Redding Homeless Blog

It appears this Christmas season the holiday sentiments  "peace on earth goodwill towards men" we wish to one another does not include our everyday neighbors the poor and homeless we see languishing up and down our streets as if trapped in some kind of modern day World War 2 Bataan "forced" death march. Of course the American Indians and how we "forced" them down far more than one trail of tears as well also comes to mind, a form of torture to be sure. Keep um moving... What a shame on the streets of Redding their poor and homeless are treated just shy of how we treat captured enemy combatants on the streets of Fallujah Iraq. Indeed the Iraqi combatants would receive food and water and shelter. As for Redding and that matter California's growing homeless Families, Veterans, Men, Women and Children...? Keep um moving... We have another phrase Americans hold dear, "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Unfortunately ...

3 young girls said they were staying in the Good News Rescue Mission Woman's section and that Washington was much colder that Redding.   Redding Homeless Man, 23 degrees, 8 a.m.   Snowstorm Homeless Shelter, South City Park Bleachers Frozen homeless camp downtown Redding.   Subfreezing morning behind old Wells Fargo depot for John St George Greek Orthodox Church 23 degrees, 8 a.m.

This is the Wells Fargo Depot that still stands on Yuba St. in downtown Redding near the railroad tracks across the street from the Redding California Veterans "Memorial Building" and the downtown Post Office. This photo was taken in approximately 1913. The Wells Fargo Depot today stands in jeopardy of being demolished by Union Pacific which owns the property and wants to demolish it.  The City of Redding seems to have no interest  in saving it and seem interested in maintaining a "history" as well. A history of destruction concerning dozens of historic buildings during the downtown mall construction, as well as the destruction of hundreds of homeless camps, and their irreplaceable personal possessions. In a world where it is against the law for certain folks to sit or lay down or sleep or keep warm by a campfire it is quite natural for the City of Redding to strongly desire to tear down this monument to a compassionless Tea Party majority Redding...

  As part of a global Anonymous Event to donate a charity donation care package to the homeless this Christmas holiday, please join Anonymous Help the Homeless 2013 #OpXmas    Redding California Page . Every winter, in cities all over the world, people die from exposure to the elements. All month of December Anonymous will take to the streets bringing help to those who need it most providing blankets, clothing, coats, gloves, sleeping bags, tents, tarps , canned food and other essential's for the homeless and needy. Drop off locations~   NVCSS Second Home 1250 California St, Redding CA 96001 (530) 247-3321 Shasta Trinity Tehama HIV Food Bank 925 Wall St, Redding, CA 96002 (530) 223-2118 Not in the Area ? Please DONATE Online !! Northern Valley Catholic Social Service / Second Home Shasta Trinity Tehama HIV Food Bank "The homeless need our help. They can not depend on government assistance. It is up to each and every o...

  "Chico City Council Fueled Hate Crimes And Bigotry" R-Town armed private guards roaming downtown removing homeless and giving them tickets for the crime of sitting or laying down ? Sub standard law enforcement hired for a perceived sub standard lower class of homeless American citizenry somehow devoid of the civil and constitutional rights and freedoms we all enjoy ? Chico California has a homeless shelter crisis, and the local chapter of the ACLU agrees . Downtown merchants allegedly threatening to "hose " homeless off the streets and sidewalks returning to the days of Birmingham and Martin Luther King with what seems like a stamp of approval from the City Council granting what can only be described as spiritual oppression, and a clear message of homeless having no right to exist. And in of all places Chico California ? Life on the Streets of Chico "There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to dev...

California and Hill Street Does the answer to Redding California's homeless problem require that we cut down beautiful mature trees in creeks and greenbelts all over town where homeless take refuge within the city ? While filming this Redding California Homeless blog I was harassed and accosted. Nothing new... Is Spiritual Warfare a part of following Jesus Christ and a desire to help the homeless and poor of Redding and Shasta County ? An example from a recent Record Searchlight Editorial "I chose to work, retire, buy a home and pay taxes. I for one am very tired of homeless advocates like Chris Solberg — whom I’ve personally confronted when the police were removing a huge homeless camp on the corner of Court Street and Riverside Drive — who say being homeless isn’t a crime. I disagree. When these folks abuse city land and beautiful areas with their garbage, it is a crime — a crime upon the good hard-working people without addictions. When I questioned Mr. ...

