Regarding Homelessness, What Is Newsom Thinking?; the Political Battle Over High Prices–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Aug. 12, 2024

Indy Digest: Aug. 12, 2024

Calmatters today published a piece on what’s happened since Gov. Gavin Newsom insisted that state agencies and local governments crack down on encampments by the unhoused. The lede:

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s message on homelessness in recent weeks has been clear: The state will no longer tolerate encampments, and cities shouldn’t either. 

Californians who live on the streets, as well as the outreach workers who support them, say they’re already feeling the difference. Places where someone used to be able to pitch a tent and sleep in peace have suddenly become inhospitable. Police seem to be clearing camps more often and more aggressively, and are less likely to give advance notice before they come in with bulldozers and trash compactors, according to anecdotal reports in some cities. Even in cities where officials said publicly nothing would change, unhoused people and activists say it’s become harder to be homeless. 

But the shift, sparked by a Supreme Court ruling and then further fueled by an executive order, hasn’t caused a significant increase in shelter beds or affordable housing. 

That’s led people on the streets to ask: Where are we supposed to go?

From there, reporter Marisa Kendall does a fantastic job of exploring the issue. The most interesting tidbit to me is toward the end of the piece: “While Newsom has provided an influx of money for shelter beds and other services in recent years—including $1 billion in this year’s budget for Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention funds that cities and counties can spend as they see fit—his recent executive order comes with no additional funding. Last year, California cities and counties reported having roughly 71,000 shelter beds. They’d need more than twice that to accommodate every homeless Californian.”

Let’s look at that last sentence again: “Last year, California cities and counties reported having roughly 71,000 shelter beds. They’d need more than twice that to accommodate every homeless Californian.”

Beyond that: The story mentions the fact that, for various reasons, many homeless Californians won’t go to shelters. Kendall also points out that forcing unhoused people to move can lead to health concerns:

In Sacramento, the city is distributing fliers to educate its unhoused residents about the changes under the Supreme Court ruling. The light-blue notices, titled “Attention: Unlawful Camping,” warn that people can be charged with a misdemeanor for camping on public property. 

“They’re forcing someone under threat of arrest to pack up and move all their belongings,” said Niki Jones, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. “And people’s bodies literally can’t handle the physical stress.”

All this makes leads me to a question: What in the hell is Gov. Newsom thinking?

Yeah, encampments for the unhoused and people sleeping on sidewalks are unpleasant … but how in the heck does making unfunded demands, at a time when there are twice as many unhoused individuals are there are shelter beds, help solve the problem?

Homelessness is an incredibly complex problem, with no easy solutions. I don’t know what the answer is—but I do know what’s happening now is definitely not any sort of answer. It’s just inhumane.

—Jimmy Boegle

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More News

• The U.S. Forest Service is trying to finally stop the massive company that’s been pumping water out of the San Bernardino Mountains for decades. The Los Angeles Times says: “In a decision that could end a years-long battle over commercial extraction of water from public lands, the U.S. Forest Service has ordered the company that sells Arrowhead bottled water to shut down a pipeline and other infrastructure it uses to collect and transport water from springs in the San Bernardino Mountains. The Forest Service notified BlueTriton Brands in a letter last month, saying its application for a new permit has been denied. … The company has challenged the denial in court. … The Forest Service has been charging a permit fee of $2,500 per year. There has been no charge for the water. Controversy over the issue erupted when The Desert Sun reported in 2015 that the Forest Service was allowing Nestlé to siphon water using a permit that listed 1988 as the expiration date. The Forest Service then began a review of the permit, and in 2018 granted a new permit for up to five years. The revelations about Nestlé piping water from the forest sparked an outpouring of opposition and prompted several complaints to California regulators questioning the company’s water rights claims, which led to a lengthy investigation by state water regulators.”

