On The Mark
KCAA: On The Mark with Mark Westwood (Thu, 15 Aug, 2024)
It can get lonely climbing Mount McKinley, so to entertain myself, I go to ChumbaCasino.com. At ChumbaCasino, I can play hundreds of online casino-style games for free, like online slots, bingo, slingo, and more. Plus, I get a daily login bonus. It's just too bad that up here, I don't have anyone to share my excitement with. Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! How about a snub pulley? Well, if you're installing a new conveyor belt system, dealing with the different components can sound like you're speaking a foreign language. Luckily, you've got a team ready to help. Granger's technical product specialists are fluent in maintenance, repair, and operations, so whenever you want to talk shop, just reach out. Call clickgranger.com or just stop buying. Granger, for the ones who get it done. ABC News Radio. I'm Brian Schook. Donald Trump is holding a news conference at his New Jersey golf club in Bedminster. He began by speaking about the state of the country and immigration. We're a failing nation because of the way it's been run for the last three and a half years. People are coming into our country by the millions and millions and millions. We have no idea who they are, where they come from. Meantime President Biden campaigned with Kamala Harris at a rally today. The first joint appearance since the president ended his 2024 re-election bid. While speaking from Prince George's County Community College in Maryland, the two leaders highlighted their efforts to cut Medicare prices for popular drugs. After dumping torrential rains on parts of Puerto Rico, Hurricane Ernesto is on the move, some 550 miles southwest of Bermuda. It's packing 85 miles per hour maximum sustained winds. Wall Street is closing with stocks sharply higher. Liz Warner reports. This comes as there's been encouraging news for investors from labor and consumer reports this week that have helped cool recession concerns. A new report today showed retail sales increased by 1 percent in July. That's way above the expectations of 0.3 percent. At the closing bell today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 554 points, the S&P 500 rose 88 points, and the NASDAQ gained 401 points. Senator Ted Cruz wants to reopen an investigation into a baggie of cocaine that was found last summer at the White House. It's been revealed that the former head of the Secret Service wanted to destroy the evidence. In a letter to the agency's new director, the Texas Republican suggests a troubling pattern of misconduct. US gymnast Jordan Child says the decision to strip her of her bronze medal feels unjust. You're listening to the latest from NBC News Radio. K-C-A-A Lows knows owning a project means owning the right tools. And during craftsman days, you can save big on what you need from a brand you trust. Get a free select V20 tool when you buy a select battery to pack. Plus, get your choice of the V20 string trimmer or leaf blower for only $99. Find these savings and more today. Lows knows home improvement. Ballad through 7-10 while supplies last. Selection varies by location. What seems to be the problem? Dr. Thank Goodness. My husband found out Cricket Wireless has 5G plans starting at $15 a month, and his jaw just dropped. Did he hear about Cricket's blazing fast 5G? Yep. What about their reliable nationwide coverage? Yes, that too. I see. Unfortunately, there's no cure. But you will have really fast 5G. Get jaw-droppingly fast 5G for $15 a month. Smile, you're on Cricket. Cricket 5G requires a compatible device and is not available everywhere. Video may be limited to SD fees may apply terms and restrictions apply subject to change the store for details. Our food supply is facing total destruction. Big ag and big farm are using new CRISPR technology to genetically modify every fruit, vegetable and grain. It's so bad that the FDA just approved the first GMO cow for human consumption. At Joseph's Organic Bakery, we never use GMO hybridized flour. We bake like 1,000 years ago. We only use non-GMO ancient grains that we grind ourselves. Never commercial flour. Proper bread is medicine. Itty is Ryan C. Chris here. People always say it's good to unwind, but that's easier said than done. The exception, Chumba Casino. They actually make it easier done than said, or at least the same. Chumba Casino is an online social casino with hundreds of casino-style games like Slots and Blackjack. Play for fun, play for free, for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Sign up now, collect your free welcome bonus at ChumbaCasino.com. Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. To learn how our bread can transform your health, give us a call at 954-541-4062 or visit our website at veganbakerymiami.com. That's 954-541-4062. What does it take to take on Alzheimer's? Awareness that nearly two-thirds of those diagnosed are women, including black women. Dedication to lowering your risk by eating healthy and monitoring blood pressure and confidence to talk to your healthcare provider about screening and early detection. You have what it takes to take on Alzheimer's. Learn about signs and screening at takeonalz.com. Brought to you by the California Department of Public Health. What would you do if you had a broken bone? You'd go to the doctor and use your insurance, right? Well, what would you do if you have a serious problem with drugs and alcohol? Most people do nothing until it's way too late. Your insurance can help you get clean and sober with the assistance of a place like the detox and treatment help line. Many times, addiction treatment is fully covered. So why not use your insurance to treat your addiction