New data released by Santa Clara County shows that homelessness is a rapidly growing problem, with thousands of additional residents living on the streets compared to just two years ago.
The biennial homeless census, which took place in January, found that there are now 9,706 homeless residents in the county, up more than 31% over the 2017 count, according to a statement released Thursday. It's the largest single increase going back more than a decade, and shows the population has escalated since 2015.
The report is "preliminary" and does not include most of the granular data, including homeless counts for individual cities in the county, with the exception of San Jose. The city of San Jose's homeless population reportedly increased from 4,350 in 2017 to 6,172 in this year's count.
Among those who are homeless in Santa Clara County, the latest count found an increase in chronically homeless individuals — up to 2,470 from 2,097 two years ago — and the percentage of homeless residents who are deemed "unsheltered" is on the rise, indicating that the growing homeless population is more likely to be living in vehicles, encampments or on the street.
Joe Simitian, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement that the high cost of housing — along with a housing shortage — is making a bad problem worse, and that the county must pursue efforts to prevent homelessness. The county's $950 million Measure A housing bond is a good start, and the county has already committed $234 million of those funds to help build a collective 1,437 new units for "vulnerable members of the community," Simitian said.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said the report shows San Jose must "double down" on homelessness, and that that the "NIMBY" mentality in Silicon Valley shouldn't stand in the way of housing homeless residents.
"We all have a shared responsibility to address this crisis — every city and every neighborhood. That means we must house homeless neighbors here, not the proverbial 'somewhere else.'"
The new homelessness numbers come from the biennial Point in Time count, a street-by-street canvassing effort conducted in January with the help of dozens of volunteers. While the count produces a snapshot of homelessness for one day, experts warn that any results should be interpreted as a severe undercount. Individuals who are couchsurfing, doubling up in homes or living out of garages or other such spaces, will likely be missed by the homeless count.
County staff say additional information on the 2019 homeless census will be available in the full release of the report in early July.
Comments
Palo Alto High School
on May 16, 2019 at 3:54 pm
on May 16, 2019 at 3:54 pm
Yep, everyone wants to move here. Nice weather, great public benefits and charitible assistance.
This isn’t because of local layoffs - there aren’t any!
Jobs are going begging, especially in construction.
It IS a high cost of living area.
There are options in life.
Mountain View
on May 16, 2019 at 4:04 pm
on May 16, 2019 at 4:04 pm
I hope the county can survey many of these people to find out what all of a sudden happened to force so many residents into homelessness in just the last 2 years.
Barron Park
on May 16, 2019 at 6:38 pm
on May 16, 2019 at 6:38 pm
@We’re a magnet!
Much of what you are contending is true. I just got back from Santa Cruz and that city has become a magnet for the homeless as well. It is no longer a city of hippies and surfers. [Portion removed.]
I was told by one of the innkeepers that other cities round up the homeless and give them a bus ticket + a lodging voucher to Santa Cruz.
Are other cities promoting Palo Alto and Mountain View as well?
Mountain View
on May 16, 2019 at 7:15 pm
on May 16, 2019 at 7:15 pm
This is easily solved however will never be, will only get worse, due to the excessive liberalism here. Rather than spending $ providing “clean needles” and the ever-increasing cost of street clean-up, there should be a “camp” established (somewhere inexpensive, Central Valley perhaps) and all these “homeless” should be sent there. Those who truly want to get established should be provided with free jobs training and then relocation assistance. Those who have drug addictions should be given the change to get clean, those who continue to decide to live outside societal norms can live in their tents in the camp.
NO ONE has the “right” to just live wherever they want, however they want. There are basic considerations (safety, cleanliness) that should be afforded to all and those who don’t want to get clean, don’t want to work, do NOT have the right to just park their itinerant selves in our communities.
It is absolutely shameful how out of control this has gotten, California is the joke of the country, tents, ramshackle cardboard hovels, needles, feces. It’s disgusting and anyone who tries to say “these are just poor homeless people” are being disingenuous and not helping those who truly want and deserve it.
Barron Park
on May 16, 2019 at 7:33 pm
on May 16, 2019 at 7:33 pm
[Post removed.]
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 16, 2019 at 7:35 pm
Registered user
on May 16, 2019 at 7:35 pm
I was watching a special on homelessness and they went up to Sacramento which had homeless people camped out on the grounds of the state capital. It appears even worse up there. And the governor is doing nothing about it. He has to pass these people - and now he is promising health care for illegals so that is going to be more people coming here. The more you promise the more will come.
Registered user
Crescent Park
on May 17, 2019 at 12:04 am
Registered user
on May 17, 2019 at 12:04 am
@Resident 1-Adobe Meadows - Yeah, the Governor who fixed the homeless problem in SF while is mayor is now going to fix it for the whole state. God save us all.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 17, 2019 at 1:50 am
on May 17, 2019 at 1:50 am
People don’t have a right to stay in the most expensive area in the nation. Arizona, Nevada, everywhere else besides NYC have a lower cost of living so I don’t feel sorry for these homeless people who are too stubborn to move elsewhere. Palo Alto Online even interviewed a healthy woman who lives in a camper on ECR across from T&C. She lives with her boyfriend who has a job but she’s not even interested in employment.
Another upcoming issue is how college graduates of private schools will repay their student loans of $180,000 for tuition alone in addition to dorm and living expenses, and rent after college (among other expenses). It’s simple math that people refuse to consider. For 4 years, tuition for UCs is only $56,000; CalStates cost only $28,000 for 4 years! But they want the private school experience.
I have never seen a Chinese homeless person. Why? Because my culture does whatever it takes to succeed, no excuses. Dishwashing, janitorial work while attending college, a full-time job plus PT jobs, whatever it takes, not too proud for any job. Additionally, many arrive in the U.S. speaking no English, no family connections, no knowledge of American culture. This same story has occurred for many generations including currently. After college, I had a full-time job and two PT jobs because why not? I was young and healthy.
So when Americans complain of lack of money, I can only think, “Get off your spoiled butt and get a second job! You were born and raised here and have been presented with the opportunities. Quit complaining and waiting for the taxpayers to bail you out. Move to a less expensive location!”
another community
on May 17, 2019 at 5:46 am
on May 17, 2019 at 5:46 am
A tiny studio apartment costs $2000 a month ... hmmm I wonder why there are so many homeless people here. I guess we will never know, but will continue to assume they are crazy and lazy and love the nice weather.
Old Palo Alto
on May 17, 2019 at 8:38 am
on May 17, 2019 at 8:38 am
Each community should have a well-defined process for assistance addressing a spectrum of needs for a fixed number of people. That same process should be adopted by every town in the BA. Persons in need would have to register and those not registered would be subject to arrest. It’s a very tough problem with no easy fixes for either side and every circumstance. Being homeless is one of the worst possible conditions. While it absolutely deserves public assistance, it is very wrong to suggest and broadcast aide or support that cannot be sustained. Thus, if each community does it’s part, working collectively, the need is better managed. If not already registered, ‘arrest’ might include re-locating to the nearest town with an opening. No one would be allowed to live on the street. To live on the street is too often a descent into utter despair, addiction, declining health, and extreme vulnerability.
