By Sunny Collins Palm Desert
I was a resident of Santa Monica for over 10 years. My husband and I return there on business on an average of once a month and I still have friends and relatives who live there. Thus, I maintain an active interest in the community and its welfare.
Last week, during the space of only one day in the city, I encountered: At breakfast, a disheveled and disoriented homeless woman, mumbling and nervous in a restaurant on Montana (the manager apologized for her presence, but advised he could not evict her as she had money to pay for her purchase); in the afternoon, an unruly homeless woman in a promenade book store (the security guard stayed by her side, but did not evict her); a wildly screaming homeless man on the sidewalk on Main Street as I returned from lunch; and in the evening, as I waited in the dark in the car as my husband picked up a pizza, several homeless men wandered down the alley, peering into the car, causing me unease.
I notice in your newspaper when you report on various news items regarding these unfortunate individuals you describe them as “homeless.” In another column, wherein you regularly report on crimes committed, you describe them as “transients.”They are not transients in the sense that they do make Santa Monica their home and prey upon residents here.
They are who they are. They do not become “homeless” — a perhaps more sympathetic appellation in one instance and deserving another — one could say disguised — description when they commit crimes. It’s this very mindset that continually refuses to acknowledge this problem that is at the root of the failure to remedy it.
Now, Santa Monica has returned to office many of the council members whose failure to act also contributes to this problem. The voters have likewise failed to act responsibly; thus the people will have the governance — and the homeless problem — they deserve.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 15, 2006. Read the original PDF.