By Mike Justice, Executive Director of Our Daily Bread Ministries – October 27, 2016 –
Wednesday, October 26, 2016, I posted that our local government needs an overhaul, both City and County and here is why.
For the last 10 years, I have personally been taking care of the poor and homeless people in our City and County and being told, “We do not have a problem.” NO ONE wants to admit we have a serious problem except for Donna Westfall who has encouraged and supported us.
Now there is a ad hoc group that meets to find a solution to this problem and ODBM was not even invited! A customer came to ODBM and told me about this meeting. So, I went and was literally blown away by all that I saw chairing this meeting and attending this meeting. David Finigan has to go. Get him off of the Board of Supervisors because he and the others are the same people I’ve been trying to talk to for 10 years trying to obtain funding for ODBM to be a rescue mission.
I found out that there is all this money we can get to build this complex. That it will only be for the acute homeless. This means it will only help about 20 people out of 650 people. This is nuts!
There needs to be a place for those people who have been homeless for over 15 years. And they’re not interested in a place to stay with stipulated mandatory rehab or mental health evaluation. We have been working with the vets and chronic homeless with a PROMISE of a program where they can get off the streets, eat three hot meals a day, new clothing and a place off the streets for a year.
Guess how many took us up on our offer in ten years?
ZERO!
That’s how many we found. The ones who did accept that kind of help were the folks who had been homeless for one to three years.
How many were sent to these programs?
20. That’s how many with about 10 who completed it successfully.
What really makes sense is a rescue mission where we are currently located: 1135 Harrold Street. It’s already been zoned.
We need about $15,000 to complete this and about $25,000 a year to fund it. I’ve presented this to our Board of Supervisors to no avail. We can’t even get a Thank You or Good Job.
Thank God that’s not important to us but funny how our State Senator, Mike McGuire, was so kind to send our ODBM a Thank you for all our efforts, and I want to share that with all of our supporters.
Thank you all. Please help us to see a rescue mission completed in our beautiful community.
I met with Mike Justice of Our Daily Bread Ministries and believe his Agency can do much more to assist those who shiver in the woods during this especially cold, wet Fall / Winter. I shared with Mike no real help can be proffered to those who are afflicted with drug, alcohol or mental illness conditions unless Laura’s Law can be amended which MANDATES services., It is inhumane to offer choices to utilize services to this frail and incompetent population who are prisoners of drugs, booze or mental illness. This is what I call State-sanctioned death by a thousand cuts.
Mike agrees.
I plan to engage on this issue to urge our State elected to amend Laura’s law to mandate services. Lest we do that, we are contributing to the worsening condition of our fellow human being. Unacceptable and I will not be mum on this community issue.
Will you support amending Laura’s Law?
Laura’s Law has not been implemented by the board in Del Norte. Mandated services would require involuntary inpatient commitment which is what Laura’s Law is intended to prevent. Perhaps you are suggesting an expansion of inpatient commitment facilities? Until that happens, the county faces reality.
I could not agree with Mike Justice more. Our Daily Bread Ministries is and rightfully should be a partner in solving the problem of systemic homelessness in Del Norte County. No Ad Hoc Committee will solve this problem. Folks cannot live out in the bushes. It is inhumane. Those who have drug, alcohol, or mental health issues do not have free will and this community MUST offer these folks temporary housing, at least two hot meals a day, a sanitary place to relieve oneself, and a place to take a hot shower. Simply ignoring these people or worse yet, conducting meetings with a functionless Ad Hoc Committee is unacceptable. Further, I do not believe those of you who give money to those who beg on our streets are helping these frail people. Giving them money is death by a thousand cuts and offers the beggar the opportunity to buy liquor, cigarettes or drugs. Give of your heart and wallet to folks like Our Daily Bread Ministries. I’ll be dropping my check off at Daily Bread Ministries. Please join me in doing the same. I agree, David Finigan must go.
Roger Gitlin
District 1 Supervisor, Del. Norte County
Ha Ha Ha, sudddenly Mr. Gitlin who has gone as far as stand by a homeless person on the street corner until that person left, has a conscience…and this is the same Mr. Gitlin who would not allow me to present the tiny house village at the mental health meeting a few months back, AFTER, I was requested to make a presentation…shutting me down not even allowing me to speak for the allotted 5 minutes. Additionally, I find it absolutely laughable that Mr. Gitlin as well as Dave Finigan, could care less about the homeless situation until this election year…in fact the only candidate who had done any research regarding the issue during the debates was me…yeah, we need to get rid of a whole bunch of people…unfortunately, the good ole boys are dialed in and the rest of the people who live here don’t care…it is an atrocity…and will continue to be unless these political party people quit endorsing the same old crap…
I make it a policy to not respond to Linda Sutter. I urge you to do the same.
