30 Nights with the Martinez / Pacheco Homeless Outreach - Project Homeless Connect

Day 24

8 p.m.: Before I start tonight I want to clear something up: I have gotten numerous calls about the vacant house downtown I blogged about a few times. First of all, the owner of the property is Contra Costa County and I notified them almost three weeks ago about the mess and the homeless issues going on there. This is not the city's fault. I talked to the city about this issue also; I know they talked the county. The Martinez Police Department has been going back there and are dealing with the same people daily. I have said this before and I will say it again: MPD officers go above and beyond to deal with the homeless issues in the city. They don't have to call me for them or even really let me partner with them to deal with the homeless issues. In other cities the officers hand out a card with a bunch of 800 numbers and that's it. This blog is meant to educate people about homeless issues in our city, that's it. Sometimes people tend to place blame, but on this issue there's no one to blame. You can't blame people for being homeless but you can blame the homeless for some of the behavior that takes place -- drinking, panhandling and public urination etc. Now, don't get me wrong --  I want to help people more than anyone, but sometimes it's hard when they keeping doing the same thing with no results. But I believe they want change, but can't. Now on to tonight.

I started up on Blue Ridge Drive at a local park looking for a guy that needed some help. I was able to find him and set up a time when we can meet tomorrow to provide services for him.

Then I went downtown and walked around. I contacted 11 people tonight downtown. I handed out water and supplies and let people know that I would be giving rides tomorrow to Project Homeless Connect; it is in Richmond and is a very important event for homeless. Every service is under one roof for one day; it has everything from lunch to the dentist to vet care for animals. It is a awesome event; I have never missed one. That's why tonight was a short night because I will be up at 7 a.m. to get people back and forth.