300 month in food stamps? I would agree housing needs to be built, but it should be for sale housing, even if it means market-rate or city supplemented/reverse mortgages. The results of meth and other drugs are people who cannot keep a place no matter what. BTW, Riverhouse is rife with bed bugs, I kid you not. And I bet it is just a matter of time before the library and senior center are infested too and then everyone else picking them up.
Thank you, Craig. This housing issue wasn’t concentrated on because most of the council was fixated on getting the marina up to snuff, as well as the pier. Then, the marina management they hired have quit on us, which put another cog in the wheel. I was never aligned with “Friends” as they only thought of themselves and not about those who were (are) in dire need of somewhere to plant their feet. We have children who are not housed. Have they thought about them? Do they even care? There is an open space directly across the old hotel on Main Street that could be developed into housing and not the ones where rents are unaffordable. The new apartments that are being built downtown, what are those rents? Over $2000? Martinez is in a world of hurt and how embarrassing that we are at net zero!
Thanks, Marlene.
As to your questions about Thousand Friends, I think the comments in their newsletter last year on the Housing Element speak for itself. No commentary is necessary to show whether they view the housing crisis/affordable housing as a priority or topic of significant concern. The priorities of the candidates they back for elective office when it comes to housing also appears to speak for itself. It's not at the top of the list. That's been my observation from seeing the City Council in action, and I know of no one in the city who attends more council meetings than I do. There used to an unwritten rule in politics that older generations leave their children with more opportunities for success and happiness than they had, but that's clearly been blown to pieces by this crisis. They're all welcome to espouse the beliefs and priorities they care about, but when marginalized communities suffer as a result, they might want to be a bit more careful about throwing the word "compassion" around at public meetings and in election campaigns. Individual acts of compassion are not the same as compassionate public policy, and, in my experience, the former are often used by the powerful and privileged to justify inaction on the latter.
Craig, then how does that fit with your "white privilege theory if you think privilege should grow from generation to generation???? Moreover, don't you think the flood from the Land Down Under causes even more housing constriction?????
You do, Craig…sadly. I certainly appreciate your attendance since I cannot go half the time. We lost the Gazette and now have to rely on you, who I am grateful for, believe me. It’s maddening, nonetheless.
Yes, Craig, and on that note....do I owe you money? I have had to replace alot of my cards and at one point got a notice from your newsletter about it. Am I straightened out?