problem just like you would if you had a broken bone? And with the Family Medical Evac, you're allowed to take time off by law and your employer doesn't need to know the reason. So there are two good reasons. You've got insurance you can use for your addiction problem and with the Family Medical Evac, it's completely confidential. Call now 800-398-7414. That's 800-398-7414. One of the best ways to build a healthier local economy is by shopping locally. Teamster Advantage is a shop local program started by Teamster Local 1932 that is brought together hundreds of locally owned businesses to provide discounts for residents who make shopping locally their priority. Everything from restaurants like corkeys to fun times at SB Raceway and much, much more. If you're not currently a Teamster and you want access to these local business discounts, contact Jennifer at 909-889-8377 extension 224. Give her a call. That number again is 909-889-8377 extension 224. KCAA now presents Crossroads, a program in the public interest bringing you the issues you need to hear about here in our community. Now here is your host, Mark Westwood. And good afternoon to you everybody out there in radio land everywhere to the ships to the seas to all the Southern California. It's good to be back with you here as we start to roll into the election season. It's a big day all around the area as we have election filing periods closing. So if you're running for office or putting an issue on the ballot, a lot of you know that we will be cutting the date off at five o'clock. And that's why I just brought this up as we enter into this. On the phone I have a good friend and somebody who has some news for us. The former city clerk for the city of San Bernardino for umpteenth number of years and community activist is now currently I believe the director of Habitat for Humanity as well and Gigi is now engaging in something else and I would like to welcome Gigi so she can make the announcement. Hello Gigi. Hello Mark thank you for having me. I turned in my papers today to run for you Kipa City Council District Tree. Well congratulations. We always like to hear people stepping up to the table to make a difference to help their community because they care and they love their community and Gigi you're originally from San Bernardino and then you moved to South Dakota I think and now you've been in the Kipa for a little bit and tell us what you like most about you Kipa. Well I really like where I'm living is very walkable so I can go to the historic downtown area. There's great shops. I feel safe and so I like the walkability, the safeness. I like the rural feel and yet it's you know close to everything you need to be. I've lived there for 21 years Gigi. I love it. A lot of changes but you know what there's been some changes that are good, some changes that aren't bad but you know I just wanted to introduce you to folks today and we're going to have you come on the radio in a little bit in a few days and we'll interview you and talk about all your your goals and your visions for the city of Yookaipa. We have this mutual Yookaipa love admiration society and it is a beautiful place to live and in many ways and we're glad to have a very qualified person who can not only be running your own campaign if she wanted to but a political consultant. Say folks Gigi you have a website right? I do. It's called GG4 that's the numeral for Yookaipa3 the numeral3.com. G-I-G-I-4. You slept through your alarm. Missed the train and your breakfast sandwich. Cool. Sounds like you could use some luck. I'm Victoria Cash and Luckyland is where people go every day to get lucky. At Luckyland you can play over a hundred casino style games for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Go to Luckylandslots.com and get lucky today. If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down it can turn up the heat literally but don't sweat it. Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations including warehouse HVAC maintenance and even better they offer access to experts and fast delivery so you and your warehouse can both keep your cool. Call 1-800-granger click Granger.com or just stop by. Granger for the ones who get it done. And I lost the rest of it. Yookaipa3. G-G-I-4. Yookaipa3. Okay at.com. Just.com. Yeah yeah I'm sorry I'm like what yeah. I'll get that right eventually I'll get that right. And you're off to the races and you're making appearances here and there and what not and I believe. Oh yes. Yes without at National Night Out the other night that was fun. A little warm but fun. Okay we're all good and G.G. is living in District 3 and we are glad to have you in Yookaipa and I look forward to you being on our City Council. Thank you Gigi. Thank you very much. Thank you we're going to get on with our program. Just kind of quick add on just want to say hello and shout out and congratulations for getting that. All those petitions signed and all that paperwork done and being right on the road at the very first congratulations. Gigi Hannah candidate for District 3 Yookaipa City Council. Thank you. All right all right and we're going to move on from there as we're moving to things today we're going to talk momentarily to Suzette Scott about National Solidarity Week and some other challenges in the community of San Bernardino all around really the homeless program problem rather than a homeless problem not the program and welcome Suzette. Hi thank you Mark for having me. Great and I'll get back with you in just a minute. I got a couple other things to talk about. Always open up our show with some community announcements. First of all I want to send a big congratulations to Rachel Gustason. Now