|
|
|
Uploaded: Friday, October 9, 2009, 11:46 AM
Victor Frost
|
Video
 Photo
 | Victor Frost hopes to expand the city's budget deficit, tackle what he calls Palo Alto's "crackhead" problem and put homeless people to work growing gardens and cleaning up the duck pond in the Baylands.
But first, Palo Alto's most famous panhandler wants to get elected to the City Council.
Frost, 61, was born in Arkansas but has lived in Palo Alto since childhood. He currently lives in his car -- a blue 1988 Honda Accord. He also says he uses an apartment in Redwood City, run by the nonprofit group InnVision, to store things and to freshen up before campaign events ("I don't want to smell like a goat when I go to these forums," he explained).
His car, he said, is his house. His kitchen is a cooler with a portable stove, a knife and a bag of tea; his living room is the front passenger seat, which faces a small television on the dashboard ("It's high definition, and it gets 53 channels -- all free"); his bedroom is a back seat covered with a crumpled blanket; and his office is his car trunk, which houses an old printer, a laptop and some folding chairs.
Frost, a burly man with flowing white hair, a reddish complexion and a sign that asks passersby for either "good food" or "26 cents," rejects arguments that he shouldn't run for council because his apartment is in Redwood City, not in Palo Alto. He lists as his residence a telephone pole near Page Mill Road and Park Avenue in Palo Alto and said he will be sitting near the pole when the results come in on Nov. 3 and his election to the City Council becomes a national story.
Frost has been seeking a council seat in every election over the past decade but has never come close to getting voted in. These days, he is battling Palo Alto over the city's sit-lie ordinance, which prohibits people from sitting on public sidewalks. Last month, a Superior Court judge said the ordinance might have been enforced in a discriminatory manner to target Frost (the case will be heard in late November).
He plans on getting a $1.5 million legal settlement from the city and to use that money to buy an Eichler fixer-upper. Then he could get himself a real office and spend his days handling city business (which includes bridging a budget deficit that, coincidentally, he would increase by $1.5 million).
Frost is also preparing to go to court over an arrest citation he received last month after he yelled racial epithets at another panhandler -- an African-American amputee. That case will also be heard in November.
But Frost doesn't expect his legal entanglements to bog down his campaign. In fact, he is more confident than ever about his City Council prospects.
"People say, 'He's a panhandler,' but guess what? I spend my days meeting and greeting people," Frost said during a recent interview at his Homer Street perch, across the street from Whole Foods Market. "It's all about being in touch with people."
If elected, Frost said his top priority would be getting tough on the aggressive "crackheads" who've been plaguing Palo Alto for the past half a decade or so. He defends his most recent arrest by arguing that the man at whom he was yelling racial epithets was one such crackhead and said the "victim" was trying to take money out of Frost's bowl.
"In India, they chop off your hand for that," Frost said at a recent candidate forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, defending his actions.
Frost also said he opposes the proposed business-license tax, Measure A, and said he would favor giving businesses tax breaks to encourage them to stay in town. He said he would push for the Opportunity Center -- an InnVision-run facility that provides apartments and drop-in services to homeless people -- to serve "hot, fresh, nutritious food" every day at 5 p.m.; to offer jobs to homeless people ($10 an hour, paid at the end of each day -- no vouchers); and to open two dormitories with 100 beds to shelter residents in need.
He also wants to revive the old Palo Alto Community Farm -- also known as the "Homeless Garden" -- which once trained homeless people in horticulture and paid them to grow vegetables. Frost hopes the garden could once again sprout at its former location, across from the downtown bus terminal, and that it would provide fresh vegetables to replace the "Dumpster food" that he says homeless people currently have to subsist on (his official campaign statement includes a request, "Please, no more Dumpster food").
Frost said he laments what he called the "silver-spoon" backgrounds of other council members and candidates and said he would defend the constitutional rights of all city residents, should they choose him to represent them.
"It is as clear as an Indian spotted pony on the lone prairie that there is something very wrong with the Palo Alto City Council and the Palo Alto Police Department," Frost wrote in his candidate statement. "We must work to change this and to resolve these problems to a comment level.
"This in turn will improve the quality of life hear (sic) in Palo Alto."— Gennady Sheyner Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
|
|
| Comments
|
Posted by Eliot, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 10, 2009 at 11:46 pm Frost is 61 years old.
Has he ever had a job?
I think the answer is, no.
|
|
Posted by A Protester, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 10, 2009 at 11:55 pm Give your protest vote to Victor Frost.
|
|
Posted by qq, a resident of the Barron Park neighborhood, on Oct 11, 2009 at 4:56 am If Mr. Frost is the constitutional candidate, I vote for him.
qq
|
|
Posted by leigh, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Oct 11, 2009 at 8:20 am Frost is been verbally abusive to people. He curses and yells racial remarks to a black man.