Personally, over the decades, some of PA’s homeless became quite familiar. Some were on the street so often that they defined a street corner and I knew some of them well enough to know their life stories. Too many of them died young.
Palo Alto should never give the impression that it is open to all who come because that is not sustainable. It’s why the embrace of sanctuary policies are so misguided - it signals virtue but lacks responsible funding to meet those who come and without sufficient consideration of the need of those already here.
Again, the city should focus more of it’s time and resources organizing cooperative solutions with neighboring communities and stop thinking of itself as on point to manage the rest of the world. I don’t know what PA’s number is but setting limits along with a common system of a shared cross-community solution with strict enforcement is a good start. There may not be a bed available in PA but the need could be filled elsewhere in the system.
Old Palo Alto
on May 17, 2019 at 9:09 am
on May 17, 2019 at 9:09 am
P.S. Agree with those commenting that aid should be to those with real need and add first to those already a part of our community.
St. Claire Gardens
on May 17, 2019 at 9:21 am
on May 17, 2019 at 9:21 am
A vast number of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, with virtually no savings or funds for simple emergencies. Imagine what a simple dental emergency does when you can barely afford rent on a couch?
Despite all the anecdotal noise above about lazy Americans, druggies, mental health issues, etc., a large number of local homeless either have a job, or had a job at the time they became homeless.
Blaming it on "liberalism" is ridiculous - a typical post by the screamers on these anonymous boards. There are homeless in red states. There are homeless in the 'red' districts in CA, as well.
How about income inequality? No indexing or raising of the minimum wage for decades? Tax cuts for billionaires? Removal of the safety nets? Removing mental health support in CA in the 60's? (wasn't CA red back then?) The Sackler family pumping Oxy into every crevice of American society solely for their billions in wealth? The list goes on and on.
Or just blame the dirty, bearded, white dude pushing a cart trying to collect some aluminum cans.
Yeah. Much easier. Being intellectually lazy usually is the easier path.
For shame. Good luck explaining that to ol' Pete when you're in front of his gates.
Registered user
Crescent Park
on May 17, 2019 at 11:06 am
Registered user
on May 17, 2019 at 11:06 am
@Thad - You can get a studio apartment for $500 in Sacramento. If you can't afford $2000 in Palo Alto, then there are options. It is like walking around with no pants and your excuse is you can't afford $1000 Prada pants, but you are too good to go to Old Navy and get a pair for $20.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 17, 2019 at 11:26 am
Registered user
on May 17, 2019 at 11:26 am
Thank you John for stating the obvious. People come to the place with the highest cost of living with limited resources. And we are all suppose to step up for the people who cannot make good decisions. My son grew up in Palo Alto then went on to CSU-Chico. He said that if he was homeless he would go to the Chico area because the cost of living is so low - relatively speaking. California is a big state and there are community colleges and universities throughout the state. Any young person trying to get started should tailor their goals to some interim location until they can get their saleable goals in place.
Southgate
on May 17, 2019 at 11:32 am
on May 17, 2019 at 11:32 am
Yes, easy to sympathize yet not help these homeless people. Several years ago, churches were asked to offer their parking lots for the vehicle dwellers. Only one church volunteered.
Liberals sympathize until it affects them. Did you see Nancy Pelosi's panic when Trump said he'd drop the illegals in her sanctuary city? Yes, there IS a crisis at our borders. The Silent Majority is going to sweep the next election; people are fed up.
Blame the math teachers of the nation because many cannot calculate simple math. Why pay double for everything here when they could live elsewhere for half the price? Their jobs are available in other parts of the nation but they choose to live here.
"Income inequality and tax cuts for billionaires?" Non-starters for obvious reasons. The wealthy are philanthropists also, did you not realize?
I think the top reason for homelessness (besides veterans) is the lack of family values in America. I know many people who would be homeless except for the fact that their families house them. I ask this, how could you have a child and not completely adore them and want to give them the best future? Why do parents think their jobs are done when their children are out of diapers? Why don't parents want to help and enjoy their own children?
another community
on May 17, 2019 at 12:08 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 12:08 pm
@john_alderman
It costs money to move. Money they obviously don't have.
Financial discrimination is last form of widely accepted discrimination. How much money you have is almost solely a function of luck, not hard work, not intelligence. The evidence is all around you: people who work hard their entire lives and have nothing to show for it.
St. Claire Gardens
on May 17, 2019 at 12:27 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 12:27 pm
"Did you see Nancy Pelosi's panic when Trump said he'd drop the illegals in her sanctuary city?"
No. And neither did you, because it didn't happen, except in some Hannity fevered dream.
Why on earth are you deflecting to nonsensical lies? And blame math teachers? Holy smokes.
These boards... (sigh)
Evergreen Park
on May 17, 2019 at 12:56 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 12:56 pm
> How much money you have is almost solely a function of luck, not hard work, not intelligence.
This is so true but most conservative mindsets refuse to acknowledge it.
They are still caught up in the Calvinist work ethic that guarantees absolutely.
nothing in everyday life.
The self-righteous have inherited the Earth and its temporal gifts.
Southgate
on May 17, 2019 at 1:05 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 1:05 pm
[Post removed.]
St. Claire Gardens
on May 17, 2019 at 4:33 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 4:33 pm
Autism? That's pretty strong considering you don't understand sarcasm fonts.
Are you being sarcastic with "The Silent Majority is going to sweep the next election" as well?
How about "The wealthy are philanthropists"? The Sacklers donating art somehow balances out all their drug pushing and the opioid epidemic? Just like tax cuts for billionaires cancel out because after a couple new yachts, they donate to the Red Cross?
Oh, sarcasm! So you have a point, got it.
Mountain View
on May 17, 2019 at 5:23 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 5:23 pm
@there but for...your comments are disingenuous at best. Yes, there are homeless in red states, there are homeless everywhere but in NO WAY close to explosion we’ve had in SF, Stockton, LA. And it is the liberal “acceptance” that’s caused it pure and simple. Providing free needles, letting squatters set up encampments. Your friend Newsom left SF a complete and total mess but he’s more concerned about going to Central America to see what he can do to help , what about helping our citizens? He’s a liberal, political hack that’s only out to make himself a name and rise in politics.
Poster in another thread brought up an interesting point, they’d never seen a Chinese homeless person. Thinking about it, neither have I. Why is that?
Southgate
on May 17, 2019 at 5:39 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 5:39 pm
“A tiny studio apartment costs $2000 a month.”
What if it costs $1000 a month? Would we have fewer homeless? My guess is the problem would be worse.
In Atherton a house costs $10,000,000. Do they have a homeless problem because of the very high cost of living there?
Community Center
on May 17, 2019 at 5:54 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 5:54 pm
If America is that great a country, there should be no homelessness or people going hungry.
Food, shelter & clothing are basic necessities of life. Add basic health care and transportation into the mix as well.
It's not asking too much. It's the haves VS the have nots who are creating this perpetual problem.
St. Claire Gardens
on May 17, 2019 at 5:57 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 5:57 pm
"Providing free needles"
You've mentioned clean needles (which help reduce disease transmission) three times.
Didn't know that needle exchange was the root cause of homelessness. Silly me, I thought it was half of America living paycheck to paycheck with the inevitable crash.
