Translation: We are watching you, we know where you are, & we want you gone
I’m not sure what’s worse: gross neglect and attacks on the homeless, or paternalistic false care.
Let me explain.
Yesterday, I was forced to stop for new tires in Half Moon Bay, California.
It’s a lovely little coastal town, just south of San Francisco, with lovely (very rich) people.
The State beach charged $10 daily admission fee. No thank you. We parked and walked a mile to the beach.
The local tire shop didn’t have tires in stock that fit my bus and had to order them from their nearby warehouse, forcing me to spend the night.
The tire shop generously offered me their parking space for overnight parking to avoid the local restrictions.
The tires didn’t come until late in the afternoon, so we decided to stay over another night in a “12 hour” parking zone just down the road from the tire place, on the edge of downtown, but near some fairly nice homes.
After the tire job was done, we parked and took a walk at sunset to get dinner. Upon our return, there were two bright yellow notes on the bus. I initially thought they were tickets. But instead, they said (format as in original):
Dear Motor Home Neighbor
We are hoping to survey you and our other neighbors living in motor homes to get more information about your living situation and the kind of services that might be helpful to you.
And we’ll give you a $50 Safeway gift card for your time.
If we missed you today, we plan to be back on Tuesday, 4-7 pm, Thursday 9 am – 12 pm, or Saturdays 12-3 pm until October 12. Two volunteers will knock and hope to speak to you.
Need help now? Please contact your local Core Agency, Coastside Hope at (650) 726-9071.
This is an anonymous survey conducted in partnership with County of San Mateo Human Service Agency.
What to make of this?
I immediately was pissed off by the arrogant presumption that my bus was a “motor home” and – with absolutely no evidence to support their conclusions – that I was in need of their “help” and “services”, and right “now”.
Of course, the Mr. Rogers “neighbor” rhetoric was condescending, at best.
Then the real message sunk in loud and clear: this was not some effort to help people, but a politically correct way to let people know that the authorities are aware of my presence and that they’d really like to see me gone ASAP.
I’ve been told that recent federal court decisions block California police from harassing people who live in vehicles. So, obviously, they can’t just send the cops to roust people out.
Is that now the caring California way to keep the presumed homeless moving down the coast?
I sure feel that way – how would you feel?
I really don’t think I’m being paranoid and cynical – but I’ll call these folks tomorrow to see what’s up.