> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# We need something concrete to lean on
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/we-need-something-concrete-to-lean-on/
- Published: 2006-12-09T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T01:28:29.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness

*By COMMON SCENTS BY CAROLE ORLIN*

Since my last column appeared (“Mental illness is the tragedy within,” Nov. 27, pages 4-5), I have received numerous e-mails and noted a number of Letters to the Editor touching on the same subject matter. Because of space constraints with the prior column, I wanted to continue with some additional thoughts about this critical problem that faces us on a daily basis in Santa Monica.

Unfortunately, we are confronted with the reality that a small percentage of mentally ill people, deprived of medications and support, can become violent. Civil liberty advocates, with all their political correctness, have changed state laws to the point that it is now almost impossible to medicate or treat psychotic people unless they are an imminent threat to themselves or others. The flaw in that approach is that when a person is psychotic, his or her judgment is impaired, and therefore, unable to make rational decisions about most things, least of all their care.

It is hard to believe that anyone who is thinking clearly would choose to eat from trash cans, sleep and relieve themselves in alleys, be tortured by auditory and visual hallucinations, and put themselves at risk of bodily harm. Reality also tells us that there is no sign of this trend changing, despite the tragedy we see on our streets every day. In the 1990s, 44 state hospitals closed, which is more than all the closings in the last two decades combined. This is truly a shameful debacle. For many of these people, three hots and a cot are more than they are getting now. I know we cannot unring the bell, but this untenable situation should not be allowed to continue.

We need to be able to separate the antisocial street people from the vulnerable homeless. We have more than our share of anti-social transients here in SM. I recently read the “Crime Watch” section of SMDP, and as usual, a significantly, disproportionate number of crimes were committed by transients. We need to deal with the criminal element that makes up a large part of our “homeless” population in one way, and the vulnerable mentally ill that make up the remainder, in another. We cannot lump them all together. One approach is not adequate for the diversity within the “homeless” population. I have not seen any evidence that the City Council is making any real progress with this situation.

The city’s new multimillion-dollar community services center on Cloverfield Boulevard will help a few people, but come on! It is a woefully inadequate way of dealing with the overwhelming number of transients we citizens are faced with every day. I know homelessness is a nationwide problem. The issue on the table is not: Why does Santa Monica have homeless people; but why does Santa Monica have such a disproportionately large number of “permanent transients”?

I have been pleased to see an occasional police presence on Montana Avenue, Main Street and the Promenade during this holiday season while tourists fill our streets. Will this continue after the holidays are over? When are we going to see something of substance that addresses both the mentally ill, and the anti-social transients, and shows the law-abiding, taxpaying citizens of Santa Monica that our concerns are being heard, and our elected representatives care enough about their constituents to finally do something?

The apparent lack of response to citizens’ concerns creates more ill feelings towards both the City Council and the homeless population in general. It is the City Council’s apparent “let them eat cake” attitude that brings out the worst in people and is adding to an already very bad situation.

Show us you hear us, and give us a concrete plan.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 9, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/120906.pdf?ref=smdp.com)