Roger Gitlin is not the Chairman of the Mental Health Committee. It was Clark Moore, Chair, that stopped Linda Sutter from speaking for the allotted 5 minutes.
Mike,
You are a good guy, so don’t take this personally. I completely disagree with you that we need a homeless shelter. Providing services via ODBM has been akin to putting out cat food and wondering why we have so many cats. You, and others who want to help the homeless, have made this community into a beacon for the downtrodden of society. The town looks like a ghetto because of it, it is difficult to walk down the street and not get accosted, and property values have suffered as a result. That may sound cruel, but the truth is that those devalued properties result in less property tax, resulting in less services. This all results in a downward spiral of our community that can only be broken by getting rid of ODBM and other such organizations. Like I said, this is nothing against you. I have tried to do the same thing you are doing, and found that in reality you can’t help. You can put a bandage on the situation temporarily, but people have to dig themselves out of the situation they put themselves in. This is of course unfair to vets, and the mentally ill who through no fault of their own find themselves homeless – but no society is perfect. This is not a popular position, so waiting for the hate….
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Obviously you are not from this area…the homeless have not created the look of Crescent City…the local government has created the blighted look of Crescent City. the City Council, the Harbor, and now the County. Numbers were fudged to obtain loans for upfront money for infrastructure that under 4000 people cannot afford…irresponsible spending and it is going to get worse…because the sewer plant put us in the hole,the harbor fudged the numbers to take a $5.4 million dollar loan out that they can’t afford…the county took out another 3-5 million dollar loan for the new air terminal…that we cannot afford…and you want to blame the homeless…I suggest you start poking your head into the government meetings and get some enlightenment….because the homeless are not the problem it is people like you and your snotty ass attitude toward the poor that is the problem…God Bless you anyway…by the way, when the city files bankruptcy…that will devalue our homes..and until new industry is brought up here….this town and county will continue to disintegrate and look like a third world country…
Linda, your post illustrates a great deal of the problem we have in this community – immaturity. With your statements:
1)Obviously you are not from this area
2)…and you want to blame the homeless
3)…people like you and your snotty ass attitude
Addressing the points one at a time:
1)I have been in this area long enough to remember Ralph’s Flowers. You should remember that? I also remember your departure from the prison.
2)I did NOT blame the homeless. Per Mike’s own numbers, he states there are 650 homeless in CC. With our (actual) population, that puts at about 1 homeless person per 6 people that are not homeless. That would put CC at the top of the pile nationwide regarding homelessness. That did not happen because of bad decisions by the local government regarding the water treatment facility or the harbor. We have attracted homeless people with our many give-aways here via ODBM, CAN, and others. These people certainly mean well, but the current path doesn’t seem to be working.
3)People like me. Well, people like me had (yes had) a lot invested in this community. I have divested myself of assets within Del Norte due to the death spiral the city & county find itself in. Tourists come here and see someone high on drugs urinating on the side of the hotel and don’t come back. Or the same tourist spends a lot of $$ on a nice vacation rental to find homeless shooting up in the backyard. These people don’t come back. So, people like me, who have invested a lot into this community and tried to make it better are the problem according to you. Guess I should take your advice and “get some enlightenment”. You honestly think you are the only one fed up with the lack of response by the city?
While I have addressed your points above, there is one point I completely agree with you on – the city government is a utter mess. At the same time, they have been tasked with meeting mandates passed down from the state and coastal commission that have caused havoc with the budget. I’m not saying that gives the city/county a pass, but it does mitigate their responsibility to some extent. Regarding industry coming to CC – not going to happen. There is nothing here for industry to come to. CC is too remote, and lacks the type of infrastructure manufacturing, tech companies, or really any other type of company is looking for.
I would hope, that in the future, you can be more civil and responsible as a major poster on the CCT. The CCT has basically replaced the Triplicate as a reliable source of information in CC, and rants like yours bring discredit upon this site.
