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Homeless Warehouse Page
02/17/08
Riverside Countywide Homeless Warehouse Pictures Below
Countywide Homeless Warehouse Area
Located in inhospitable high wind and with no shaded from
intense heat.
See windmills next door.
Closer view of industrial warehouse to shelter county wide
homeless humans.
Recent temporary trailers?
These may be used for the processing of the "Relocation"
of the homeless humans before their
internment into the industrial warehouse. We are
still verifying` the particulars.
Another view.
Another view.
The
1943 Amache Japanese Internment "Relocation" Camp
Building and location look
much more hospitable than the
current countywide Riverside homeless warehouse.
Unlike the currently proposed homeless warehouse, this
internment camp has;
1) separated individual windowed residential type
sleeping/congregating rooms for each family,
2) shade trees, 3) vegetable gardens, 4) outside protected
family life areas,
5) individual places of worship, 6) gardens,
7) places for children to play outside (no repressive high
winds and un-shaded sun/heat), etc.
"History
doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
- Mark Twain -
The Below Article is a Reprint of Desert Local News Recent
Paper Edition About 02/17/08
NEW
(Countywide) HOMELESS WAREHOUSE PLANS REVEALED
A
multi-million dollar Homeless Warehouse is under development
at the Indian Avenue gateway to Desert Hot Springs. The
expensive regional solution replaces successful local
solutions that cost the County nothing.
This
plan offers only more trouble to our little city as it is not
designed to help the homeless of DHS nor is warehousing the
homeless in the middle of no-where the best solution to the
homeless problem for other cities.
Meetings
were recently held with the homeless of Palm Springs to help
guide the development of the development on McLane Street.
The
building is estimated to cost $11 million to purchase and
remodel and $4 million annually to operate. No meetings have
ever been held in DHS to solicit the input of our homeless
regarding this location or to allow public comment from DHS
residents.
Some
Palm Springs homeless complain that the Homeless Warehouse is
too far away from “home base” and services like the free
homeless feeding at Sunrise Park. These complaints raise the
question if this expensive facility will ever be used at all
by the homeless. “That was their primary concern -- location
and transportation” the Desert Sun quotes CVAG Executive
Director John Wohlmuth.
No
plan has ever been discussed to transport the
homeless of DHS to the Homeless Warehouse off Indian Avenue.
Special buses now operate to bring the West Valley homeless to
a 50 bed regional homeless shelter in DHS.
Only
17% of the current population at Judy Shea's Homeless Shelter
operation are from DHS; the other 83% come from other valley
cities. The homeless from DHS are banned from simply walking
into the County funded Homeless Shelter in DHS.
While
the multi-million dollar Homeless Warehouse would likely have
a similar population breakdown, some object… “A cash
strapped city cannot afford to take care of problems for three
cities,” writes former two term Councilwoman Mary
Stephens. The former councilwoman didn't know what many are
now finding out... that the Homeless Warehouse has an even
larger goal in mind.
The
site on the western edge of the Coachella Valley South of DHS
will serve the East Valley homeless from as far away as Cook
Street in Palm Desert. Going West, Supervisor Ashley spoke in
Banning and Beaumont last week informing them of plans to also
bus their homeless over the pass to the Homeless Warehouse on
the fringe of DHS.
A
typical middle class home is 1,700 square feet. The Homeless
Warehouse is the equivalent of 28 typical three-bedroom,
two-bath homes. How many homeless will be warehoused is not
known at this time. It's estimated that the one building could
hold many hundreds. If the adjacent warehouse is also
purchased then the population could number more than a
thousand.
Some
question why the Homeless Warehouse is not centrally located
but on the doorstep of DHS in an area devoid of many of the
services the homeless are asking for.
Fifth
District Supervisor Ashley, speaking in Banning and Beaumont
indicated that many of the social service programs (counseling
and medical services) promised to DHS will be fast built on
that site which is actually located inside the city limits of
Palm Springs which is represented by the Fourth Supervisor
District.
Former
Councilperson Stephens sat on the CVAG Homelessness Committee
prior to then Councilwoman Yvonne Parks and offers her
experience, “The only other thing we discussed at CVAG when
I was on the committee was a program as you mentioned using
the churches. This would be done by rotation. In
other words no city would be the constant site.”
Stephens
refers to the successful and never controversial "cold
weather shelter" that local churches provided in years
past that cost the taxpayers nothing. The program this year is
controversial, was operated in an illegal manner and costs
$80,000.
Referring
to the Judy Shea Homeless Shelter Stevens continues, “…I
never knew about busing in folks to the site or any other site
as a constant location.”
Former City Councilman Hank Hohenstein writes, “We need
strong representation on this matter or we will have a
disproportionate number of homeless.” And “One size does
not fit all and the sooner we discern that fact the sooner we
will begin to solve this issue."
The
homeless in Palm Springs are already given free bus passes but
no bus line goes by the Homeless Warehouse. A special shuttle
service is now under discussion. No mention was made about the
additional cost of such special services or how it will be
paid for. It is assumed that the cities (including DHS) will
bear this expense.
The
Palm Springs homeless also expressed concerns about the rough
weather conditions and the extreme wind associated with the
location. Apparently the homeless of DHS are a tougher breed,
less inclined to complain about a little wind and sand. To
date, no one has asked the DHS homeless about what they need
and there is no plan to do so.
Palm
Springs homeless are also voicing concerns about the nearby
train tracks on the other side of the freeway. Psychological
barriers such as freeways, bridges, and railroad tracks
discourage movement in that direction.
“Studies
of the movement of people prove that even one of these
geographic features is enough to hold people back and turn
them away,” says Planning Commissioner Gabriel King, “This
location is the ‘home run’ of psychological barriers and
obviously points the homeless to DHS.”
“Safety
is also an issue,” according to the Desert Sun. One homeless
veteran states "he is concerned homeless people could
fall victim to crime and face dangers near train tracks.”
It’s not likely that the homeless will migrate to Palm
Springs. It’s more likely that the homeless wandering away
from that facility will naturally head up the easiest road…
up Indian Avenue… walking or
hitchhiking to DHS.
Additional
concerns about the safety of the homeless are exasperated by
the lack of nearby police or sheriff sub-station. The closest
law enforcement presence is in DHS.
According
to Police Chief Pat Williams there has been no study or
inquiry about the additional cost or manpower needed to assist
with protection of the homeless concentration under
development south of DHS.
Homelessness
is a problem best served by local solutions. Concentration
camps of homeless justify big budget bureaucracies and create
other problems. The challenge to DHS is to provide a safe
local solution and to not sit idle while Riverside County
determines our fate.
Dean Gray
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