Fires in unexpected places
Unlike the rest of San Jose, Downtown San Jose has daily fires from the surrounding encampments, it is a way of life in the encampments. The threat of fire catching onto residences in close proximity is both real and actual. In Downtown we have tents and encampments setup in our neighborhoods and sidewalk medians.
In San Jose, we’ve lost a number of unhoused people this year to the cold and the elements. And San Jose does not have enough shelter beds, for all the unhoused, who are living on our sidewalks, our parks, and alongside the river banks. Many look for a a place to exist without feeling the damp and cold. I found two such people huddled up behind large recycling bins up against a the outside wall of a home.
The woman was incoherent. She was arguing that she needed two parking locations in order to start her new business. She was drenched and carrying her soggy backpack. Her friend offered that he was trying to take care of her.
But clearly these people needed help that we could not provide. We called the incredibly long list of numbers San Jose suggests when someone is need of assistance and shelter, with no response. And we resorted to calling the police who came an agonizing hour and a half later.
And so this pair, under the worst of weather, ended up under a very small awning hidden behind recycling receptacles. They must have felt lost, and vulnerable, completely abandoned by the formal society that surrounded them.
The police finally came and asked them to leave the private property. And as they were ushered away, we saw that they had gathered wood up against the side of the house and left a quart of ignitable oil behind. If we had not found them under the awning in time there would have been a fire started on the outside wall jeopardizing those who live in the house.
Two houses down there is a messy tent. The tent gathers garbage and discarded furniture around it and discourages people from visiting downtown. It sits on the grassy median between the front yard and the public street. And the police explained that it was public property and so the tent and its refuse must remain.
So because San Jose has decided to turn a blind eye and not focus on the people who are in such dire straits living on the sidewalks, we had homes in danger of an intentional fire. A fire that was meant to keep the pair warm, but would have destroyed several homes and potentially several lives. San Jose isn’t protecting anyone. Not the housed, and certainly not the unhoused.
When will San Jose help these human beings?
