We should start asking ourselves what our limits might be regarding traveling criminals who have found Ukiah an agreeable place to squat.
I’ve not been keeping score but it seems on the one hand local citizens sacrifice quite a bit to make sure visitors drifting in from Biloxi, Battle Creek and Boston are fed and housed as best we can. And on the other hand we turn to Page Two of the Ukiah Daily Journal on any given day and see depravities that shock us, and that most would agree probably aren’t the work of locals.
Arson, for example. Some mornings I’ve scanned the Police Log and noted six or eight separate attempts to destroy portions, or all, of the town by strategically setting fires in various locations. Near the hospital for instance, or down Hobo Highway along the tracks, or the park at the foot of East Gobbi Street.
Or out near the gun range on Vichy Drive, where we came within a whisker, or a stiff wind, of losing a lot. A lot of homes in the Deerwood / Redemeyer / El Dorado developments, and a lot of lives. Firefighters say it was arson, no doubt about it.
My question: If this is how (some) act when we treat them as honored guests visiting town, what would they do if we gave them a bus ticket and a sandwich?
They defecate on our streets, bathe in public fountains, use drugs, sell drugs, break stuff and consume free food. We bought a big expensive motel in a prime location just for displaced people to settle in, get their lives back in order, and hopefully not set fire to.
A point that must be made: A few local program administrators and grant writers make tons of money from the homeless population in Ukiah, but when they go home at night it isn’t to a house on Thomas Street or Observatory Avenue. Those who make their living luring lost souls to Ukiah reside in far off lands like Potter Valley, Redwood Valley and other isolated places well-removed from the homeless mobs they create. They take the money, we deal with the effluent. “Homelessness, Inc.” is a big business bringing a lot of money to insiders connected to government revenue.
If a couple dozen houses and a few people had died in the Vichy fire would citizens have begun talking about this clear and present problem? It’s a question we should ask ourselves, and city council members.
Truly, where’s the upside for Ukiah? Our streets are more dangerous, graffiti is spreading, boarded-up trashed buildings line South State Street. Quality of life is sinking, and neighborhoods are at risk of incineration because a pyromaniac from Bakersfield who just came to town is angry at what Plowshares served him for lunch?
BLINKERS: With the downtown streetscape renovations nearly complete (and looking pretty darn good I must say, despite my early and ongoing doubts) let’s talk about traffic lights and stop signs.
Most would agree that under recent (unusual) circumstances north-south travel has flowed nicely. Smooth sailing means you can roll right through blinking red stop lights. But get stuck at the lights at South State and Gobbi and you’ll need to call the boss and explain you’ll be late coming back from lunch.
Let’s vote! I say keep the blinkers until they prove ridiculous, which might only take a week.
TEMPERATURE SOLUTION: Everyone’s talking about triple-digit heat, and California Democrats are set to unveil an aggressive strategy to combat soaring temperatures.
An innovative program offering immediate and permanent relief: recalibration of thermometers across the state of California. Beginning September 15, the new SmarTemp system will display temperature readings a full 20% lower than previously.
Example: A 104 degree temperature reading on obsolete thermometers will soon be shown at 20% less in SmarTemp, and thus show 83 degrees. Lower readings are expected to result in immense energy savings, beginning with reduced AC useage.
SmarTemp installation is expected to cost less than $12,000 per household.
Democrats say such bold thinking will also be applied to drought relief. The concept of “acre foot” remains, but starting January 1 will be measured and reported as 100 square feet by six inches deep.
“The water savings are almost beyond comprehension,” said Congressional rep Jared Huffman. “It’s clear from early projections we can start tearing down California dams beginning last week.”
SUNDAYS IN PARK: The 2021 city-sponsored concert series has been the best in memory, and we credit a single factor: Boomers have grown old, their sap has dried to dust and so has their vanity, and they’re no longer compelled to shake their booties and other flabby body parts at strangers in public.
SYCAMORE ALERT: I’m no treeologist but if what’s now lining State Street are sycamore trees it’s already time to replace them. No sane homeowner would plant a sycamore; even an insane homeowner, having planted one, would never plant another.
Sycamores are the weed of trees, the perfect choice if you can’t find some nice kudzu or poison oak to plant along sidewalks. Its leaves are toxic, its roots are relentless and big, and Ukiah already has way too many sycamores.
Of course they instead might be Flowering Dream Orchid-Bearing Lotus Bouquet trees, in which case I’m already apologizing to sycamore fans everywhere.
(Tom Hine lives in Ukiah and sometimes writes under the TWK byline.)
Run the homeless off?
The police ran the homeless out of Orr Creek and some moved north to that little culvert where the fire started next to 101. Running the homeless off is akin to blowing your leaves into the neighbors yard. “The poor you will always have with you” Jesus
They are not going to evaporate. Find a clear chunk of land they can camp on and be left unmolested by police. The old mill sites with high awnings would be ideal. Shade and concrete pads. Big cities discovered it was cheaper to accommodate the homeless vs prosecute them.