The City That Lives on the Tracks

Yes, 60 homeless have been housed.

Kudus to Yardi. The city has done very little to assist the homeless in my humble opinion. No showers, two hours of food distribution on city property, no day assistance, no warming center for cold rainy nights. The homeless don’t contribute to its revenue.

I live on Ellwood Station Road. This road is a Mecca for those living on the tracks. There is currently another city living on the tracks next to our neighborhood.

The railroad refuses to just close the manmade opening The city refuses to clean up mounds of trash on our street, including feces, shopping carts, furniture that is carried there by guys on bikes, and trash, lots of trash. It smells like feces and dead animals.

The pile has been there months. We are in serious danger of fires.

The encampment is growing quickly. During the day there are 10-15 people entering the opening and walking on the tracks to the encampment. The campers are mostly men. There are many more going at night.

One man, dressed as a devil all in black and carrying a pitchfork or a trident, asked me about the time. He was meeting someone on the tracks. There is a drug ring and a bike-stealing ring on the tracks.

The city constantly says it is railroad property and can do nothing. The city says they offered the homeless on the tracks housing, but they refused.

Why would they accept supervised housing? They could not do drugs and theft there.

I have worked with the homeless for 10 years, initially as a volunteer with the city. Now I wash towels for the Showers of Blessing.

The situation in our neighborhood is dire. This is a pure case of environmental Injustice to the encampment and our neighborhood.

Believe me, the city does not care. They will rest on their fake laurels for a longtime with Buena Tierra. By the way the site looks like a high security prison. I’m sure the businesses around there had no say in the matter just as they didn’t with the Old Town repaving.

I’m sure I am speaking into the void when it comes to Goleta’s interest in helping the homeless. Sixty people in Buena Tierra and twice that many on the tracks.