All we have to do is outlaw needles - problem solved!
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 17, 2019 at 7:19 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 7:19 pm
@Insane: I can field that question. The Chinese culture’s work ethic is the reason there are no homeless Chinese. Working hard to earn money/save money is the name of the game, no living paycheck-to-paycheck. We live where we can afford a home. We are raised to respect money and not spend frivolously. No redecorating the house every decade, no 2-year wardrobe rule, no buying things we don’t really need, and we wait for sale prices. We don’t give our children allowances because it teaches them to spend money: “How will you spend the money you earned?” Our children learn their spending habits by watching us. As we think we have enough savings to loosen the belt, then we spend but still with caution, using promo codes when possible. As a teen, my dad used to offer me money and I wouldn’t accept it because I earned my own money from McDonald’s. My non-Asian friends were flabbergasted, told me to just take the money, which I still didn’t. Why are there so many Chinese at UCs? Way cheaper than private or out-of-state colleges, no insurmountable debt at graduation resulting in more retirement money. Although, mine are at private colleges but only because we can afford to pay and with gifts from parents.
Another reason right there, which is that Chinese work hard not only for themselves but also to make life better for future generations. Any slackers with deficient genes who would be homeless (my brother-in-law) have their rent covered by their parents or live with them.
One more reason: Career selection. Most choose stable income careers, no film industry or creative fields.
We are grateful for the opportunities in America. All Americans should be and should take advantage of the opportunities that capitalism offers. Nii
Mountain View
on May 17, 2019 at 7:47 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 7:47 pm
@but there for.....all your posts are about people living paycheck to paycheck, I agree that this is often the case and I’ll giventovyou that many people work hard and barely get by.
So I have one question for you, I’m pretty sure you won’t answer. Do you feel that there is any issue whatsoever with the drug culture that’s being promoted in SF?
St. Claire Gardens
on May 18, 2019 at 8:36 am
on May 18, 2019 at 8:36 am
> with the drug culture that’s being promoted in SF?
Crazy framing. How many of Santa Clara's homeless are there because of drugs? (not users, but homeless because of drugs?
I support needle exchange not just because it's morally correct, but because medical professionals tell us it reduces disease potential in the entire population, as well as the side benefit of lower costs to us all.
Next thing, you're going to ask about the Sackler family promoting opioid abuse in Arkansas. And West Virginia. And Kentucky. And California, etc..
"I’m pretty sure you won’t answer."
Registered user
Mountain View
on May 18, 2019 at 10:06 am
Registered user
on May 18, 2019 at 10:06 am
The fact that you cannot acknowledge the drug problem in SF (and most
Other homeless encampments) speaks volumes. Not much more to be said to someone unwilling to accept/acknowledge something that is smack in their face.
Not sure what you’re referring to re Sackler family. They made bank on opioids and are being accused of heavily promoting this highly addictive drug. I have no idea if they did indeed do this, have tried finding factual information but all I’m reading so far are accusations, of you can link me to something proving they did indeed promote the drug inappropriately definitely would like to see this. I’d imagine a lot more will play out during the lawsuits and indeed, if they are found to have been complicit then the family should be held responsible and make restitution.
Anyway, to get back to the topic of the article I still believe that he $ currently being used for clean needle programs, street clean ups etc should be redirected to more effective solutions. Get the people off the streets, put them in community housing and give them treatment/job training. If they don’t want either of those that is their choice but they don’t then have the “right” to go back out in the streets and not live by societies certain basic standards.
Crescent Park
on May 18, 2019 at 10:48 am
on May 18, 2019 at 10:48 am
This has been the pattern of the kind of Western Colonization we have
seen for hundreds of years, but here in modern America. The new
milieu makes "Indians" out even the children the ruling class should
they rebel or create political turmoil.
To wit, "colonizers" move into an area and claim it all and drive out the
native population - all done legally, but their laws. The disenfranchised,
usually native Americans, or un-exploitable population is banished from
the good land they have lived on all their lives into the outskirts where
they are still harried, vilified, and treated badly. "Colonizers" create a
mythology/ religion where they are the self-righteous agents of progress
and good in the world and everyone else is criminal. ( Look up the
Vatican's Doctrine of Discovery from the 1400's that set up the legal
framework that justified the taking of the native lands across the globe
and how it was done. )
With nothing else to do and no way to exist, those who can move back
to the "now civilized" lands and are forced for survival to work for below
subsistence wages where they or their children and families can never
get enough to pull themselves our of poverty, or pay enough for health
care or education, they are excluded by circumstance, but also vilified
as being criminals or non-human. Now there is not even enough low
paying work to support the survival of many of these people. Used to be
that most of them were not seen because they were in communities that
most "civilized society" did not see, but not our own children are pushed
out of the zones of prosperity where all the resources are extracted
and eventually used up.
This pattern is nothing less than genocide. Now when something comes
along to point that out, or to find a way to bring these "unprofitable" people
into the system, the lies and accusations come out, and the ones that can
be are imprisoned are.
In the last 100 years our system has developed many way to cull out the
latest unprofitable or undesirables, by filling their environments with toxins,
failing to education them or include the in society, by providing food of poor
quality and then withholding health care when they get sick and by not
paying them enough to survive - only to die slowly and out of sight.
It is admirable what EPA is doing, but here we see the same complaining
and fear mongering from EPA residents as we do in PA ... probably new
residents moving to EPA to "gentrify", read "colonize" what used to the
the oldest low cost place to live in the local area.
Ours is a sick, toxic system that needs to evolve into something better and
expose and remove the remnants of the past that make everything about
money and who has it and who doesn't. We've reached the limit of our
bounded spherical environment and our garbage and dysfunction has
permeated everywhere. A new way must evolve and the old voices must
be questioned and exposed for the vicious liars they are.
There is a larger pattern here that has been around for a long time that
allows the strong ... now an increasingly smaller and smaller group of
super-rich and powerful people to dominate and over-ride the human
rights of others thanks for their ability to legislatively capture the legal
system and define the reality that they want which gives an even smaller
group of them greater power and control.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 18, 2019 at 10:51 am
Registered user
on May 18, 2019 at 10:51 am
I read comments from Thaad. What do you expect to happen? I see complaint but no proposed solution. Just a complaint and opinion. Yes - it takes money to rent a place, buy groceries. But you knew that when you were growing up. Or did you cry until Mom gave you what you wanted. So what's new here? But it shows you are a resident of another community - hope you did not pick Atherton as a place to vent your complaints. I cannot afford to live in Atherton so I am not going to go over there and sit around and complain how unfair life is.
So apply some analytical thinking here - this is the highest cost of living area in a state with the highest taxes. So given those "facts" many people are now leaving and going to a state with a lower cost of living and lower taxes. People are fleeing to Austin Texas and Florida - both of which have a varied economy with a lot of different job types. And they all love it there. My son who grew up in PA and went to California schools is looking to move to a lower cost state that has tech jobs - he is a tech.
Crescent Park
on May 18, 2019 at 11:15 am
on May 18, 2019 at 11:15 am
> if they are found to have been complicit then the family should be held responsible and make restitution.
We are talking about the addiction and deaths of tens of thousands of people ... how do they make restitution for that?