A noticeable war on the poor and homeless of Redding California has been declared, with brush and tree pockets of known homeless camps being destroyed from one end of town to the other. Wonderful homeless advocates protested the destruction of Redding California homeless camps on the Sacramento River Trail Community Clean Up Day near the proposed Sheraton Hotel during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression . Many homeless live in the Turtle Bay , Sundial Bridge, and proposed future rather decadent certainly opulent future Redding Sheraton Hotel area. Homeless displaced during the Sacramento River Community Clean Up Day. Tammy from Redding: On Rape, Murder, Parkview "Clean Up" and Her Life on the Streets And certainly the City of Redding and others are keenly interested in accelerated anticipation and  perceived feverish actions to remove those things necessary to beautify and somehow attract these purveyors of luxu...

  One of many Sacramento River Trail homeless campers displaced today. Tammy from Redding: On Rape, Murder, Parkview "Clean Up" and Her Life on the Streets Wonderful homeless advocates protested the destruction of Redding California homeless camps today during the worst economic recession since the Great Depression .     The protest was a World Homeless Action Day 2013 event. A curiously small group of individuals attended the Community Creek Cleanup 2013 at the Sacramento River Trail, most of the work I am sure left undone.     Students from Bethel Church, Shasta and Foothill High Schools and others, the McConnell foundation, California Conservation Core, Redding Rotary, Redding Electric Utilities , R.E.U. and others destroyed homeless river trail survival camp and beautiful fishing areas during the Redding Shasta Community River Trail Clean Up 2013. Sadly at least one of these was parked there today, and M...

Last seen in Redding California Police Dept. on September 1, 2010, James Randolph Olsen from Gresham Oregon walked in said he was homeless and needed help. Bi - polar and diabetic , a quote from James North American Missing Persons Network   page states : " They directed him to the Good News Rescue Mission. For unknown reasons, James was asked to leave the Mission and was suspended from returning for 30 days. He did not return . His illness causes him to appear intoxicated but he does not drink. James is quite ill both mentally and physically." The Redding California Police had contact 2 other times  with James. The last one was on September 3, 2010. James, in the area of the Good News Rescue Mission flagged down an officer and asked for directions.  The officer found the missing person report on James and contracted Gresham Police. The officer said that James appeared to be living a "transient lifestyle".   The polic...

Jeffrey Lee Fecht, 19 and Brandon Eudean Sposito, 26, shown in Shasta County Superior Court. "2 suspects brutally beat, strip, homeless man ‘Let’s burn him.’" Duo sentenced for their role in 'deplorable' beating of homeless man • By Jim Schultz Record Searchlight •Posted August 27, 2013 at 4:18 p.m. "Two Redding men who saw their negotiated plea bargains fall through earlier this month in connection with the near fatal beating of a homeless man were both sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison under a new pact. Jeffrey Lee Fecht, 19, and Brandon Eudean Sposito, 26, were sentenced after Superior Court Judge Dan Flynn had rejected on Aug. 7 plea bargains that called for only six-year sentences. Shasta County Deputy District Attorney Toby Powell said today that Flynn accepted the 10-year sentences for both men. “I think 10 years was the right resolution,” he said, adding that both men pleaded out to attempted murder charges. Fecht also a...

In April of 2006 Loaves & Fishes, Francis House, SHOC, Homeless Advocates, and the homeless rallied at the California State Capital to urge the City, County, and State to create a Safe Ground where the homeless can camp at night. Homeless Advocates from Modesto to Redding were prepared to be arrested as it is against the law to have a sleeping bag anywhere on State Capital property as homeless advocates block the south state capital entrance  practicing non violent civil disobedience as they dare California State Highway patrol officers to arrest them ! . "The Rally at the California State Capitol for "Safe Ground," the legalization of homelessness begins at Loaves and Fishes with 300 homeless folks getting on the bus and rallying for their cause. Watch the enthusiasm build as they are dropped off at the Capitol steps!" (Part 2) Sister Libby of Sacramento Loaves and Fishes at the non violent civil disobedience rally at the Califo...