for people in Yookaipa you know her very well she's the editor of the Yookaipa Calamisa News Mirror the newspaper the weekly newspaper and Yookaipa has been for quite some time active in the community and just recently the papers that she works for a chain of newspapers not just the Yookaipa Calamisa News Mirror but the Redlands Community News the Banning and Beaumont Gazette the Fontana Daily or the Fontana Herald and you know and the Redlands Community News. Well she was recently also made editor of the Redlands Community News and there's been a lot of changes there but they've kept their reporters they kept all the reporters some of their you know hired freelance reporters are not quite using right now they're kind of redesigning the paper a little bit but they this company out of Arizona the purchased century newspaper group out of Arizona has about 60 papers and and they are committed to keeping the news local and keeping that paper local and all those papers local so we congratulate them we welcome them to community and they'll have another edition coming out this Friday and every Friday happily ever after and we want to welcome and congratulate the new owner and also Rachel Gustafson who's been a longtime friend and supporter of our radio stations here and we've collaborated quite a bit so we're we're glad she's still on board and we're glad they're still around and that will be local news so we always want to support local news so that that's a good thing uh in the city of San Bernardino coming up tonight I know or the event um the election is about maybe 90 days away now uh as you know well everybody's talking about you know um Kamala Harris and Tim Wells and the democratic ticket there's been a lot of talk about that we talked a lot about the Olympics but you know we haven't heard about a lot about local races like what we just announced in ukipa but there's also a local race for city council in San Bernardino I believe the seventh ward and if I'm not mistaken it's the seventh ward there's a debate tonight by the two candidates that made it through the primary that would be Jim Penman former city attorney who was recalled but he committed to his uh community I guess and he's running for city council again against uh treasure Ortiz a longtime community activist if you know treasure she is very well informed she is a very passionate person about San Bernardino so this this promises to be you know a city attorney or former city attorney and treasure Ortiz very knowledgeable very learned uh this promises to be a very good debate and it's taking place tonight at the arrowhead country club uh that's right above 30th street off of country club drive uh arrowhead country club it starts at 6 30 there'll be a little mixer where people can talk beforehand some appetizers I'm told and then at seven o'clock the debate the meat is served the main entree is served and it should be uh very informative very eye opening maybe very ear opening interesting and maybe entertaining debate I think those are the the best adjectives I can put about it but you know you might want to bring your seatbelts and sit down hold on is this going to be a good one anyway ladies and gentlemen boys and girls show them all ages ding ding ding ding the world wrestling no anyway uh I digress I gotta have a little sense of humor in this life right Jim Penman versus versus treasure Ortiz anyway uh it's the WWE no um it it won't be that hopefully I you know I really wish the best for San Bernardino it has so many challenges so many challenges it's my hometown all my degrees all my you know graduation certificates and diplomas and everything uh come forth the word San Bernardino on them so uh and I lived in San Bernardino for 35 years and uh it's my hometown basically I have a lot of hometowns but that's the primary hometown I went to Lincoln Elementary School Arrowview Junior High School San Bernardino High School San Bernardino Valley College Cal State San Bernardino before I went on to Cal State Felton for a little while I gotta tell you I think I'm pretty well educated and I have to say this I do just have to say this some cheering to go on the San Bernardino High School District is performing better than the national advertising af national average in test scores did you know that no I did yes and then and particularly their continuation high schools are having a high rate of graduation and they're continuing on to college a lot of them are continuing on in college and that's a real challenge with the continuation school they're usually there because there's either some social problems there's some family problems some economic problems some challenge that is aside from just the learning or maybe there was a learning disability but most often it's you know a challenge student in the first place so to get them through school to get them past the test scores to get to test above the national average to get them to graduate and stay in school and then want to go on and learn and continue their education big applause we had applause big applause for the San Bernardino High School District and a lot of people don't know that because you know a city of San Bernardino has kind of a little bit of reputation a little bit of reputation and anything with the word San Bernardino on it tends to get a little tarnished you know and so when people ask about you know how the schools are in San Bernardino a lot of times they say well you know I'm very good I hear people getting murdered you know that's not happening at all there's not been a single murder not a single gun incident in in few years and and they're performing well on their test scores they're graduating their students so