If this is who you want to work for the city, then cast your vote!
|
|
Posted by guess, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Oct 11, 2009 at 10:51 am I put the over/under at 23 votes for Mr. Frost.
|
|
Posted by Sam, a resident of the Downtown North neighborhood, on Oct 11, 2009 at 3:30 pm Okay, here are a few questions about Victor Frost that I'd really like answered.
If Frost has lived in Palo Alto since childhood, what has he been doing for the last 50 odd years? Did he attend Walter Hays, Jordan and Paly? Did he play sports in high school? Was he a Boy Scout? Has he ever worked or had any sort of job? As a child did he have friends? As an adult dose he have friends? Did he always want to be a panhandler? Dose he have anything good to say the people who gave him an apartment? How was he able to buy a car, did all the money come from panhandling? How did he pay for the TV? Judging by his girth has he ever missed a meal?
How dose Victor Frost see himself? Dose he consider himself an inspiration? Dose he feel that by living his life as he dose he is doing a service to society? Does he see himself as some sort of Harvey Milk of the homeless, not that he is homeless? Dose he have any sense of shame? How would he define the word "failure"? How would he define the word "success"?
How dose he see those of us who work for our living, our food and our shelter? Dose he see us as fools because we take care of ourselves and out children?
What advice would he give to a child? Would he tell a child to work hard to make something of him or herself? Or would he tell the child to get a pan and a cardboard sign?
What would Victor Frost claim as his greatest accomplishment? Is life really just about begging off others?
Victor, would you care to answer?
|
|
Posted by VoxPop, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 11, 2009 at 5:09 pm "Dose?"
|
|
Posted by Ken, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Oct 12, 2009 at 6:15 am "In India, they chop off your hand for that."
Really? Would anyone from India care to comment?
|
|
Posted by Sick of Frost, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 13, 2009 at 7:12 am Doesn't he live in Redwood City? He should run in his own town, or give up his low income apartment to someone who will actually use it.
|
|
Posted by Norm, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Oct 13, 2009 at 2:30 pm Now that the City and DA have decided that sitting on Mr. Frost was an unattractive option, the quest to hang him based on residency has been abandoned.
As I asserted in August (2 months ago, give or take a day), the best challenge if you want Frost barred from office (i.e. fear he might win) or are just generally annoyed by him (as soooo many are, even most unhoused folks), the best gambit for making his live miserable is the Fair Political Practices Commission auditing him. (fppc.ca.gov or 1-866-ASK-FPPC.) He would need to show his records from the past 4 years regarding anything regard campaign income or expenses, and show that there was no co-mingling of funds or use of campaign funds for personal expenses.
If you can�t convince (with all the respect they are due) a desk-bound bureaucrat to do an audit, you aren�t going to get law enforcement to ride Frost like �an Indian spotted pony on the lone prairie� and disrupt his behavior.
[Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
BTW ---If you really want a bit of Frost history, got to favorite search engine and plug in "Palo Alto Historical", go to the associations site, click "Photographic Collection" and search "Frost".
Who knew in 1992 he was a panhandler?
|
|
Posted by anonymous, a resident of another community, on Oct 13, 2009 at 5:39 pm [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
|
|
Posted by Somebody, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 15, 2009 at 5:43 am [Post removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]
|
|
Posted by Eliot, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 15, 2009 at 8:20 am It is as clear as an Indian spotted pony on the lone prairie that there is something very wrong with Victor Frost. Call me old-fashioned but I still say that a man should work for his bread, not beg for it. It’s called self reliance and self respect.
Are we expected to find Frost somehow nobel because he spends the money he scrounges from others on vodka rather than on crack? Are we to admire him because he claims a telephone pole as his home rather than the Redwood City apartment that he has been given? Is Frost an example of frugality because he drives a 1988 Honda rather than a 2009 BMW?
But Victor Frost is right about one thing. This should be a national story. However Victor is not the hero here and neither are the people who egg him on. The man has no shame.
|
|
Posted by Array, a resident of , on Oct 20, 2009 at 4:05 pm I have heard that Victor was an engineer at Lockheed Martin at some point in his life. I don't know what happened to him in the meantime that was changed him into a full-time panhandler. It's easy to say that the alcohol did it, but I don't know if that was the root cause or a symptom.
I know that he is passionate about poverty and homelessness issues, and has been an invited speaker on those subjects on occassion.
Unfortunately he seems to want to be homeless, and want to blame society for his problems. I actually don't think that the man is beyond help, I just don't think he wants help as much as he wants to be Palo Alto's most famous panhandler.
Victor, if you're reading this (and he may be, public computers abound) I think you can do more good for both yourself and for the homeless that I genuinely think you care about by getting a paying job helping those very people. Find a way to leverage your fame in a way that helps you and the those who are in your situation.
|
|
|
To comment on this topic, please login here if you are a registered member. If not, click here. | |
Best Website
First Place
2009-2011
|
Send this story
Print this story
