In April 2020, the Fresno City Council approved the funding and purchase of a mobile restroom and shower unit meant to serve the unhoused community. The funding was provided by federal CARES Act [...] Continue Reading
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Sweeping the Unhoused Out of Sight
On June 2, an encampment sweep at Ashlan and West avenues took place. People were forced to leave with no notice, were not offered shelter and no one knows where they will go next. I called Sarah [...] Continue Reading
Continuum of Cash and Racism by the Numbers
In 2019, from information gathered in the annual federally mandated Point-in-Time Count, a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) analysis found that close to 567,000 people experienced [...] Continue Reading
Federal Court Victory for the Unhoused
On May 24, in a major victory for the unhoused community, advocates and the press, U.S. District Court Judge Dale Drozd granted a preliminary injunction blocking the implementation of Fresno’s [...] Continue Reading
Endless War and an End to Your Civil Liberties
While the war in Ukraine rages on and U.S. foreign policy might provoke World War III, most Americans seem oblivious to a clear and present danger—the end of all life on the planet. Nuclear [...] Continue Reading
Catastrophic Climate Change While Being Unhoused
It’s already deadly on the streets of Fresno. It’s deadly, in part, because it is Fresno City policy to continue encampment sweeps and because of its refusal to support safe camps. Women, the elderly, [...] Continue Reading
Rage Against the Unhoused (by the City of Fresno)
On April 7, a massive fleet of California Highway Patrol cars, Fresno Police Department cars, public works vehicles, trash trucks, skip loaders and other heavy equipment arrived in the early morning [...] Continue Reading
Refusing to Remain Invisible
A historic lawsuit, led by longtime homeless advocate Dez Martinez, founder of We Are Not Invisible, has been filed against the City of Fresno. Because of Martinez’s efforts, unhoused residents of the [...] Continue Reading
When Tragedy Knocks at Your Door
Lewis Brown, a 62-year-old homeless man, was assaulted by Fresno Police Department officers at a homeless encampment in West Fresno in February 2020. He has now filed a class-action lawsuit against [...] Continue Reading
Money for Lawsuits, No Money for Warming Centers and No Empathy
As the City of Fresno continues to break up homeless encampments, refuses to keep warming centers open and fails to provide basic sanitation, the mayor, the City Council and the city attorney are [...] Continue Reading
City and County Have Millions Yet Only Kick People When They’re Down
On Jan. 12, it was a truly dystopian scene at H and San Benito streets in downtown Fresno. Police car lights in the dense fog, the jaws of large heavy equipment scooping up property and debris in the [...] Continue Reading
City and County Have Millions While Unhoused Die in the Streets
On Dec. 14, the Fresno Police Department’s Homeless Assistance Response Team (HART, aka the heartless team) raided a small homeless encampment behind a convenience store during a hard, cold rainstorm. [...] Continue Reading