congratulations to them they're growing school district they've got new buildings going up there they're prosperous and they're progressive and congratulations for all their hard work so with that being said now we turn to another item and that is we need to talk about National Solidarity Week and I have Zazette Scott who also used to be formerly of the Foothill AIDS Project and now she works for the family assistance program in San Bernardino and tell us what does the family assistance program do? Thank you Mark for having me thank you Radio World it's good to be here to talk a little bit about my agency family assistance program I'm one of the program managers there for our coordinated entry system. Family assistance program is working in this county to combat homelessness we have DV shelters we have runaway homeless youth shelters we have TAY aid shelters we have the only so don't stay back sorry TAY aid shelters yes so let me I know there's acronyms transitional age youth aged 18 to 24 that's why I stopped you transport assistance youth TAY as they call out TAY and it's 18 to 24 18 to 24 a lot of times you know the students yeah let's face it apartment rent it's too darn high right um you know auto insurance auto payments job availability payment health insurance all that stuff all the sudden if they're from a challenged family or foster or maybe they're you know from the LGBT community or something like that they're bumped out in the community and made instantly homeless yes because the families are no longer maybe you see receiving assistance right and so or they come from a from a culture or a family that has been chronically homeless also yes right and you know there's some wild statistics that we can talk about but the fact is they get dumped and they're perfectly you know able or they have a lot of capacity they're good kids they're you know and all of a sudden they find themselves in this challenge so we do have a little bit of a safety net but not a big enough one but we have a little bit of one right called the transitional assistance youth program yes and we have so we have a great strong program here in San Bernardino for our for our transitional age youth family assistance the part that we play is that we provide shelter transitional programs we have drop-in centers here locally in San Bernardino where we can they can come to us and they can get up to a year sometimes to help get themselves together and find work and try to find affordable living we have the only LGBTQIA two-spirit plus shelter here in San Bernardino that caters specifically to that population special need yes it is they are targeted more for crime marginalization their families often don't understand you know so they end up homeless without having safety net of a family event so our family our our case managers and our advocates we welcome into to the home into the shelter and we work with them and this underlying something homelessness people think of it you know sometimes it's just this old ragtag guy maybe an alcoholic they've got an all-shaped sizes that's us all shapes all sizes all ages of every nationality there's no there's no defining there's no it's like saying oh you look like a poor person well technically a lot of us are poor but we still work we are the working poor some of us are a lot of paycheck away from being homeless so there's nothing that's going to define what you you know you could i've worked with widows who never worked because the husband was an electrician she never had to he passes and now she's homeless because technically being homeless even if you're living with your kids that's not your home your right so you're still homeless and it and it can happen to anyone and it does and everywhere and there's no excuse for it there really isn't we have the resources the country has the resources the state has the resources correct county has the resources the city has we are the richest state in this country we have our own end we can have our own independent economy so it doesn't make sense that we have not come up with solutions for affordable housing transitional housing shelter housing to accommodate there's a housing model for every type of person what schizophrenia bipolar what what have you the ailment recovering addicts you know some folks they need we have shelters that you know they preach beings rice jesus christ we have people that work and recover great under those programs and there's one size fits all doesn't work it does not work specialized uh you know you know multilateral instead of a unilateral approach exactly it's not because people don't want to work it's not because people don't have the capacity or whatever there's a lot of reasons and like i said all shapes and sizes um and you know for seniors for instance we have you know social security yeah those pension programs there are housing that you can rent the senior citizens housing it's discounted greatly but you know we need to work with our youth in the city of redlands about three years ago already there was about 2500 2500 housing challenged you know uh you know kids that didn't they were couch surfing uh it's it's a travesty and then then you get to the other reasons why people um do this i always put the statistic out when i talk about this says that and i'll a lot of people are shocked by i'm going to ask you the question you probably already know it but then i'll tell what is the number one way people get off the streets there's always silence and others i won't hold you up to it anymore it's death yes it's sadly it's death and a homeless sentence is about five and a half years right from the time somebody becomes homeless to the point where they they no longer