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Business Owners Hoodwinked Into Building Makeshift Housing for the Homeless
December 31, 2020 By Erica Sandberg With the Covid-19 shutdown dragging on for months, and business owners and employees struggling to stay afloat, San Francisco’s restaurants, cafés, bars, and fitness centers were permitted to create patios, or “parklets,” so that they could operate outdoors. This option offered a critical lifeline. Running the gamut from modest to elaborate, the parklets soon became ubiquitous. They stretched by the hundreds along sidewalks and into streets and alleyways in every district in the city. Small-business owners and their staffs finally had some revenue coming in, and their communities rejoiced in any semblance of normal life returning. Then, on December 6, the doors were abruptly shut on outdoor dining and health clubs. Business owners were forced to abandon the parklets that they had painstakingly designed and constructed. Many had decorated them beautifully for the holidays, counting on operating until Christmas. Since San Francisco hospitals were not overrun with Covid patients, California had given restaurants and gyms at least a few weeks to continue serving the public. Nonetheless, San Francisco mayor London Breed and public-health director Grant Colfax preemptively closed the parklets with a Stay at Home order. Almost overnight, activity in the now-abandoned spaces changed dramatically. “My parklets are now being used as bathrooms,” says Brian Cassanego, owner of The Wine Jar and Noir Lounge. “Some guy was camping in one. I find empty cans of beer, needles. The parklets have become homeless shelters and drug dens. Even when we deep clean, which will cost us more money, who will want to sit in them when we are allowed to come back?” Cassanego is asking neighbors to keep watch over his parklets when he can’t be there. He’s hesitant to board them up completely, explaining that it would make the city look awful. “It’s heartbreaking,” he says. “It’s hard to fight back, to get up and plan for another day. Pre-pandemic, I got threatened with $1,000 fines if I didn’t clean up homeless messes. They’re beating restaurants down.” The city has approved $5,000 grants to reimburse small-business owners who invested in parklets, but the funds are not for everyone—they appear to “prioritize minority-owned businesses and businesses that advance the City’s equity goals.” Even if Cassanego turns out to be eligible, the cash will fall short. Before the cold weather started, he spent $2,000 on heaters and had a roof constructed to fit over the tables—for another $5,000. All told, the parklets set him back upward of $15,000. With his business closed, Cassanego’s bills and debts are piling up. Empty parklets across the city are becoming magnets for transient people. A large percentage of those experiencing homelessness suffer from substance-abuse disorders or psychological illnesses. Rory Cox, CEO of Yubalance Fitness and founder of San Francisco Small Business Alliance, says that frightening incidents are occurring. For example, when one business owner asked a person not behaving rationally to leave the parklet, the person sprayed him in the face with pepper spray; the business owner spent five hours in the emergency room. Used syringes are frequently found inside the structures. Vandalism too, is a burgeoning problem, so when the businesses are permitted to reopen, expensive repairs will be necessary. *** Erica Sandberg is a widely published consumer-finance reporter based in San Francisco and the author of Expecting Money: The Essential Financial Plan for New and Growing Families. As a community advocate, she focuses on homelessness and crime and safety issues. This article was originally published by City Journal Online.
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Bakersfield California Op Ed Piece by Kern County District Attorney, Cynthia J. Zimmer [edited for brevity]
A Public Service Announcement for Kern’s Criminals: Are you a convicted felon with a history of violent crime? A murderer? Rapist? Child Molester? Human trafficker? Armed Robber? Drunk driver who kills? Do you take pleasure in using firearms to ratchet up body counts in all types of crimes? Do you think it unfair that your history of violent crimes makes your punishment for new crimes higher? If so, I have an exciting opportunity for you. On December 7, Los Angeles County swore in its newly elected District Attorney, (D) George Gascón. Gascón immediately pledged to make Los Angeles a sanctuary for criminals by announcing his refusal to enforce the most basic state laws designed to address serious, violent, and repeat offenders. There’s a catch though – his authority only extends to Los Angeles County. Here in Kern County, you’re stuck with me: A District Attorney that will strive to enforce laws and demand that crime victims receive justice. Criminals, you really must ask yourselves – why continue living in Kern County when you can take your criminal activity to Los Angeles, where you will be greeted with open arms? Let me share why relocation of your criminal activity is really in your best interest. First, (D) Gascón has declared he will not allege a defendant’s prior ‘strike’ convictions in new criminal cases – ever. Ironically, on the day he swore an oath to uphold the laws of California, (D) Gascón immediately vowed to break them. Prior strikes are legally required to be alleged by prosecutors. For you criminals, that means that the new LA DA is literally willing to break the law to ensure you don’t face the punishment you deserve! * * * When (D) Gascón left his DA position in San Francisco to seek control in LA, the President of the San Francisco Police Officers’ Association issued an ominous warning: “We are praying for the residents of Los Angeles hoping that (D) George Gascón does not do to their city what he did for San Francisco during his tenure; double digit increases in crime…cars broken into by the thousands and neighborhoods ravaged by open air drug markets and crime…We are happy he will be leaving San Francisco but feel he is taking his record of failure to an even larger county where he can cause even more harm to public safety.” In Kern County, the District Attorney’s Office will continue to be an ally to victims and the community in our fight against crime. Gascón has taken the opposite approach. When confronted by the mother of a murder victim who opposed his policies, Gascón replied that she and anyone else who opposed early release of killers were “too uneducated to shut their mouths for once.” Gascón’s contempt toward victims and disregard for the law are designed to benefit criminals at every turn. I pray for victims in LA who are being abandoned by their DA and oppose nearly every policy for which Gascon stands. Criminals hoping for Gascón-style treatment in Kern County can stop holding their breath, because it’s not going to happen under my watch. |
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