Homeless Dilemma

Victory in court for Santa Ana does not mean victory over homelessness. There is work to be done. Santa Ana's controversial camping ordinance has been upheld by a Superior Court judge, giving the city breathing room in dealing with a problem that burdens it far more than its neighbors in Orange County. Judge James L. Smith has rejected the argument of homeless advocates that prohibiting camping on public property, such as the Civic Center area, is unfair to the homeless.

There's more than one way for an organization to guarantee that a cross section of the town will show up for its big annual do. Cajoling sometimes works. Naming a big-league chairman almost always helps. And putting the cause in just the right light never hurts. Senior Adult Services, which sponsors the Meals on Wheels program and played host to its 14th annual "A Tribute to the Golden Years" benefit at the San Diego Hilton on Nov. 8, used a technique that has served well in the past.

Two weeks after floodwaters ripped out homeless encampments along the Ventura River, local officials are opening an assessment center today that will match displaced transients with available social services. The center is scheduled to open today at 9 a.m. and operate until the end of March, when officials say it will close because it will have fulfilled its mission.

As we prepare for Thursday's Call to Action Conference it is gratifying to note that some baby steps have been taken since the previous session. In February 1999, 350 community members met at a the first Call to Action Conference in Ventura to examine the unmet needs of those suffering with mental illness, particularly the county's 1,000 homeless who suffer from severe untreated mental illness.

Judge Robert Coates believes the rise of homelessness in America is the symptom of a devastating moral crisis--not necessarily among the homeless, but among the rest of society. Coates is fond of telling the story of the 61-year-old man who appeared before him in Municipal Court bench charged with second-degree burglary. "The man was emaciated, visibly quivering and weak," Coates said. "He appeared to be starving.

On paper the issue is a fight over what to do with an industrial section of downtown San Diego called Centre City East, a jumble of warehouses, vacant lots, bus and trolley yards, and aging businesses with fences topped by barbed wire. But the fight could just as well be called a struggle for the soul of California's second-largest city. On one side is Roman Catholic Msgr.

On a cold and rainy day, Vernon Lamarr Clark says, he robbed a bank so he could go to jail, get fed, and stay warm and dry. He couldn't think of any other way to get help. Since the downturn in the construction industry left him jobless two years before, things have just gone to hell. After a while, the unemployment checks stopped coming. His wife kicked him out of the house.

On a cold and rainy day a few weeks ago, Vernon Lamarr Clark robbed a bank. He said he did it so he could go to jail, get fed and stay warm and dry. He said he could not think of any other way to get help. Since work ran out two years ago, things have just gone to hell. After awhile, the unemployment checks stopped coming. His wife kicked him out. He was living on the streets, pushing a shopping cart and digging through dumpsters, sleeping in cars abandoned in back alleys.