exist is five and a half years right it's a death sentence that nobody deserves right and people um they see the homeless and they think it's a it's a condition that they are temporarily in because they see it and they don't they're not interacting so they don't know the stories or how long they've been or where this other person was homeless before they came here but the homeless population are susceptible to so many public health risks they're vulnerable to attack from other homeless people and encampments they're subject to infectious diseases more so yes you're right well homelessness naturally among even healthy minded people causes a kind of almost a schizophrenia yes a mental illness i uh you know uh conspiracy kind of right i i talk to folks and i say if you weren't if you didn't have issues before you were homeless becoming homeless or anything up homeless has definitely made you more fragile mentally help mental health is more fragile because now you're in constant survival mode and and family assistance i what i loved about the agency when i learned about the agency was that they were trying to they were capturing the youth because that's where you have to capture it in order to stop it to this progression this continual increasing population of homeless you have to show them different options and family assistance bringing these kids in and showing them you know you don't have to continue this cycle of homelessness here's how you get out and it doesn't take a lot sometimes there's so many different models of housing shared living where you can go in and share a house a four or five bedroom house and you pay seven eight nine hundred dollars with some several other folks in order to share that house that's affordable and you can get make that work in twenty dollars an hour out of fast food job it'll be tight but you can do it you know homeless people have so many challenges um you know there's so many reasons it's not all drug and alcohol edition but that's a good part of it um it it can be you know mental illness it could be an anti-social thing uh it could also just simply be uh you know economic disparity something has happened in emotional to malton your life um like a death a death is the most in the leading cause of that uh someone who supported you who helped you who you were dependent on dies and they're no longer there for you whether it's a parent whether it's a spouse uh whoever that might be um uh you know all those things are reasons why this happens and then economic says the fact that you know houses are twenty five hundred dollars for an apartment right you know uh it costs roughly about four hundred dollars at the very minimum to eat hundred dollars a week maybe five hundred uh to eat just if you're eating a simply you're not eating out or splurging or anything like that uh it also you have car insurance you have your incidental utility fees and everything it's just expensive to live it's expensive for us grown folks that have jobs and i gotta tell you it takes all my creativity sometimes exactly to get by and i'm a pretty able-minded person i think i'm not dumb but there are some people that don't have that same capacity right and bless their hearts they don't have that coping capacity right you know they weren't taught it they didn't learn it or they did never had to use those skills or some of it's just not in their DNA it's just right it's it's sad some i had a recent client a gentle man personality is not just learned but okay right um and he is a recent widow and his wife did everything she paid all the bills she bought all the clothes she she bought all the food and he's he was lost after and he had income he has me he has social security nothing wrong with him he's just a little more passive life might have been a little bit more dominant in the in the relationship they were probably married for years and years and years so he's an emotional small 40 years that happens and then all of a sudden they don't have the coping mechanism and he's in mourning right and he's in mourning i have a friend he's an artist love the guy wish i could help him more we're all having our own struggles but his house burned down just he lost everything right and he didn't have a lot to begin with and gosh darn it this is so hard to hear and trying to figure out how to help him or what to do and this will be a person who you know we'll talk about after the break the current status of homelessness in this area but you know absolutely like i said there's all kinds of reasons it's economic disparities civil to moat to malt again in trouble with the law trauma trauma i know a guy you know unfortunately he had a little bit of a drinking problem but not a horrible drinking problem he's still functional until he got a DUI and he had his license taken away from him and he couldn't go to work and because he couldn't get to work because he had to commute right you know he lost his job and then there's a downhill spiral from that point on and i saw this guy go from you know this really virile healthy kind of guy to i saw him not too long ago and i'm like oh my gosh you know right that's why we have to still keep making the argument to not criminalize homelessness because we we understand what having to become justice involved means people lose jobs they have to take time off work um it could be something simple i mean if you have a drinking problem that should always i feel that you should have the option of being able to go to treatment as opposed to going to jail you know you should have those options i think that's happening more and treatment doesn't happen on our time clock no so sometimes we think well we sent them to rehab they were