BY DAVE PRICE
Daily Post Editor
Applause all around for the Menlo Park City Council, which has committed $62 million toward the construction of a state-of-the-art homeless shelter.
I’m normally skeptical of government, but I’ve got to admit that this is too good to be true.
The new shelter will run under the Caltrain tracks at Middle Avenue. It would connect Alma Street and El Camino Real, allowing for maximum convenience.
City Council on Jan. 27 decided to spend $7.4 million to get the project started.
The shelter was originally envisioned as a tunnel under the Caltrain tracks to connect two neighborhoods for bicyclists and pedestrians. But seeing how homeless people always set up tents in and adjacent to such tunnels, the purpose of this $62 million project has changed.
Once the homeless move in, the police won’t do anything about it. They don’t want activists accusing them of … well … fill in the blank with this week’s label.
Safety-conscious people don’t want to walk through such a tunnel, so this will be a permanent home for the homeless.
One bright spot is that the homeless are sporting new tents these days. Not sure who has been supplying these tents, but they’ve become a fixture at encampments throughout the state. I’m sure we’ll see these snazzy new tents here, too.
You might think it’s crazy that the city is going to spend $62 million on this shelter/tunnel, but the rest of the city is in great shape these days. The city has built all of the affordable housing necessary, the streets are free of potholes, the sidewalks are well repaired, retailers have more customers than they can imagine, and city employees are receiving pay way beyond their peers in other communities. So, sure, let’s splurge and build this homeless shelter.
Editor Dave Price’s column appears on Mondays.
I thought Stanford was supposed to pay for that tunnel, as part of the redevelopment deal of all those auto dealerships on El Camino 20 years ago. Did something change?
Shuttering the TIDE Academy to help fund this shelter/tunnel is nothing short of visionary. The warmth of collectivism is finally being felt in Menlo Park. No Kings!
Those two things aren’t related.
If only there was an effective way to handle the homeless problem. If there was, it would’ve been nipped in the bud a long time ago.
How much of that $62 million is going to go towards the law enforcement contingent that will need to be stationed there 24/7-365? Ask Redwood City how their “Navigation Center” is going.
Menlo Park City Council is a little late to investing in the homeless industrial complex but $62M for this tunnel is a good start.
More “homeless” will now appear with this waist of funds. Now the cops will get their kitchens and bathrooms remodeled on the overtime they will make while having to baby sit adults. Good for them.
Maybe we should also ask the great Gavin where the 24 billion tax dollars earmarked for the “homeless” went. Must not be important.
Building this shelter will make the problem worse. People will camp out in the vicinity rather than going inside. The homeless hate shelters.
I believe the article is a parody.
Our homeless problem is out of control. We need to reopen the asylums. People caught shoplifting, urinating outdoors, trespassing, aggressively panhandling need to be arrested and held on a high bail. If we make our town unfriendly to the homeless, they’ll flee to Santa Cruz or SF, where they will be welcomed with open arms. But I’ve had enough of them here.
The crazy people who go around harassing people and yelling at the top of their lungs aren’t just the homeless. I live on Cowper Street in Palo Alto, a pretty nice neighborhood, and a wealthy family bought their adult son a house. They also give him a robust allowance. He doesn’t seem to have a job other than a fake charity he claims to run. He will stand in his front yard, and howl and scream like a banshie. He often walks around with soiled and smelly clothing. Yet he’s able to function at a high enough level to moderate some social media site, where he attacks people he hates in the community. His parents are well aware of this his illness, but they are just glad he’s not around them. So we have to put up with him in our neighborhood.
Let me guess. Is his first name Howard?