By Charles Springer
When I read the letter last Tuesday by John Zarchen, I was shocked and am grateful the SMDP printed a retraction to it.
I have since had a letter from this individual in my own e-mail — this time spouting the same rhetoric about homeless urinating and defecating all over, panhandling, being anti social etc.
I had to laugh when I read it because for someone who is a professional, he sure does not have his facts straight.
But, then again, it is the way of the neo-conservatives to exaggerate the truth and look at the negative aspects of anything they disagree with unless it involves money or power over those who cannot defend themselves, such as the homeless.
If this person would look beyond the almighty dollar and use his head for something more than a hat rack, he would see how bad this situation truly is. He would see that the figures for unemployment do not include the people who have exhausted their benefits, have been without work in their related fields for more than a year and those of us who are homeless and able to work.
If these figures were taken into consideration in the conservative statistics, the numbers for both would be much higher, as would the figures on the homeless situation. I would guess at least 10 percent unemployment and more than 3 percent homeless. (The government says somewhere at 6 percent unemployment and 2 percent homeless.) He would also realize that the gangs he wants to attack us are more concerned with their territories where their money is concerned. The gangs are there as a result of the discrimination of certain minority groups who live in poverty and see no way out of their situation except through criminal activity. They would be more likely to attack him for his wallet than some homeless person who has no money.
So he is deluded here as well. I see this person as a really misinformed professional. An overworked individual who really needs a vacation from the “rat race,” as the game cash flow calls it.
So I would like to invite this individual — as I have invited Mr. Street and Mr. Bauer — to be educated first-hand on the life of a homeless person.
But alas, these individuals are too elite to come out here on the street and learn first-hand what they do not know. I guess they are so enlightened that they know everything.
The really ironic thing about them is they seem to give the homeless of Santa Monica credit for everything from 10,000 people leaving this city due to the lifting of rent control and rent going to astronomical prices, to the decline of business on the Promenade due to the Sept. 11 incident, to the non-depression this country is in and the war in Iraq.
Well, one of my sources tells me business has increased about 16 percent over last year. Maybe the homeless are responsible for that as well. I would like to think they would give the homeless credit for something positive.
On the serious side, what Mr. Zarchen did was nothing short of criminal behavior. Calling an act of terrorism on American citizens is just what the Patriot Act is against — or have perhaps he’s forgotten his neo-conservative buddies in Washington passed that into law not long ago.
I think Mr. Zarchen should think about what he writes next time he prompts the attacking and killing of American citizens, homeless or otherwise.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 28, 2003. Read the original PDF.