*UPDATE PROTEST Destruction of Redding California Homeless Camps - World Homeless Action Day Event Homeless Advocates ... PROTEST - BRING YOUR CAMERA - INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ! https://www.facebook.com/events/167654713435278/ ___________ Unfortunately it seems like homeless hatred is on the rise in Redding California and abroad.  Homeless folks are rapidly loosing their civil and constitutional rights. Police chase and evict homeless from their camps, some taking and throwing away their necessary survival gear and personal possessions in a cruel and unusual game of cat and mouse. One city   has now set up a hotline to remove homeless people from its no homeless allowed downtown business district. Local businesses and residents can report the location and offensive presence of  homeless person to police on sight making homelessness once again a crime. World Homeless Action Day is a global worldwide collaborative ef...

On October 17, 2006 the Redding California Police Chief, the Fire Chief , and Dave Honey of the Good News Rescue Mission all spoke in favor of at the City of Redding Council meeting amending Redding Municipal Code Chapter 10-40 Unlawful Camping making it a possible misdemeanor punishable by up to a 1000 dollar fine and/or 6 months in jail for the homeless crime of sleeping or keeping warm by a campfire anywhere in the city limits effectively criminalizing homelessness.  Why do homeless need SAFE GROUND ? Sacramento Attorney Mark Merin advocates for "safe ground" and the human right to a safe place to sleep. Fast forward to 8/17/2013  to a Record Searchlight article "Homeless encampments, natural features create perfect storm for Market Street fires" and we know now that due to the criminalization of homelessness and the dynamics of fear created homeless are camping and hiding   not only deeper in the steep canyons and brush behind Market St....

In a recent Record Searchlight article "( Homeless ) Day center talks in works " the "Rev" Ann Corrin was quoted as saying " You should not have to presume to take on someone's beliefs to get a bowl of soup. " One must ask, in what charitable religious establishment in Redding California does this occur? Is this a requirement of the Good News Rescue Mission ? .... No... Living Hope Compassion Ministry...No.... Was it a shot across the bow of conservative Christianity ? or spiritually is there even more ?? Do we hear today the same complaints from Ann Corrin as those who came back the next day after Jesus Christ fed the 5000 so long ago who just wanted to be fed again with no regard for the provider or what He had to say? Of course this project should include and welcome all faith beliefs and NOT exclude Jesus Christ. Why must Christians give up their autonomy for this future Day Center ? And why does the City of Redding feel it can dict...

  4 Redding California police officers surround a homeless man as he sits in back of city hall.  The eagerly awaited and compassionately long overdue California "Homeless Person's Bill of Rights and Fairness Act"  passed its first hurdle in the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 7-2 party line vote. In Los Angeles   the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals  found that a city law prohibiting sleeping, sitting or lying on public byways constituted "cruel and unusual punishment," because the city has so few shelter beds its street people have nowhere else to stay. The same is true in Redding California. Many California cities like Redding criminalize homelessness, giving tickets for camping (sleeping) and sitting, often taking their necessary survival gear (tents, sleeping bags ) telling them to leave town and violate them for what you and I may very well take for granted...  everyday living and life-sustaining act...

I knew Robert when he took refuge under the covered entrance to Trinity Lutheran Church on Hilltop until they kicked him off the property several years ago. I have never witnessed him panhandling. Robert told me he was a Vietnam veteran, who often could be seen with a guitar. Apparently Robert spent the last years of his life sitting in front of the Target Department store. It is my understanding somebody ran over Roberts foot, and infection set in. Folks in Target can tell you more, and they have been nice enough to purchase this memorial stand where this well known and loved homeless man dwelled.   Robert died of esophageal cancer which jives with what the folks told me at Target because they were not sure if it was the cancer or the gangrene or both that killed him. *Folks working at Target gave him things periodically to survive and in the process monitored him. *Folks working at Target noticed he was starting to fail healthwise and called help for hi...

Please meet Tony, a homeless man who has spent day and night during Redding's exceptionally cold winter outdoors. As hundreds of people a day pass by Tony across the street from the downtown post office, many of them leave love offerings... clothes, food, blankets, .......money. Tony has severe problems with his feet, and has a very hard time walking. For several months Tony was allowed to sit under cover of the Amtrack station on a bench, until construction has driven him to the spot you see today. As you can see, and if you were to ask Tony, handouts do help... Unfortunately homeless "Tony" could not make it through the night... I looked at the paramedic and said he was dying on that bench... He agreed Tony spent many months staying under the porch on a bench of the Redding Amtrack depot until construction forced him out on the bench across the street from the downtown Post Office on Yuba St..  Usually he can hobble over to the cover...