there for three months and then they went into their treatment and they should be fine now and it's their own fault right it may take two or three times it may take two or three times it's not easy right to get over a chemical dependency or a drug dependency but those initial involvement justice involvement they can change your life they can they can they make you spend money that you didn't have with attorneys and so so i've been speaking with shazetta scott uh she's with the family assistance program and uh she was telling me it's national solidarity week yes national solidarity week for homeless housing so it's from the third through the 10th of august every year and it's just advocacy around housing getting smart about it finding out what the statistics are for homelessness and trying to come up with solutions so you just have many agencies homeless advocacy agencies that they get really really diligent around this time to come up with solutions share solutions and and talk about ways to help get our unhoused folks off the streets absolutely and that's what we need to talk about and we're going to talk about the second half of that about the status of homelessness in samadino redlands riverside in the n empire and what maybe we can do to challenge or secure this challenge we need everybody okay mark westward along with eric asario in the control room this is out of scott we'll be back right after these messages on kca 10 50 a.m. what a 6.5 fm the stations that leave no listener behind nbc news on kca a loma linda sponsored by teamsters local 1932 protecting the future of working families teamsters 1932 dot org for over a century am radio has evolved to meet the needs of our community more than 80 million listeners depend on am radio each month it's also the backbone of the emergency alert system keeping us safe in dangerous times a new bill in congress would ensure this free reliable service remains in cars text am to 52886 and tell congress to support the am radio for every vehicle act message and data rates may play you may receive up to four messages a month and you may text stop to stop this message furnished by the national association of broadcasters i always hear from our clients who hired another firm that they wish they'd hire dna financial first don't have regrets about your irs tax case just hired the best in the first place one owed 150 000 to the irs and it spent thousands on another firm we stopped the levies negotiated a payment plan and had their penalties forgiven and while every case is different we guarantee that we'll find your perfect resolution and get it done right for a free consultation call us at 866-201-0156 that's 866-201-0156 then you can say dna did right by me this segment brought to you by the megamix expo in ontario do you need to liven things up get a little juice or energy in your business or program coming this wednesday and thursday august 7th and 8th it's the megamix expo at the ontario convention center bringing the community together building new partnerships helping unlock the power of effective networking you'll see all kinds of businesses and programs such as accounting services martial arts real estate medical event services and everything from a to z whether you're providing creative services construction or entertainment or websites to photography banks and beyond you can expand your horizons where potential is nurtured you'll have the opportunity to explore learn and be inspired where you can discover new prospects to ignite your business or bring new life to your special program nonprofit or organization you can go to megamix expo.com that's megamix expo.com or call 626-268-3590 join this station at the megamix expo august 7th and 8th at the ontario convention center k-c-a-a and we're back i'm mark westwood on community crossroads it is national solidarity week and we're talking with jazetta scott about homelessness and if there was ever a subject you need to you know turn the radio up listen to uh you know if you're listening to us on uh your your smartphone on our app uh you know you can just download k-c-a-a on the app and on an apple or an android and you'll find us there and you can listen to us anywhere but if you're listening to us right now turn it up and listen this is a worthy subject to listen to this is a worthy subject if you ever want to get involved and make a difference in this world this is something you need to listen to there's all kinds of approaches to this but it's about homelessness and and and particularly we're going to talk this half hour about homelessness and the status in samaradino and riverside a little bit and the county in the county so welcome back sazetta thank you thank you thank you and uh thank you for talking about this sazetta works with a family assistance program of samaradino yes and uh that is and a high desert and a high desert that's an organization that helps homeless families yes you know no longer is it just the the hobo with the stogi cigar and a paper bag with some ripple in it there's a whole families that are homeless yes senior citizens that are homeless young people that are homeless uh single people single ladies with cats yes or the dog that's the dog part of it and uh you know just you know we need to stop discriminating against them i know that sometimes maybe they don't smell plus it or maybe they don't look good or maybe they're dumping some trash or whatever uh we know that they're they can be a nuisance and sometimes they're not always good just to add people in water they're not everybody's good so we need to talk about this homelessness and specifically i want to zero in on samaradino because there's a lot going on and if you even