The slogan "it is easier to seek forgiveness than it is to ask for permission" comes to mind here. Move fast, break things ... is just another way to rape and pillage and then pretend contrition while hiding bags of money behind your back.
Odd that the latest season of Game of Thrones has the scoundrel character Bronn, who is sent by Cersei Lannister to murder her traitorous brothers Jaime and Tyrion Lannister, making a speech about how each of the great houses came to be ...
Game Of Thrones, Season 8, Episode 4 ... ~42 minute mark ....
Jaime: Highgarden will never belong to cut-throat.
Bronn: No, and who were your ancestors, the ones who made your family rich?
Fancy lads in silk?
They were f-ing cut-throats.
That's how all the great houses started isn't it?
With a hard bastard who was good at killing people.
Kill a few hundred people, they make you a Lord.
Kill a few thousand, they make you a King.
And then, all your c-ing grandsons can ruin the family
with their c-ing ways.
The crux of the whole series right there.
Instead of murdering people these days, we cut them out of the supply chain and write the off or pretend to finance social support systems while dumping a bit tax burden on the others working for less than they deserve so the resentment rolls all downhill.
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on May 18, 2019 at 11:22 am
Registered user
on May 18, 2019 at 11:22 am
If Trump didn't inherit a real estate empire he managed to bankrupt several times he would've been homeless too, as he has no other talent. There are many reasons for homelessness. Not every homeless person is mentally ill or an addict. Some become homeless in the Bay Area because tech companies are to keep hiring and bring in more and more employees which puts tremendous pressure on housing costs and drives people out of their rental apartments unable to afford rent.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 18, 2019 at 11:34 am
Registered user
on May 18, 2019 at 11:34 am
Love comments above on colonization. The people fleeing the Central American countries right now are coming from the Banana Republics. So named because American companies went in and took over a hemispheric location of earth in which certain agricultural items are grown. This started in the late 1800's and grew to massive growing and importing through the 1900's to now. Huge east coast companies had huge fleets of ships with New Orleans, New York, and Baltimore as the major distribution points. We are talking sugar from sugar cane, bananas, coffee, pineapples. Also on west coast from Hawaii sugar cane, pineapples. Things get dicey when the governments of those countries decide to impose the same labor requirements on the large companies that operate is those locations. Also disease to plants which require moving to newer tracks of land. So long established growing tracks abandoned they move on the Ecuador and other growing areas. The current companies are Dole, Del Monte, C&H Sugar - now American Sugar Refining (ASR) - all California companies which are upgrades from previous east coast companies. So if your highest political people say "there is no problem at the border" then you are looking at people who have a long standing relationship with said companies. Is ironic that Fidel Castro grew up on a sugar cane farm owned by United Fruit Company (UFCO) and when he won the Bay of Pigs War he confiscated those lands for Cuba. So migration of people has many untold reasons. Move those people out of those locations because they are asking for more retribution.
Crescent Park
on May 18, 2019 at 11:36 am
on May 18, 2019 at 11:36 am
Republican,
Typical to distort an issue to make a false point ...
>> Did you see Nancy Pelosi's panic when Trump said he'd drop the illegals in her sanctuary city?
Sanctuary City never meant and open invitation for every immigrant in the world en masse to come and live there, and you very well know that. Sanctuary City was and imperfect solution to solve specific problems of illegals being predated upon and exploited and unable to get protection or justice because they were scared to go to the police.
Your twisted read on this is that if you are an illegal in the US or the child of an illegal anything can be done to you because you have to no rights, not the rights of a citizen and not the human rights of any human being recognized by UN or religious doctrine.
Come up with a better solution to that issue and I will happily subscribe to it, until then at least refrain from twisting the truth unrecognizably.
another community
on May 18, 2019 at 12:46 pm
on May 18, 2019 at 12:46 pm
If certain municipalities are going to have Sanctuary Cities, the privileges should extend to both the homeless as well as undocumented immigrants.
Chances are at one time or another, homeless people paid taxes. The illegal immigrants have not.
As far as rights are concerned, a homeless AMERICAN deserves more social services and options than someone from another country who has entered here ILLEGALLY.
Registered user
Evergreen Park
on May 18, 2019 at 12:51 pm
Registered user
on May 18, 2019 at 12:51 pm
This area is seeing tens of thousands of new jobs continually being created in the tech industry bringing in employees from outside the region. Each incoming worker in this sector who is paid better than someone else is displacing an existing resident. And so on down the line.
another community
on May 18, 2019 at 2:52 pm
on May 18, 2019 at 2:52 pm
On the other hand, to ensure a quality of life environment for general citizenry...
the homeless who are mentally-ill & disrupting the mainstream public at-large should be locked-up & kept off the streets.
Just had a run-in earlier with one who decided to lecture incoherently at me & it kind of pissed me off.
Homelessness due to economic factors can be dealt with. Homelessness due to mental issues cannot & these individuals need to be institutionalized...even at taxpayer expense.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 18, 2019 at 10:56 pm
Registered user
on May 18, 2019 at 10:56 pm
Comments on Sanctuary Cities. You can thank Kevin DeLeon - former speaker of the assembly. Go read his bio on Wikipedia. He is from Guatemala - a banana republic. He states in his bio that he helps make papers for illegals because that is the way you do business in CA. What a role model. He ran for senate but lost and is now looking to be mayor of LA. Time to reconsider the Sanctuary City - not working and breaking down US values.
Another role model - read Trumps bio on Wikipedia. His mother had a real estate office in NY and he worked in her office. He is a worker and learned business at a very early age. Is there some compulsion to keep trying to diminish his business ability? But he is the president and you all are sitting here in PA doing what? No - not because of his father.
So we have a surge in the homeless population - you can thank you CA governors for that. Quit trying to offload responsibility on that topic to Trump. And Newsome promising free stuff to everyone - come and get it.
Downtown North
on May 19, 2019 at 9:21 am
on May 19, 2019 at 9:21 am
> The Chinese culture’s work ethic is the reason there are no homeless Chinese. Working hard to earn money/save money is the name of the game, no living paycheck-to-paycheck. We live where we can afford a home.
As noted in another thread, there is a distinct difference in culture & perspective between the recently arrived Chinese from the mainland People's Republic of China & the Cantonese who have been here for many generations.
Rather than vent my opinions, I will simply reiterate the previous comments made by my husband David & Mr. Fong as they are reflective of my own.
> There are two types of Chinese now living in America. The older, more established Cantonese (multiple generations having lived in the US) and the more recent immigrants from the People's Republic who arrive here with considerable wealth.
> Cantonese = more cultural heritage & perseverance than the 'newbies' from the mainland, many of whom got wealthy exploiting cheap labor.
> The nouveau riche from the People's Republic are a far cry from the Chinese-Americans whose ancestors worked and pulled themselves up from the bootstraps.
> ...the 1980s yuppie-inspired contemporary Mandarins [are] buying up most of the SF Bay Area residential properties with CASH, wearing designer clothes & driving fancy cars.
> they are the ones caught up the recent college admissions scandal because with so much available CASH on hand, there is a general belief that anything of 'designer' image can be purchased.
