Please keep these camps away from existing neighborhoods. Moffett field is a great idea with minimal opportunity to impact surrounding neighborhoods. Yes, some homeless people are good, harmless people and just down on their luck and need help getting back up. I understand that.

But many have known mental health issues and drug-altered mental states and are unsafe to be close to general populations. I have friends in another state who have been robbed multiply times, and stabbed by mentally unstable, drug-using homeless people. It is incredibly irresponsible to place these camps near neighborhoods unless security is used to guarantee the protection of innocent, law-abiding citizens who are suddenly forced to leave near a large group of these people.

I know it's not PC to say, but it's the truth and I've witnessed what can happen when this issue is not handled properly. I don't blame people in the homes in Sunnyvale for not wanting a camp near them. I would feel the same.

I would suggest the Rex Manor area as one to consider. Yes, that's the spot alright.

The "safe parking" idea is brilliant, and I urge the city council to back it to the hilt. And it would be great to get a homeless shelter in Mountain View.

People like Mr Rex Manor up there aren't thinking about who the actual homeless population of Mountain View is: it's the hourly workers at Starbucks or McDonald's, who until recently had apartments, who got thrown out due to insane rent increases and who are staying in Mountain View however they can because that's where their kids go to school and that's where their life is. I'm not particularly Christian myself, but I hope anyone who thinks they are Christian keeps in mind what Jesus would want to happen to "the least of these".

The safe parking idea seems like it is doable. I work near Target and Walmart and there are now 12-15 RV's parked with individuals and families living in them on Latham Street. Our landlord has raised the issue with Mountain View because the permanent parking of the vehicles on Latham presents a traffic hazard for those coming out of parking lots and off Showers and traveling on Latham

@ Madeline

Great! Let's put it by your house and see how you like it. If it's near my house and any of my family members get hurt as a result, I will not hesitate to sue the county since it was their idea to begin with.

I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that regular citizens be protected from harm while in the process of helping those in need. In the past this has not been done well, and I'm not convinced Santa Clara County will do a better job. The right location, away from neighborhoods and schools will be much safer. Proper management will be critical for the safety of all residents.

Mr. Rex Manor,[Portion removed due to disrespectful comment or offensive language]


70-80% of homeless people aren't "chronically homeless" (definitionally, single possibly mentally ill possibly users of illegal drugs), so you don't need to fear them. Millions of homeless people are kids, ferchrissake. Of the ones you're all in a lather about, mentally ill people are far more likely to get victimized than they are to be victimizers.

You've got a gift of ease. Take a bit of the time and money you could be using in a lawsuit, and share it out a bit. I'd suggest you check out Modest Needs to see how you could help the kind of normal people that make up MV's homeless, before those people go over the last cliff of poverty and hit the streets. The more you learn the less you have to stress.

@ Madeline

A gift of ease?! You would likely feel different if your friend had been stabbed and killed by a wandering homeless man in a public park. If a girl in your hometown was victim of a home invasion by a mentally ill homeless man who threatened to kill her with a knife until she managed to escape and get help from her neighbors. If used drug needles were a common site at your local park because homeless drug users left them laying around after dark.

I think you have "the gift of ease and ignorance". But homeless people in the bay area are somehow different, right? I seem to recall recently there was a fight between two homeless men at the Cubberley Community Center in Palo Alto where one stabbed the other. The situation at Cubberley sounds similar to what is being proposed here.

Look, I am NOT AT ALL claiming that every homeless person is a problem. I agree with you most are not. But there are enough who are and they can create problems for ordinary citizens as well as homeless families who also needed to share space with them. Encouraging these individuals to congregate together in a central area without property security is a huge liability. It's a difficult situation and will be a challenge to manage carefully.

This country struggles to care for mentally ill and drug-addicted individuals so they end up homeless. I doubt that will change without better funding for programs targeting these individuals. In the meantime, the solution to helping the homeless is not as simple as opening a parking lot at night. That's all I'm saying. We only make the situation worse if we are unwilling to recognize these challenges.

People use anecdotal information to support personal biases. That happens in this world...all the time.

@ Anecdotes

Madeline herself says 70-80% aren't chronically homeless, so what about the other 20-30%? Look I've made my point and I have to move onto other things. If you think it's a great idea to let a bunch of homeless people park in a parking lot overnight, just make sure it's in front of your house and not mine. I support you.

I guess it's time to yell "Get a job before you stab someone" at that guy on the corner now. He looks very dangerous. That you can even walk down the street, surrounded by all these vicious assailants laying in wait shows courage beyond most. God Bless you for your bravery.