The tour is currently wading through software/video issues. Resilient and moving forward.
Rather than 'clean up' homeless camps as posted, the City of Grass Valley is instead cutting hundreds of trees and bulldozing a road through the woods to 'mitigate' the camps.
Researching Placerville's Hangtown Haven today, following a week in Sacramento. Here is a recap of the past week.
Stockton is experiencing a major financial crisis and it definitely is reflected in the homelessness situation here. Several great interviews and a survey of many dense tent camping areas. I was interviewed by Fox40 (Sacramento) about the tour as they were covering a proposal by council person Silva to house people in closed motel buildings for $500,000 the first year.
People sleep outside along hwy99 in Lodi. An update of the past week.
A quick sample of some of yesterday's interview content in the Nevada City/Grass Valley area - I was present for a police/fire dept. survey of camps to be removed. This is very potent material. This project is producing some great video.
Utah Philips founded a homeless shelter in Grass Valley.
Today I surveyed The Ridge area of North San Juan. People are sleeping outside all over this area but they aren't easy to find. I met a guy raising his family behind the graveyard and several people who camp in their cars.
An Auburn woman experiences difficulty in her first few weeks of homelessness.
I visited Fresno on friday, where there's a very large population of people sleeping outside. I visited Paverello House, which features one of California's only Tuff Shed micro-house villages.
Listen to his harmonica song. Todd smokes tobacco in his camping tickets and admits to "playing crazy" to keep others from getting too close. He lost his child, wife and small intestine in a 2003 car accident.
San Diego has spent a great deal of $ on an anti-homeless device.
A few great interviews and heart connections with some positive people living a hard experience in San Diego and I'm now rushing off to Bakersfield. What a strange scavenger-type hunt this is. Positivity is a form of resistance. (heard on NPR)
1000+ people sleeping up and down several square blocks in the Imperial Ave. are of downtown SanDiego. A bit surprising.
LA's Skid Row has a dozen city blocks where more than a thousand people sleep outside in dangerous conditions.
Great interview subjects! After touring LA's sprawling Skid Row, I interviewed Consuela and Kalif. I made several bonehead video mistakes including running the GoPro out of power and wasting a great interview, only to compound the issue by orienting the iPhone incorrectly because I was trying to be discrete while shooting and always keeping an eye on my bike down the street.
Venice Beach this morning. 100+ people sleeping in the area where I slept in the van. A very artistic and charming beachfront promenade where many artist venders actually sleep at their vending area. I got a $63 parking ticket. OUCH!
One of very few organized homeless communities in California.. River Haven.
Mike lives beside Hwy 101 in Santa Barbara and fights meth addiction. He really needs a safe place to stay as he deals with his issues. He has lived outside since age 13.