> It is easy to avoid homelessness when your pockets are lined with millions of dollars to pay CASH for a Palo Alto home and a Mercedes-Benz.
> The Cantonese who have often accepted & humbly accepted any kind of work.
> The upscale, wealthy factory owners newly arriving from China (Mandarins and others), no. They will not take those kinds of jobs because they don't have to.
> It should also be noted that the Cantonese have retained much more of their Chinese heritage and culture than the Mandarins because religion and native culture were repressed by the Communist regimes.
> Though we may look similar in eyes of many, the native Chinese languages are different and due to their time already having been here, the Cantonese are far more assimilated into mainstream American culture.
And lastly,
> I personally refuse to be acknowledged or viewed upon in the same boat as them.
Registered user
Old Palo Alto
on May 19, 2019 at 10:41 am
Registered user
on May 19, 2019 at 10:41 am
Love “And you all are sitting here in Palo Alto and doing what?” HaHa! So true, so many on this thread are sitting in the “bubble” of Palo Alto thinking the liberal’s policy of free stuff for everyone will fix everything. No it does not solve anything, it only makes the problem worse.
Check out Crossing the Jordan for the best solution to this mess: Web Link
Newsflash for Newsome and Palo Alto Democrats/Liberals: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. You are either insane or actively support insane policies if you support the Ds policy on homelessness. It is the worst form of inhumanity to allow homeless people to exist and their populations grow. I lived in Japan and you never saw homeless people there EVER, simply not allowed. Similar to the American of Chinese descent who posted above (great comments!), the Japanese have far too much compassion, self respect AND practical notions of the dignity of work, to allow homeless people to exist.
A complex combination of drug/alcohol addiction and mental illness creates homeless people. Also, in America, especially California, we have created a multi billion dollar “homeless support” industry that is codependent on homeless and drug addicted populations. Check it out, many billions have been spent over the past two decades, yet both addiction and homelessness problems have gotten worse!
California is the standout poster child of this pure failure, and now that the homelessness crisis has hit the doorsteps of the Palo Alto bubble perhaps a solution will finally materialize. I won’t hold my breath! An effective solution will only happen if the current Communist controlled Democrat run political machine running California into the ground is broken. The D dictatorship in CA must be broken, will be broken, for any of this to get back on track.
Let’s take a closer look at this homeless “industry” and turn over a few rocks to find out what is really happening.
The Democrats created and actively support the current ineffective and dysfunctional homeless and drug addiction industry. The Ds care only about power and control, not our country. The Ds also do not understand free enterprise systems or free market economics. They do what they know best: create circular dependency populations who vote for them. The homeless and drug addiction industries are two of their manufactured voting blocks, along with every American ignorant enough to think they are a “victim” of something. As a famous Community Organizer who became President said to all of us free market wealth creators: “You didn’t create that!”. He truly had no clue about, nor an ounce of experience in, real world free market systems. His tenure pushed the Ds to the far left cliff they now stand atop, waiting to drag the rest of us off the cliff. Newsome is at the front of the rat pack there.
The Ds who run the homeless racket have created an additional very easily verified and reliable voting population, not just the homeless or drug addicted people themselves, but more importantly the people who serve them and depend on government’s and guilty feeling wealthy liberal’s largesse. This is a large voting block.
Check out Crossing the Jordan in Sonoma County, a revolutionary and VERY effective drug addiction and homeless rehabilitation program that takes ZERO government funding and results in the best rehabilitation rates in California. Their clients must work, and in fact their revenues from their work (multiple businesses) goes into growing the program and helping more people get on the right path, get back on track, rebound from a streak of “bad luck” and poor decisions.
I learned about them recently and the woman who founded and runs Crossing the Jordan should run the State of California homeless program. Dana Bryant is a very interesting lady, read her bio at website. She’s a believer in free market economics, more importantly she created a truly brilliant application of it to transform homeless people into productive members of society. Santa Clara County should hire the founders to start a similar program here.
Homelessness does not have to be the reality in CA, but the Ds must have power taken away from them in Sacramento and Santa Clara County in order to turn this mess around. Ds have become drug addicts themselves, they are no longer the party led by Harry Truman or JFK, they have become addicted to identity politics and manufactured victimization to create their power base and control. They spread their fundamental negative dysfunction through every policy they touch. It’s their heroin and it’s time to give this drug addict into full rehabilitation and take its heroin away. Vote Rs in the next election!
Crescent Park
on May 19, 2019 at 12:31 pm
on May 19, 2019 at 12:31 pm
> the liberal’s policy of free stuff for everyone will fix everything.
why does this BS keep getting regurgitated constantly .... ( seems like the one thing we can count on conservatives to do is to accuse others of their own crimes, first if possible ) ... the only people in this world getting free stuff are the politically connected very rich who rig the government so they do not have to participate in the country ... until soon there will be no real country, just a bunch of crime rings. they rig the justice system so they do not have to pay fines or go to jail when they steal all their "free stuff", and the media system who makes sure to mis-define what this "free stuff" is, and the tax system so they do not have to help anyone else ... and when the rest of the people ask them nicely to give back something to keep the whole system going without slavery, crime or war, the richer and more powerful they get the more vicious their refusals are, the more they blame others, and the harder their shirk any personal responsibility. they just keep building walls to keep others ... their victimes ... out of sight.
They were mostly the kids of kids or the kids of parents who had a lot of money going back to some major work, or some major crime, but whatever the source initially, the kind of people who end up running things are eventually the kids who grow up with no bounds, no guidance, no morals, no responsibilities except to their own egomania and who egg each on towards harder and harder lines. the kind of inhuman psychopath who after a lifetime of luxury stolen from others calls the victims immoral.
Woodside
on May 19, 2019 at 1:30 pm
on May 19, 2019 at 1:30 pm
"I lived in Japan and you never saw homeless people there EVER"
I lived in America and never saw homeless in Palo Alto until the 80's. Who was the gov in the early 70s when all the mentally ill were shoved out on the streets? President in the 80s?
Registered user
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on May 19, 2019 at 1:39 pm
Registered user
on May 19, 2019 at 1:39 pm
The postings by conservatives on this thread are so ridiculous they are not worth commenting on as far asa I'm concerned, they sound too much like the daily tweeted nonsense from deal leader, but I must make one exception and point out the comments claiming that Kevin De Leon is "from Guatemala, a banana republic". Kevin DeLeon was born in Los Angeles in 1966. He is not "from Guatemala" even if his parents came from there(his father is part Chinese, by the way).
College Terrace
on May 19, 2019 at 2:13 pm
on May 19, 2019 at 2:13 pm
The only homeless in America should those electing to choose the lifestyle as an extension of their personal freedom...think hobos dining out of tin cans along the RR tracks while traveling from city to city and Woody Guthrie types writing songs about America.
NOT the mentally ill, drug abusers and/or people forced into homelessness due to economic factors.
This America & not some 3rd world armpit of a country...we can do better than that.
Crescent Park
on May 19, 2019 at 3:07 pm
on May 19, 2019 at 3:07 pm
>>> This America & not some 3rd world armpit of a country...we can do better than that.
It is unlikely that we can actually do better than that .... unlikely that anything is going to change when elections in the US are rigged. According to the Electoral Integrity Project out of Harvard University the US now has the most corrupt elections in the entire Western World.
