Old Sleep Spot

New year, new skill. Took this photo with my new camera cellphone the night I met Shad to go to the City Council meeting. That was before we went inside the city hall across the way from Long Beach's main library branch. Leaving the meeting many homeless huddled under the overhang in the rain. Some already have their backpacks under the ledge shown in the photo. A bit of cardboard to put their blanket or sleeping bag upon. I liked the spot to the right in the picture, but not over by the yellow wall. Felt more hidden than the ledge to the left. Neither spot was too helpful in blocking the wind. The area stayed mostly dry which is why I took my chances to go sleep there some nights.

The police routinely sweep through ticketing everyone or asking them to leave. I used to call the regulars "the wheelchair brigade". Some slept in the chairs, others in real bad shape would have help getting them out of the chair to the ground and back in the chair in the morning. Outdoor working outlets made the area popular for the wheelchair users. Could charge the chair batteries for those who had motorized ones. Easy access to the bus and train. I still get sad seeing disabled people being forced to live on the streets. What kind of country is this? is often on my mind. Some wheel chair people are veterans. Others lost legs due to illness or accidents. Why is their no housing for them? Affordable for those that have income and free for those that do not. I wonder about the lady that was outraged about a Village drop-in center being in her neighborhood around 2010. Did she see the wheelchair brigade on her way out of the meeting?

I wonder why Long Beach does not have a year round shelter for homeless people. Especially for the wheelchair brigade. I hated breaking the law to sleep there at the library. Hated sleeping on sidewalks or benches too. Hated becoming instant criminal simply because I no longer had a place to call home. People complain about thee unsightly homeless and discuss how to solve thee homeless problem. Seems a simple solution would be to build shelters for those down on their luck and to provide affordable housing for everyone else. We must pay taxes and obey laws. Choosing to govern, comes with it the responsibility to care for all citizens needs and spend tax money wisely, methinks.

Some sleeping illegally around the library might be at the river sleeping in a tent to stay dry, out of the wind and cold, damp night air. Not allowed. When the police sweep, the tents and belongings get swept away too. IDs, prescription medications, reading glasses, dentures~makes no difference to the police who are doing their city ordered job, it is all trash to them. Homeless people ourselves are often viewed as trash too, by people like the outraged lady at the city hall meeting.

Yesterday I did my first text message with a single word: Test. Took a while to learn I could indeed use the new cellphone to email myself photos taken with the camera. Do have another photo of this spot I took with a disposable camera in 2006. Did not have the cash to get the developed prints put on a disc as someone told me to do. Costs way too much at Kinko's to scan and upload to the web. This photo is small but I like being able to easily take pictures of my old sleep spots. Some already demolished for new high rise, high cost condos & hotel construction. Perhaps by 2010 all the new money Long Beach is attracting will enable the city to provide shelters for the city's homeless.

If it were not for the Village and Village people, I might still be sleeping under that ledge today. Now to find an affordable place to live so they can help another homeless person become homed.