Unfortunately there is a lot of wisdom in your comments about the state of this County and Crescent City. It is too bad that they were not expressed at an earlier time, say fifteen to twenty years ago. We now have many of the problems caused by first and foremost the State of California in their infinite wisdom of trying to place a one size fits all sort of mentality State wide. How our local government has handled the issues created by the State shouldn’t be much of a surprise, and has only deepened the crisis situation going forward. It is a problem that in many cases mirrors what has occurred nation wide in the last nearly eight years and threatens to continue unless people both at the local level and nation wide realize that we cannot always succeed at nurturing. At some point as many people as possible must pull up their collective pants and start the job of doing something that actually works for first and foremost themselves. Once they have succeeded in making their lives as successful as possible, then and only then should they look to their neighbor to lend a helping hand. But only if that neighbor is also trying their best to also be successful, for there are too many people in this country that are content to let the Government or helping hands do it for them. Something that as Larry has pointed out rarely ever works as evidenced by what has transpired here and many other places in this Country.
dear Larry Dear Larry you have no complaint. you are what you are and you ain’t what you ain’t so listen up buster and listen up good..stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood..
you knew me from the prison, hmm so are you a cell warrior who hides behind the cosmic wall because you don’t reveal your name…and by the way, I departed the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation with a service retirement and a badge if your trying to imply otherwise you are wrong…and you remember Ralph’s flowers indicate you know where i live…possibly a neighbor or a stalker i don’t know…hey maybe your a “christian”…..
you state “it is hard to walk down the street and not get accosted by the homeless,” what street are you walking down..if the street your talking about is union street or back in the woods behind safeway or in the wooded section next to the old rays store, where the camps are located, then i suppose someone will walk up to you and ask you for money or food..
AND IN YOUR OWN WORDS, ” You, and others who want to help the homeless, have made this community into a beacon for the downtrodden of society. The town looks like a ghetto because of it, it is difficult to walk down the street and not get accosted, and property values have suffered as a result.” And let’s put the icing on the cake, “the only way to get rid of this problem is to get rid of OUr Daily Bread Ministries.”
My reply to your statement may be “immature”, but your statement is callus and calculating, demonstrating a complete disregard to human life who are struggling. So do us all a favor and crawl back under that rock in which you came from…destroying a place for the unfortunate leaving them for dead in the elements of winter without shelter, food or water,,,,I only have one wish for you and that is you experience this sometime in your life…i have…i lived in my car or where ever i could for 6 months….There are lost souls out there among us and your contribution is to get rid of them…you are some piece of work…cell warrior boy…I call you cell warrior boy because you don’t have the balls to reveal to the public who you are….
as far as bringing new industry to this area, the economic development department has been failing for 27 years……you can’t build infrastructure on the backs of the people, it is through industry creating jobs and the rest will happen naturally…
Please remember that when you wish to run for city council, your tirades here will be a reminder to those who you would want to vote for you why they shouldn’t. It is no wonder why the Triplicate has banned you from posting. The CCT would be wise to do the same. It would at least help the credibility of this online publication.
Dear Larry, I don’t think I know you, but I do know Linda Sutter. We’ve been friends and enemies for 9 years. She is one-of-a-kind and I love and hate her. When we pursue a subject and agree, it’s terrific. And when we disagree, we get into some pretty heated debates and Linda can be quite loud, opinionated, bullheaded, unapologetic, etc….. well, she could say the same about me except that I’m more sedate and will readily apologize when I make a mistake. Her writings, which I get to edit, are funny and acerbic. And, unlike the Del Norte Triplicate, which has banned me and countless others from submissions, I will defend to the death (not literally) ones 1st Amendment rights to express their opinion(s). I try not to edit her comments, but do check them out factually when necessary. Also, if the Triplicate had been doing their job, and doing it well and with less bias, and more investigation, we wouldn’t have started http://www.crescentcitytimes.com. Regards, Donna Westfall, Editor
By the way, Great job, not just a good job!
Thanks Donna Westfall for your great reporting
Basic solution for a MAJOR problem. Thanks for your insight, Mike Justice ODBM
Mr. Mike Justice, hang in there. You and your mission are the most sensible place to address homelessness. If it devolves into a government circus it will serve to set back any progress you have made up to this point. Once the likes of Kathryn Murray, David Finigan, Jared Huffman get involved you can be confident that they will study it for a least another ten years, but only during re-election cycles, then waste the money in places that have no monetary needs and fail to support what you would consider money well spent. Some people are simply homeless and if some very basic needs that they have can be met, they are happy. All of the convoluted angst over rules and regulations, and oh by the way homelessness, when a simpler and rather economical solution is at hand. Our Daily Bread Ministries? you say? Earth to the ad hoc group. Just how simple does it have to be? Money that seems to be currently available. $15,000 one time facilities improvement cost and a mere $25,000 per year operations cost with no strings attached. Problem solved with no additional burden to the County’s General Fund? One can only hope.