*Corruption* *Exposed* , *Rigged* *Elections* *Across* *America* ! ( video ) --- Web Link
*Electoral* *Integrity* *of* *US* *Elections* - ( by State ) ( map & documentation ) - Web Link
Most of the voter fraud and election corruption is in the states where Republicans win, that is the Red States, specifically Texas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Indiana and West Virginia.
another community
on May 19, 2019 at 5:27 pm
on May 19, 2019 at 5:27 pm
>> This [is] America & not some 3rd world armpit of a country...we can do better than that.
I would hope so.
>> According to the Electoral Integrity Project out of Harvard University the US now has the most corrupt elections in the entire Western World.
This doesn't surprise me at all.
Stanford
on May 19, 2019 at 8:28 pm
on May 19, 2019 at 8:28 pm
Tokyo has had homeless for a few decades ( But they keep their living areas neater and cleaner than most “homed” Palo Altans, spending time every day to wash and sweep around their areas.)
Old Palo Alto
on May 20, 2019 at 8:28 am
on May 20, 2019 at 8:28 am
Despite boasts from our one party rule in California, things were not improved and too many things have gotten worse.
Some things are simple, at least offer a place to start: Web Link
My non-partisan hope is that everyone take a hard look at our leadership, stop voting for the same old machine politicians, and begin to put California on a new path. Time to question results. Time to demand better management.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 20, 2019 at 1:25 pm
on May 20, 2019 at 1:25 pm
I'd like to leave here but its expensive to move. I used to be a software engineer for 30 years but am now to old for companies here. I work as an uber driver and net 10$ per hour after expenses. I'm saving to move away but it's slow as moving is expensive. I'm not mentally I'll or a drug user as most seem to think us homeless are. I'm being treated for a terminal illness at Stanford. I plan on getting out of here as soon as I can. I've lived in palo alto over 40 years and the quality of life here is getting worse fast.
Woodside
on May 20, 2019 at 1:44 pm
on May 20, 2019 at 1:44 pm
"Despite boasts from our one party rule"
Yes, vote Republican so they can cut taxes for billionaires and cut services and infrastructure. Take away health care too.
That will "cure" everything.
RR
Barron Park
on May 20, 2019 at 6:44 pm
on May 20, 2019 at 6:44 pm
[Post removed due to same poster using multiple names]
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on May 20, 2019 at 9:39 pm
on May 20, 2019 at 9:39 pm
My perception is that a smaller percentage of those living on the street represent what the advocates portray as people who are simply down on their luck, priced out of the housing market, or unemployed. Although some certainly fall into that category, it is irresponsible and misleading to push an agenda based on that portrayal.
The more likely reality is that the majority find themselves out of housing, employment, and viable options due to poor life choices. A life of crime, severe substance abuse, and in other cases mental health challenges have left many with limited opportunities and choices. Outcomes we should have expected when we lower the standard, enable behavior, and with mental health related issues fail to provide adequate services and treatment options.
Crescent Park
on May 20, 2019 at 11:01 pm
on May 20, 2019 at 11:01 pm
>> The more likely reality is that the majority find themselves out of housing,
>> employment, and viable options due to poor life choices. A life of crime,
>> severe substance abuse, and in other cases mental health challenges have
>> left many with limited opportunities and choices.
Donald Trump would find himself homeless due to poor life choices if he had
not been born with half a billion dollars and places in a society with connections
at the top.
A lot of people make poor life choices because they do not have the information
or time to study their choices, they are too busy working just to stay afloat ... and
that doesn't make them criminals or SEVERE drug abusers either.
I know a lot more people who are in dire straits because of things hired professionals
have done to them, stolen from them, or screwed them over, than those who were
criminal. Not to many people who have lived in Palo Alto and been able to stay
her til now are criminal. People who bought houses based on bad advice or invested
their money.
That is such an uncalled for remark and speculation ... and what is is based on but
your own prejudices trying to justify your own good fortune.
And why wouldn't so many people have mental health challenges when they hear
that all they have to do is work hard in America and they can make it, and then they
hear more blaming comments like yours to make them doubt their sanity and self-
worth. Buy, why should you care, it's part of the responsibility of the successful in
our toxic society to beat down others and blame them.
You might have fun blaming the coral reef's death on mental illness since they did
not move or adapt to climate change too.
St. Claire Gardens
on May 21, 2019 at 8:51 am
on May 21, 2019 at 8:51 am
> The more likely reality
Based on what? your biased observations, or just the swill posited above?
Okay.
Facts matter. Fact: much of America is living paycheck to paycheck. Interpretation: it doesn't take too big a hit to drive someone in that situation out of a home.
Seems far more likely than just anonymously writing that all are druggies and mentally ill.
Crescent Park
on May 21, 2019 at 9:07 am
on May 21, 2019 at 9:07 am
[Post removed due to same poster using multiple names]
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 21, 2019 at 9:14 am
Registered user
on May 21, 2019 at 9:14 am
Palo Alto is a tiny college town with a limited amount of choices of where to live and work. If you grew up here you know that. The state has the highest tax base in the country. You live here - you know that. Given the facts - on paper - you then have to deal with emotional attachments which are not on paper. That is where personal choice comes in. This is a big state with major cities in which there are more choices for homes and job choices. People are making those choices all of the time. We cannot change the number of job types in this city but if you move over to Redwood City you have a port and manufacturing which provides more choices. You also have RV communities which provide hook-ups and waste disposal / bathrooms / laundry. I grew up in LA so know that the second biggest city in the US can provide a better variety of choices. This has nothing to do with parties - it is just a set of logistical facts. It becomes a problem when local agencies try to manage a set of circumstances which they have no control over and penalize the residents who have made their own choices - good or bad. The state of Hawaii has a large homeless population - they are putting those people on planes and shipping them back to where relatives live. Does anyone here ever mention relatives? There is a limit on what any one small city can do or should be expected to do. Better to recognize the set of circumstances and move people to locations that have more choices. Everyone cannot pay for other people's choices when the are other opportunities available.
Barron Park
on May 21, 2019 at 9:39 am
on May 21, 2019 at 9:39 am
[Post removed due to same poster using multiple names]
Registered user
Mountain View
on May 21, 2019 at 9:40 am
Registered user
on May 21, 2019 at 9:40 am
@there but for “people living paycheck to paycheck”......yes, while having iPhones with unlimited internet access, designer tennis shoes, drinking a Starbucks. And don’t even tell me that doesn’t happen, I see it EVERY SINGLE DAY. often in line at the grocery store where people using food stamps while chatting on their phones.
Life IS about choices. And quite frankly I don’t understand why the greater public is responsible for covering those who make such poor choices.
I already know I won’t be able to afford to live here when I retire. I’m not going to complain that it’s too expensive, that I should be able to stay in the community I’ve lived in, volunteered in, contributed to. I know I’ll have to move (likely out of state if I’m smart, somewhere with much less taxes). I hate that, I absolutely LOVE it here, it’s the best place I’ve lived in the 5+ states/countries I’ve lived in. But I’ll move, because it’s the smart, albeit hard, choice.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 21, 2019 at 9:44 am
on May 21, 2019 at 9:44 am
Posted by Marrol, a resident of Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
>> The more likely reality is that the majority find themselves out of housing, employment, and viable options due to poor life choices. A life of crime, severe substance abuse, and in other cases mental health challenges [...] and with mental health related issues fail to provide adequate services and treatment options.
