The gist of our conversation was alarming:
1) there is nothing the police can do because a crime hasn't been committed. I asked them if they meant a rape or a murder or a mugging or some sort of crime like that. The two officers sadly shook their heads to affirm my question. They couldn't say 'yes', because their hands are tied by the governing bodies making our city's laws.
It isn't a crime to live on the streets of Mountain View. Isn't it a crime to puke and empty your bladder and bowels on our streets? Or do the police think this is what our neighborhood smells like - a dirty toilet? I guess a resident would have to send photographs of a penis peeing and a mouth puking? That's certainly putting a lot of responsibility on the property owners and renters of Mountain View.
2) I was told to contact the City Attorney's office. I told them I've done that. Our City Attorney was to get back with me within a week. That was almost 3 weeks ago. The officers told me to go there again.
3) I suggested that they were tossing the ball back into my court and making resolving this issue my responsibility.
That won't fly with me. My property bill is over $6,000. It is not my responsibility, as a tax payer, to beg the City of Mountain View to protect my quality of life, to be sure my street is cleaned, or to walk over dried puke in order to go to the grocery or doctor. I realize that I certainly must report homeless encampments popping up on my street, and I do so.
There isn't any reason I should have to spearhead a movement to remove the RV encampment on my street. Residents should not be made to feel like we have to protest in order for the City of Mountain View to see what they've already seen or to do what needs to be done to ensure our quality of life.
The City of Mountain View recently had some human rights activist speak to our council members. The goal is to make Mountain View a "Human Rights" city. That's all well and good. What seems to get lost is that EVERYONE has certain Human Rights.
I'm not advocating 'throwing the homeless off a cliff'. 60 years ago my own family was homeless, for several months, while my father was being treated for a sudden illness. My mother found a place for us in a 'home for single mothers'. There were four of us - my mother and us three kids. We had a small room with four Army cots. The Catholic sisters watched us while my mother worked to save money for an apartment. In order to live there, strict rules had to be followed. And we followed those rules because we were grateful for a place to sleep and food to eat. When my father was discharged from the hospital, we moved into our own place. Us kids grew up to be a lawyer for civil rights and a baking executive and a medical assistant. One of us now owns a condo in Mountain View, CA.
I'm sharing this personal view into my life in order for people to realize that, even though the residents of Mountain View would like to do all that we can to help our homeless population, allowing them to live on our city streets should not be considered an option. There are children living in this encampment. Who is watching over these children during the day and late into the night when they are crying? What sorts of lives can we expect these children to have if we allow them to live among drug addicts and drunks and - perhaps - sex offenders?
If we want to incorporate the homeless into the landscape of Mountain View, we must know who they are. What is their background? Renters must go through screening to live in Mountain View. Why not the homeless, too?
Why are the governing bodies and law enforcers of Mountain View giving up on my neighborhood? Why should my block bear the brunt of our homeless population?
