I am not sure if the story is political but I was impressed. Sonrise Fellowship was able to convince the city and park district to delay bulldozing a homeless camp with just a few phone calls. Citizen power when backed up by moral force can be just what our society needs. Of course, we also need long term solutions and this local church has also been working with homeless people on a long term basis.
Happy Thanksgiving Sonrise members!
I think the choice to delay this action was the right one. Homelessness is a very tough situation to deal with on the local level because if one community decides to take action and solve it, it often brings more homeless people into the community for those same services.
The increases in homelessness volume can really overtax these services for everyone else.
I left a link to the city's directory and site on this issue.
For everyone else? Who else uses these services?
I am glad that one of the long term goals of the city was to transform us from a middle class familiy town into the next Pasadena. Maybe city leaders missed it but when you build a income stratified society there will be the top and the bottom.
There wasn't much homelessness in Simi Valley until the rise of the rich homes.
Didn't the city of Simi Valley "outlaw" homelessness some years ago? Thank God for the kindness of some of the folks at Sonrise Church for intervening and calling attention to the capricious actions of a city that refuses to grow up. What we are witnessing is the flip side of the service sector economy, where only those with the means are those being served. As the divide between the haves and have nots increases in our communities due to the stresses of global and regional competition from lower wage economies, local governments and communities are increasingly responding with ever more harsher and draconian measures aimed at the poor and disposessed. Las Vegas, Nevada recently made it a crime to feed the homeless! Even if the city is not in a position to address the long-term problems of poverty and homelessness within its region of influence, it appears that they are also unwilling to do so and would prefer to bury their collective heads in the sand or bulldoze the slim hopes of the displaced in an effort to cleans themselves of an "image" problem.
Merry Christmas Simi Valley!
Simi Sonrise is doing as great job for the least amongst us.
In 1999, the Simi Valley City Council appointed a 19 member Task Force on Homelessness comprised of representatives from City, County, non-profit organizations and the community at large to study the issue of homelessness. The result of this committee has been the publication of a Directory of Services to provide assistances for the homeless and needy. It is the only one of its kind in Ventura County. The Directory is located online at www.simivalley.org
The Simi Valey Police Department as well as other public agencies have copies of this booklet. It is 35 pages in lenght and addresses Benefits and Cash Assistance to Veterans Services. It was 2 years in the making and is updated frequently. Anyone needing assistance or wanting assistance can surely find it in Simi Valley, but we have to remember some people don't want help...They CHOOSE to be homeless.
(Mayor Glen Becerra and I are Co-chairs for this committee)
I agree with Barbra. One factor missing from this discussion is the fact that many choose their lifestyle. I've also heard their was a lot of hard work and effort put into that directory for all social services, which I think is fantastic.
Would Christ have driven a tractor into a homeless camp on any day of the year?