I'm glad that you agree that somebody (usually not the sufferer) has to provide (pay for) mental health services and treatment. But, you start by saying that mental health issues are due to poor life choices. While "comorbidity" is certainly not unusual, the majority of people with mental illness did not make "poor life choices" to become mentally ill, and did not and do not "choose" to be mentally ill. Web Link
There is a complex relationship between auto-immune diseases and autism, and links to some other mental illnesses as well. Web Link Would you say that autism, or, Crohn's Disease, are "due to poor life choices"? IF ONLY it were that simple. It isn't. IF ONLY mental illness, homelessness, and autism all had simple, cheap solutions. Well, perhaps they do, but, at this moment in time, no one knows what the simple, cheap ingredients are.
I do know this, though-- we never make progress by voting for politicians who claim they have simple, cheap solutions to complex problems.
Barron Park
on May 21, 2019 at 10:08 am
on May 21, 2019 at 10:08 am
[Post removed due to same poster using multiple names]
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 21, 2019 at 10:18 am
Registered user
on May 21, 2019 at 10:18 am
Fruit Loops - the city of Palo Alto is a small college town with a limited number of business opportunities. The bigger companies are in Menlo Park -FB, and Mountain View - Google. But the overall tax base of the state is driven by the total number of companies and personal wealth within the state. That includes Dole Company that has corporate office in Westlake - Ventura Country, and Del Monte that has corporate offices in Contra Costs County - throw C&H, ASR into that mix. Your agricultural companies that deal in products that can only be grown with-in a specific hemispheric world temperature and climate range is clearly defined. We at least made Hawaii into a state. As to impact the CIA was initially created to fake a war in Guatemala to remove the president because he wanted to have union wages and work hours for the people. Big deal? Yes because the fleet of ships owned by the companies were being used for other purposes and needed the capital. And yes - the CIA was able to fake the war and replace that president but then fell on their face in the Bay of Pigs debacle - yes UFCO was involved in that - their ships being used. So you think this is far fetched but the current participants are in your state and federal legislature. Agriculture grown in other locations is big business and the tax base that drives the states economy is big business. So how does that affect you? Loan rates based on tax base. HSR et all based on overall economy in state to support it - and BART and Caltrain. All of the business parameters are based on management of resources both with and outside of the US borders. So if major companies are shutting down or moving out of state due to high taxes affects you. Profit margins directly affect you as they are the basis of the taxes the companies pays in to the state coffers.
Are we stepping on your toes here?
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 21, 2019 at 11:13 am
Registered user
on May 21, 2019 at 11:13 am
Looking at all of the tracks here I think it is time that we act like a big city and vote for a mayor. Everyone here acts like PA is a major mover and shaker but reality says we do not have the tax base that says we are a major mover and shaker. We have a group that wants to push us into welfare activity but we do not have the tax base to do that. It is time we step up and elect a mayor that has a platform to run on - then if said mayor changes into another creature we can get rid of him/her. We all need to grow up here and recognize that we need to be part of the bigger picture in a meaningful way. Homelessness is a major draw down on the tax base and small cities do not have the resources to support that activity. It also is an issue if in our case the city is built out to the borders while other cities have room to expand and grow. There is no one size fits all here and we need an elected mayor who has to proper clout to deal with that.
Adobe-Meadow
on May 21, 2019 at 12:28 pm
on May 21, 2019 at 12:28 pm
This banana driven economy theory is a real head-scratcher. If such is the case, why not boycott eating bananas and pineapples?
Hollywood could make a movie about this..."The Private War of Chiquita Banana".
Adobe-Meadow
on May 21, 2019 at 12:33 pm
on May 21, 2019 at 12:33 pm
Also reassuring to know that apples & oranges = good.
Bananas = bad.
Green Acres
on May 21, 2019 at 4:53 pm
on May 21, 2019 at 4:53 pm
The global export value of the banana trade was estimated to be $12 billion in 2016
Exxon alone 2016: $208 billion
Get real.
Barron Park
on May 21, 2019 at 5:25 pm
on May 21, 2019 at 5:25 pm
@bananas aren't a fraction of oil
"The global export value of the banana trade was estimated to be $12 billion in 2016
Exxon alone 2016: $208 billion. Get real."
^^^ Agreed. Tell that to 'Resident 1-Adobe Meadows'
Bananas = BFD.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 21, 2019 at 6:36 pm
Registered user
on May 21, 2019 at 6:36 pm
Excuse me - your favorite SF D leader is a major investor in the banana republics. She grew up in Baltimore where her father was mayor. Baltimore used to be the second biggest port on the east cost. American Fruit Company was the Italian response to United Fruit Company based. Now the whole batch is in California and is part of your tax base. So you live in PA and think the tax base is all about tech. But tech has land holdings in Central America and Hawaii and is invested in agriculture. So she keeps saying there is no problem at the border. That is because the major companies that grow there are screwing the local population and they are offloading the cost of support onto the American taxpayer. Who is paying to move all of those people up here? You the taxpayer and your local school system will be paying through the nose. And she will be increasing her millions/billions. Then you will be moaning about all of the people who have come here and want you to subsidize their lives.
But you are missing the point here - it is the business model that is being used everywhere - go into a third world country, buy up all of the land, import foreign labor, and use tax benefits to increase profit. That is a Harvard Business School business model. Try reading your newspaper - low tech countries are being set up for exploitation of their resources - oil is the biggest example of that. I know tech people who have wheat and potato circles up in Washington because farm investment is a giant tax write-off due to depreciation. Did you ever notice that the central valley is one of the bigger growing areas but they are crop specific. And all of your wineries in Napa and Sonoma - crop specific to a zone. And yep they all have wineries.
Barron Park
on May 21, 2019 at 7:53 pm
on May 21, 2019 at 7:53 pm
Let's get this straight...big money is buying up agricultural land in 3rd world banana republics and replacing the local labor force with imported labor thus forcing the inhabitants to flee to the United States.
(1) Where is the replacement (i.e. 'imported') labor coming from?
(2) Is the POTUS protecting American taxpayers by blocking this mass immigration into the United States?
(3) This 'favorite' SF D leader is actually operating a massive money-making scam?
(4) These 'displaced' immigrants headed towards the border are not trying to escape local crime and violence as reported but rather unemployment?
(5) Big Money is a conspiracy whose intentions is to rule the world?
(6) The majority of world & business leaders are all part of this global conspiracy?
I've heard variations of this theme before but more proof is needed. In the meantime, I think I'll go have a banana.
