While the number one priority for serving homeless people is (or should be) helping them find affordable housing to live in, for the last several years the city has also rightly deemed it an important quality-of-life priority that homeless people have access to showers, bathrooms, and laundry facilities. Until now. BOSS’s Multi-Agency Service Center (MASC) […]
Sonja Fitz
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Berkeley latest homelessness recommendations are a lackluster response to a true emergency
On Tuesday the Berkeley City Council was presented with a report from the Homeless Task Force, with recommendations for action to address homelessness in the city. Leaving aside the likelihood or unlikelihood of any of the recommendations passing, for a Task Force whose self-stated goal is “ending homelessness in our city”, the report is notable for […]
Posted inCity, Community, Opinion
Op-ed: Berkeley’s new donation boxes obfuscate underlying issues
It’s no accident that the newly launched “Positive Change Donation Program”, a partnership of the Downtown Berkeley Association, Berkeley Food and Housing Project, and City of Berkeley, was introduced at the same time that new anti-homeless downtown measures were passed. Donation box programs are in vogue, with similar programs in Indianapolis, Denver, Pasadena, and Orlando, […]
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: Berkeley’s new homeless vote: A victory of style over substance
For a city that prides itself on substance on the issues of environment, free speech, locavore food politics, etc., Berkeley embarrassed itself Tuesday night on the substantive issue of caring for some of its neediest community members, opting for style over substance in the form of tidy sidewalks. Tuesday night the Berkeley City Council rejected the will […]
Posted inOpinion
Yes on Measure S mailer is full of falsehoods
Recently a mailer went out across Berkeley that puts a false ‘kinder, gentler’ spin on Measure S than actually lies at the heart of this ordinance. The language on the mailer sounds good, naturally. “Yes on S: Helps People. Saves Jobs.” A grand claim that warrants some fact-checking. “Helps People”. Moving homeless people away from […]
