Reeling from the News

I wrote at length about our local homeless population back in late November '08. I know many of the folks to live at the creek very well and, with my current financial situation, have felt some degree of comfort knowing that if I had to move there, I would be among friends.

About a month ago, I saw a post on a local neighborhood blog that put some fear into my heart about "my" creek and the homeless that live there. The area I hike is "supposed" to be maintained by the golf course. They have failed to do what the city required of them...which was very little and so now 260 acres... i.e, where I hike and many friends live (in tents), is to be dedicated to Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority to be taken care of since apparently the golf course is unwilling to do so.

Step one of that process is to move the homeless out. Thinking that all things our local government does will take decades, I decided not to concern myself with it. After all, it took almost 20 years for the golf course to be permitted and built. But someone has fast-tracked this.

Last week, "homeless advocates" mapped the area by helicopter and on foot. Then they went around and told all the homeless to vacate by Tuesday or they would throw their stuff away! In this economy!!!???!!!!

While I am terribly worried about all my friends - especially Margaret and Tim (who also lives with his twenty-ish nephew now). Even if they tell Margaret to get out, who knows if she understands. She's lived in the creek for around 30 years! What is she going to do???? Tim holds a job and will figure something out.... but Margaret just won't get it.

And it that isn't bad enough, step two in this nasty process is to fence off the area and make it accessible only from sunrise to sunset. No more staying too late by the stream and wandering out after dark. No more coming home from a too-long meeting and rushing out there for a moonlight hike to restore my sanity. I literally feel like the walls are closing in on me.

I'm really starting to hate California...it's not enough that our stupid governor spent us into the poor house and actually wants to raise our already exorbitant taxes in a depression (which, by the way, where are they getting the money for that expensive advertising campaign to get us to vote yes on the taxes if we're so broke???). But now that they are taking my creek away, I just want to move somewhere cheap, buy at least 30 acres and build a house in the middle.

If I only knew where that was... and had the money to get there.