Palo Verde
on May 21, 2019 at 9:49 pm
on May 21, 2019 at 9:49 pm
>>> iPhones with unlimited internet access, designer tennis shoes, drinking a Starbucks
I thank the greater public for supporting those choices. Investments like Apple, Nike, and Starbucks allow me to continue living in Palo Alto. Each of those stocks are up 6x or 8x in the past decade, plus dividends.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 21, 2019 at 11:44 pm
Registered user
on May 21, 2019 at 11:44 pm
Have you ever heard of Wikipedia? Check out the United Fruit Company. Check out the three Central American countries - their history. The history starts in the late 1800's and grows from there. A number of American companies went in and bought land and brought in labor from other locations. The story just grows from there. Amazon has a number of books on this topic. If you go on the google search there is a lot of information on the history here. Yes you actually have to read something on this topic. The older companies morphed into Dole, Del Monte, C&H Sugar, Spreckles, etc.
Have you ever been to Hawaii? Same story with the Pacific coast side. This is not just bananas - it is sugar cane, pineapples. The story just is - no need to prove anything to anyone. It is all out there.
Barron Park
on May 22, 2019 at 8:29 am
on May 22, 2019 at 8:29 am
@Resident 1-Adobe Meadows
You are correct in your overall assessment but your primary focus on tropical fruits is only a fraction of the BIG picture.
The United Fruit Company, Dole, Del Monte + C&H Sugar and Spreckles have long been known for their labor and human rights violations. And it's all in the name of the dollar sign. Nevertheless, a $12B a year industry can be considered a small yet impactful player as we are talking multi-TRILLIONS of dollars in the overall scheme of things
An elite global plutocracy (regardless of political designations) controls & manipulates the global economy. Most of us are already aware (or suspectful of this) and the average working (or non-working) individual is just another ant...highly disposable and replaceable.
So it would be safe to assume that ALL extremely wealthy individuals are masterminds of a conspiracy to dominate the temporal world (aka Earth) via their self-serving complicities and 99% of them are evil. As Honore de Balzac noted in his novel Pere Goriot, "Behind every great fortune lies a crime."
Greed and achieving varying degrees of dominance over others is an aspiration for many and this ambition can be achieved in a number of ways (i.e. business, law, entertainment, media, commerce et al). The players are infinite and it is a multi-tiered operation.
Only a simple man remains immune to this kind of graft by effectively going off the grid while acknowledging the pervasive prescence of this crime against humanity. A battle against such extrinisic criminalities will never be overcome on Earth as Jesus proved to most of of his TRUE believers.
Barron Park
on May 22, 2019 at 8:39 am
on May 22, 2019 at 8:39 am
In the other hand, when he eventually returns to Earth (with an entirely different scope and agenda) as noted in Revelations...things will be different.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 22, 2019 at 1:04 pm
Registered user
on May 22, 2019 at 1:04 pm
I focused on this topic because we have migrants coming in from these countries and the reporting on the countries is not consistent with Mexico and Venezuela. The press tells you who the presidents of Mexico and Venezuela are but there is no reporting on any interaction with the presidents of the three central American countries. So read up on them in Wikipedia. Turns out that the countries have very defined branches of government. They are involved in world organizations consistent with all other countries in that area. Then mention of workers brought in from other countries. Then mention of wars between the countries who immigrated into each others countries.
Wikipedia at the government level does not get into the corporate structure so go to Amazon - and find "Bananas - How the United Fruit Company Shaped the World" - Peter Chapman; "The Fish that at the Whale - America's Banana King" - Rich Cohen; 'Banana - The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World" -Dan Koeppel. Reading what is going on here is more interesting then reading a novel. It is about a corporate structure that takes over countries and the people involved are at the top of the government - they are all related to each other. So these books only take you up to a time of print. Then go into Dole, Del Monte, C&H, Chiquita, etc. on Wikipedia.
I go to Hawaii a lot so am familiar with the evolution of the pineapple, sugar cane, and banana plantations on the islands. Also Coffee beans. If you spend any time in Hawaii they make their history very well known.
So back to our three countries - still no mention of the presidents of the countries. Lots of interviews with immigrants. But they are not the legal spokespeople for those governments. Nor is the Pope- who is busy telling the world to migrate everywhere. But what we know for sure is that the majority of companies now have their corporate office in California. So more investigation is in order. And we do know that the Pelosi's have a long time and extensive investment in Hawaii, as does Mr. Oracle - Lanai, Mr. Zuk - Kawaii, Mr. Dell - Hawaii, Mr. Microsoft - Hawaii, plus many others. It is still a puzzle.
Adobe-Meadow
on May 22, 2019 at 1:23 pm
on May 22, 2019 at 1:23 pm
> I go to Hawaii a lot so am familiar with the evolution of the pineapple, sugar cane, and banana plantations on the islands. Also Coffee beans. If you spend any time in Hawaii they make their history very well known.
One doesn't need to visit Hawaii regularly to be adequately acquainted with its history of fruit plantations. James Mischner did a reasonable job in his novel.
Only the players have changed...from the children of New England Congregational ministers to the modern high-tech giants of today.
> The press tells you who the presidents of Mexico and Venezuela are but there is no reporting on any interaction with the presidents of the three central American countries.
With the possible exception of Mexico, dictators of banana & oil producing countries generally do not give interviews.
> They are involved in world organizations consistent with all other countries in that area.
Duh. It's called big money or what a previous poster called the 'elite global plutocracy'.
The migrants as you alluded to earlier, are a by-product of the graft instigated by extremely wealthy individuals/corporations AND/OR puppet dictators bought & sold by this power elite.
Nothing can be done about it as the vast amounts of money to be made is intoxicating to some individuals. They may inherit the Earth but when they die, they're probably headed to a somewhat toastier environment.
Palo Verde
on May 22, 2019 at 3:26 pm
on May 22, 2019 at 3:26 pm
^ Good summary of how all who can afford Palo Alto are viewed by the rest of the world. Living large in criminal style.
Barron Park
on May 22, 2019 at 5:41 pm
on May 22, 2019 at 5:41 pm
^ Good summary of how all who can afford Palo Alto are viewed by the rest of the world. Living large in criminal style.
musical...the presumed 'wealthy' Palo Altans are trivial within the larger scheme of things. They are but mere pimples on an elephant's buttocks. We're talking the super wealthy (i.e. Warren Buffet, Bill Gates & the various world leaders under their fold). These are the ones who call the shots...not some nouveau riche wannabe trying to get their 2.0 GPA kid into a prestigious university.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 22, 2019 at 6:11 pm
Registered user
on May 22, 2019 at 6:11 pm
What has this to do with Palo Alto? Why are you singling out Palo Alto? At this point in time there is nothing we as a city are going to do. The groups that directly relate to any immigrants are the church groups or specific immigration non-profits. Is there any city on the peninsula that is directly dealing with this problem? Sorry - do not get your point here. Be more specific.
Barron Park
on May 22, 2019 at 7:02 pm
on May 22, 2019 at 7:02 pm
> What has this to do with Palo Alto? Why are you singling out Palo Alto?
I don't think anyone is singling out Palo Alto just as I imagine you are not singling out tropical fruit as the primary cause for most of the world's problems.
To single out Ms. Chiquita would be grossly unfair to defenseless banana.
Registered user
Adobe-Meadow
on May 26, 2019 at 5:37 pm
Registered user
on May 26, 2019 at 5:37 pm
[Post removed.]
Barron Park
on May 26, 2019 at 6:31 pm
on May 26, 2019 at 6:31 pm
[Post removed.]