samaradino you know there's a huge gigantic organic homeless problem yes there is so um i have i choose to work in samaradino i actually live in cino um but i choose to work in samaradino and i've chosen to work in samaradino because i i love this city i've been out here for over four years and i kind of grew up at the carousel mall my first the first date was there um at the carousel mall when i was like 17 and so i think lots of me has romanticized um old samaradino and and but it's changed so much and unfortunately samaradino has the largest homeless population in the county um the city the city proper has the largest homeless population well it's location location location exactly it's a beautiful community yes and you know uh it's a little bit more affordable yes it starts off as being a little bit more affordable even though it costs believe it or not about six hundred dollars a month just to be homeless yes you know that's a surprising statistic you think well they're not paying rent or anything else yeah it does cost about six hours a month because they have to utilize a lot of the public services so they they use emergency rooms as like the regular doctors for treatment and things like that so it's costing us we we may not see it come out of our pocket um directly but it's costing this the county it's costing the city and it's costing the county so there's over like 300 homeless people in parasol park unfortunately they've they've whatever reason congregated a parasol park yeah i got to be honest it's a sad thing because parasol park is one of my lovely places i live it is i used to run a market night in the middle of it i was a parks and recreation commission in the second ward and that is in the second ward of samaradino and and it just pains me to drive by there they're all over the lawn in front of where the swimming pool is they're backing behind the fences and everything like fiscollini field and right against there they're up on the top of the mountain right there you know and honestly honest with you they have probably caused a couple million dollars of damage in that park at the very least right and uh that's because they're trying to survive they need something right take it out of the ground they need some wire they take it out of the lamppos yes uh you know and uh you know they can't mow the lawn they can't maintain the park right now because they have to mow around homeless people right i i think it's almost impossible right now to maintain the park into um condition where the public would you know feel comfortable or feel good about going there it's sad um but i try to be optimistic about the situation i pass there every day because my office is about a stone's throw away from the park so i pass there every day and for a homeless advocate um it's always it's like a recommitment every single time okay who am i gonna get out of there today um i drove through there in the basket yes you told me and i said it's like the pirates of the caribbean there was a guy stuck up on the fence trying to get over into the Roosevelt bowl right the castle bowl right and it was like oh let me off there's some characters in there and boy i we're over there we're we go out there you know and there's some characters out there they had an abandoned piano and the lady was playing the piano playing and plunking a way in right there's just it's it's it's unfortunate but i know that being in that park is better than the folks that we work with behind the cemetery overall for water man um so no homelessness is good homelessness point to this is is that homelessness is costly yes more costly than just you know oldest ignore them let them do what they want just not gonna happen they have to survive they have to live they're gonna use things they're gonna abuse things um they cause fires and and i don't mean to degrade the homeless because they're in a desperate situation and some of them are out of their minds on drugs and fentanyl and something like that so it's more costly and my point is it's more costly not to do anything about it right than to do something about it absolutely right it is more costly to try to take care of the folks on the street than it would be to open up a transitional shelter or a wellness center like in victorville it's it's we need but that's what we need we need the next step well homeless people they need someplace to shower yes we need someplace to prepare a meal right they need someplace to sleep we can't ask them to do anything else outside of them being homeless if we can't give them what they need to try to go to work and i've heard some people that are more conservative mindset well this should just go get a job help are you wanting to apply for a job these days you need a computer right even if you if you can find something remote you you still have to have a place you still need to be able to plug in somewhere and you know what homeless people really need they need their dignity yes they need their dignity and hope you know they need to have they need to have hope that the people that are around them that are seeing them care enough to want to help them get out of that situation yeah excuse me for saying this is that it's not rocket science is it no it's not it's not rocket science no how how easy would it be to find a location where i was just talking about somebody with it today because they were talking about parasol part to me i hear this all the time because uh people come to me from the community what's going on here and you know i say how hard would it be to create a space where there were showers where there were facilities to you know go to the bathroom even gosh imagine that being without any place to go