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SLO extends homeless parking program

October 3, 2012

The San Luis Obispo City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend a program allowing people living in their cars to park overnight at the Prado Day Center.

The parking program, which began in June as a response to police ticketing of the homeless for violating a city ordinance against overnight parking, allots five spaces for members of the community to park their car at night. A majority of the council said they support expanding the program, which remains temporary, and the council directed city staff to explore a permanent parking program for the homeless.

Councilwoman Kathy Smith expressed some concern, though, that an expansion of the program would lead to an expansion of the homeless community in the city. Smith referred to such a problem as the “magnet effect.”

Prado Day Center Program Director Dee Torres also said homeless migration to San Luis Obispo is increasing. Torres said that the announcement on the Oprah Winfrey Show that San Luis Obispo is “the happiest city in America” has attracted many homeless people to move to the area.

And while Torres is touting the success of its program claiming it has been able to place several homeless people into housing, those interviewed by CCN claim they either found housing on their own or through agencies not affiliated with the Prado Day Center. In addition, several homeless contend Torres’ requirement that homeless provide 70 percent of their income to homeless services is unreasonable.

 


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The lack of generosity, the lack of sympathy, the lack of humanity is staggering . . .


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Director Dee Torres seems to be telling homeless people to move to San Luis Obispo and get your free breakfast, lunch, dinner, easy police department and easy panhandling SLO folks.

It was 3 weeks ago, we had a homeless couple who had no vehicle bought a mile worth of junk who had been illegally camping on our commercial property over 3 weeks unknowingly until we discovered it and the crimes around it. So much stuff in a hide to find place near the Orcutt homeless Shelter, we found porno magazines, lots of different name prescription pain killers (looked stolen), crack and a crack pipe, lot of sex toys, probation papers, lots of stolen drug store stuff and loads of 1980’s clothes all piled up in a tent that smelt full of urine and worse; plus beer bottles everywhere. Everything went in the trash and was reported to the Police.


It comes that this is the going problem for business owners like myself having people illegally camping on their properties stealing water, using our property as a toilet and a place to make a drinking holiday in evening hours then get up to have your free breakfast at the Orcutt Homeless shelter around the corner and when done, then go to Meadow Park to have nothing to do all day till 5 o’clock to head right back to the Orcutt Homeless shelter to do the same thing the next and the next day. Meadow Park is destroyed, the homeless have saturated themselves there using the public restrooms as showers and place to drink and go the bathroom. I have taken pictures for the City Council & Police Department to show the people parking in their vehicles who sleep in the campers in McMillan street (around the corner from the Orcutt Homeless Shelter) parking in the Meadow Park parking lot between 7am till 5pm, same people every day. Every one of them is hanging out by choice. Nobody is looking for a job but really a Grateful Dead Festival, hang out and drink seven days a week, same people same place same time, come on and hangout and get drunk. Was once a park for children has scared the families away due to these “Have Nots and Will Nots” homeless people.


I have learned that these people are coming from Ohio, Florida all over from the East Coast to drive to San Luis Obispo for the one purpose to live here for free. They call San Luis Obispo “easy street” because they say San Luis folks are easy to panhandle to, to get money out of them and the cops are easy to deal with because they are not hard enough on them. That’s why you see the homeless aggression downtown for aggressive panhandlers who belittle the SLO residents if they do not give them money. See a homeless guy sitting on a bench downtown drinking out of a paper bag, cop comes by makes him pour it out, cop leaves, homeless guy pulls out another hard liquor bottle as if he was just told to stop but continues because they cop did nothing, he should of arrested him and gave him community work.


I would like to see Oprah Winfrey visit San Luis Obispo since 20010 and see how happy San Luis Obispo is doing now? I see it we San Luis Obispo resident taxpayers are now; we’re all screwed with this homeless mess.


I make a pledge we fire this Dee Torres, she is part of the problem. She is inviting these people over here and ordinances of homeless needs to get more enforcement, period. San Luis Obispo is not a free lunch! Meadow Park, Mitchell Park need full enforcement completely to get rid of these worthless people from our neighborhoods.


If they’re not worthless, tell me then, what do they do all day? Take a drive on McMillan Street at night, then notice the cars parked there, then drive over to Meadow Park the next day, tell me what cars you see. Do the same thing? Now take a week off, go back to each street and tell me, was there any difference?


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Great rid of them!


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