• What a bleak Associated Press headline: “Dozens of pregnant women, some bleeding or in labor, are turned away from ERs despite federal law.” Some details: “The Biden administration says hospitals must offer abortions when needed to save a woman’s life, despite state bans enacted after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion more than two years ago. Texas is challenging that guidance and, earlier this summer, the Supreme Court declined to resolve the issue. More than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or negligently treated since 2022, an Associated Press analysis of federal hospital investigations found. Two women—one in Florida and one in Texas—were left to miscarry in public restrooms. In Arkansas, a woman went into septic shock and her fetus died after an emergency room sent her home. At least four other women with ectopic pregnancies had trouble getting treatment, including one in California who needed a blood transfusion after she sat for nine hours in an emergency waiting room.” Horrible.

• From the “Conflict of Interest WTF?!” file comes this story, from NPR: “Billionaire Elon Musk seems to have found a new favorite federal judge: Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas. Musk’s social media company X has filed two major lawsuits against groups he sees as antagonists, and O’Connor is presiding over both of them, even though none of the parties is based in Texas. So far, O’Connor has delivered stunningly pro-Musk decisions, which have gained widespread attention. What has garnered less attention: O’Connor’s investment in Tesla, between ‘$15,001 and $50,000’ of Tesla stock, according to his most recent publicly available financial disclosure filing. That investment has fueled questions over O’Connor’s fairness as a judge, since the outcome of the suits filed by Musk’s X could impact his business empire.”

• It’s becoming increasingly clear that corporate greed has been one of the primary drivers behind price increases simply blamed on “inflation.” Meanwhile, high prices have become a huge campaign issue. CNBC says: “Expensive Big Mac meals and fears of surge pricing at grocery stores have put food chains and consumer product companies in politicians’ crosshairs. Walmart, McDonald’s and Kroger are just a few of the companies that have found themselves in the debate over high inflation in the 2024 election. (Last) Monday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., sent a letter to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen that questioned the grocer’s rollout of electronic shelf labels, arguing the technology could make it easier to increase the price of high-demand items. The letter also noted that the supermarket chain could become bigger, depending on whether it closes its pending $24.6 billion acquisition of rival Albertsons. Democrats—particularly those like Casey who are trying to win races in competitive swing states—are trying to capitalize on frustration against companies over inflation. The moves follow years of Republican attempts to blame the price hikes on President Joe Biden, who has also criticized corporations for what he called greedy tactics.”

• Today’s recall news involves … electric ranges! CBS News says: “Samsung is recalling more than 1.1 million electric ranges sold nationwide after the products were linked with roughly 250 fires, leading to dozens of injuries and killing at least seven pets. The recall involves slide-in electric ranges with front-mounted knobs that can be turned on accidentally by people or pets, posing a fire hazard if flammable objects are left on top of the range, Samsung stated Thursday in a news release. Samsung has received more than 300 reports of such incidents, the company said in a separate notice posted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Since 2013, fires attributed to the ranges are linked with 18 instances of extensive property damage and resulted in eight injuries requiring medical attention, according to the filing. … The issue may extend beyond Samsung products.”

• Remember the Indy Digest caveat to take small medical studies with a figurative grain of salt the size of a large boulder. That said, this CNN piece is interesting nonetheless: “Consuming a drink with erythritol—an artificial sweetener used to add bulk to stevia and monk fruit and to sweeten low-carb keto products—more than doubled the risk of blood clotting in 10 healthy people, according to a new pilot study. Clots can break off blood vessels and travel to the heart, triggering a heart attack, or to the brain, triggering a stroke. Previous research has linked erythritol to a higher risk of stroke, heart attack and death. ‘What is remarkable is that in every single subject, every measure of platelet responsiveness (clotting) went up following the erythritol ingestion,’ said lead study author Dr. Stanley Hazen, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute.”

• And finally … keep devices with lithium ion batteries away from pets that may turn them into chew toys! The Associated Press reports: “A dog chomping on a lithium-ion battery sparked a serious house fire in Oklahoma, and video of the moment the sparks began to fly has been enlisted by a fire department to show the potential dangers of those batteries. The footage taken from the home and posted last week on the Tulsa Fire Department’s Facebook page shows the dog gnawing on its choice of a chew toy atop one of two cushions set on the floor of a living room. Another dog can be seen on a couch and a cat on the floor as the dog bites down and sparks begin to shoot from the battery. The dog pulls back and soon the cushions are ablaze.” The video is quite a watch!

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