30 Nights with the Martinez / Pacheco Homeless Outreach - All Over Town

Day 10

7:20 p.m. -- I started my night going down the train tracks between Howe Road and Alahambra Avenue by Mt. Wanda. I saw a few guys off of Howe Road, none wanted any services but took supplies and everyone seemed to be good medically .

Then I hit the downtown area on Main Street right by Starbucks. I saw a man panhandling so I went over to see if I could get him something and he didn't want anything from me so I asked him to move on. I explained to him that when people panhandle in downtown it makes it hard for me to do my job because people get angry and call the police and the police crack down on the area as they should. This is one of the boundaries that we have to have in order for the downtown area to remain cleaner because when they get money they get alcohol, and that's when the issues start.

Right about that time I get a call from police department to meet an officer at the Amtrak Station about an 80 year old woman. On my way I called and got her shelter but when I got there the woman wanted no services and just wanted to be left alone. It happens sometimes. No elderly person should ever be on the streets dealing with the elements and street life -- it is hard. I have this belief that for every one day someone is on the streets they age three days. Being on the streets can wear down a young person, let alone an 80 year old woman, so I stay at Amtrak where I counted nine homeless out in the parking tonight but six inside. So I went around and asked the women if anyone wanted to go to shelter since there was a bed there but there were no takers so I just gave  out some blankets and supplies. It's been pretty windy the last couple of nights so some folks  needed a little extra warmth.

Then I get a call from a business on Main Street that a guy was in their dumpster so I run over and sure enough, there was a man in the dumpster so we talk and I get him moving on and then I spoke to the business about putting a lock on the dumpster if this was a continuing problem.

Now it's out to the Marina park where no one has been camping, but we still have RV's there, so I check in on them and walk by the Amphitheater. Tonight was bocce so sometimes the homeless will loiter around the bocce courts and I'll get calls or the police will get calls so I went by there. We had one guy there just drinking beer and watching -- he was actually pretty funny . Then I walked the tracks in downtown Martinez from the refinery to Granger' Point.  Kind of far but I saw no one. I get worried when I have people camping on the tracks. Just two years ago a guy camping by the tracks in Concord was struck by a train, so I try to walk the tracks weekly.

All in all good night. I made 19 contacts, so I felt like it was a productive night in Martinez  and it was off to the city of Concord  where I made another 11 contacts . I don't write about what I do Concord because this blog is about Martinez, but most nights when I leave Martinez I head to other cities; I also do Pacheco three nights a week, Concord three nights a week and Pleasant Hill three nights a week and I do Antioch one night per month. But I am looking at cutting back on other cities such as not doing Antioch anymore and doing Pleasant Hill one night week right now. It is too much for me and I have a commitment to Martinez first and foremost, plus most of the folks on my case load end up in Martinez pretty much weekly anyway. I feel like some nights I spread myself too thin and I have to rush through a city. I want to be able to take my time and spend time with folks so I can leave them better than I found them. I do go to all ninteen cities in Contra Costa County for law enforcement calls . I guess it just boils down to I would rather do fewer cities really well  rather than all the cities half way. My dream is to partner with the county on another level and apply for grants with them and be able to hire people  so I can do the whole county like I do Martinez nightly. But as it stands right now I'm the only outreach team operating at night for the whole county and every night in this county over 5,000 people deal with homelessness. Sad, right?