to the bathroom right you know toilet paper uh a place to prepare a little food a place to get some information like internet how about you know washing machine and dryers where they could go wash their clothes and stuff like that that's why they're at the park right that's why they're there that why they are there because they can they have facilities they have bathrooms they can you know do the basics they're outside they can cook they all have portable little grills things like that they can cook outside but it's not the optimal way to do no no but that this is that's how they have to do it this is how they've accommodated for their situation they they have enough outreach agencies that will come to them to hand out food bags toiletries things you know but they they we're not going behind you know encampments behind bushes they're out in the public at that park for that reason we need to find a i know why they're there but we need to find another place yes that's where our community goes right for like there was a national light out that was supposed to happen that got canceled right i'm the reason i got cancelled the reason i got canceled because it's always taking place in parasol park so festivals music and picnics birthdays celebration and that did not make me personally feel good no imagine if you want to send your kids to the plunge today because it's a hundred degrees outside uh you know you can't but instead of canceling your national night out why not have it because people need to come it's they you know and i've seen that happen don't turn a blind eye to it you know because it's oh it's yes but that's the reality of it and national night out is supposed it's supposed to be about public safety so what is our leader i mean it's not rocket science we said this right right now we're supposed to have some pretty able-minded minded people and our leadership and samaradino and other places we're supposed to have you know in the county of samaradino as well there's we elect them to be because they have the capacity to think they have logic why isn't this stuff happening it's it's happening it's just happening really slow it's happening really slow but it can't that the can't right and i was at city council last night um i i went as a um as a employee and a ces person and you know i work with the homeless in their city and i have data i have numbers i know how many people come in and how many keep you know people called two-on-one and said i need help and i wanted to let them know because i heard that their navigation center was being it's it's been on the slow slow freight training and then there's supposed to be a shelter they were awarded eight hundred thousand dollars um i've had funding to open a shelter and i see the sign but it's been you know coming soon for quite a while now and so i went last night because our numbers are increasing so i'm asking in the meantime this isn't getting any better folks it just consistently gets worse and worse and worse right ignoring we had a fire this week on the north side of the freeway up to this week and the hair is falling exactly and where these people are being displaced so these people so we're not only adding to our numbers but they are increasing in in homelessness in the streets it's it's just it's what it is it's increasing exponentially yes it's not like one or two dribble dribble dribble the slight increase no 20 30 60 120 no no we have a whole we have a whole generation of folks um that are coming into late age where a lot of them came out of this of society at the time where you know the wives didn't work and you know the baby the baby boomers you know we you know and we're having to take care of them senior homeless right senior homeless people assume that oh you work to senior you you get money you got retirement you got benefits you're pinching most senior citizens get SSI if you did not work sufficiently to put into SSI your maximum award benefit could be anywhere between 700 to 1200 dollars you tell me where you're gonna live for that you can't you can't and see this is what we need to do so those first of all we have the immediate need yes which is what i'm talking about you know creating a place a space that is in the dignity where they can do quandary yes internet where they can eat where they can you know the first step internet and social in the first step and then you have transitional right am i off no well you assess their needs yes you figure out what their deal is whether it's drug dependency chemical dependency whether it's social antisocial you know all those things you're getting their ids or getting their eyes checked they're going to to health they're going to their health care they're getting their teeth clean their teeth check so many folks are out there and they're just you know they're disintegrating because they're not attached to their services and they have some sort of a disease communicable disease exactly and you want to make sure that they're not giving it out to the community exactly i mean so yes transitional is of the utmost importance because that's when your case management comes in and grabs you by the hand and they say come on let's you know let's get let's get going and let's get going because i'm going to tell you something else folks it's going to scare the heck out of you but it's true parisill park in the core in the center of samarina with the big hill with all the businesses around it with a high school and elementary school next to it with residences around it is not just for recreation and stuff like that that park was built in the wpa the works progress administration era not because it was going to be they built that park as a benefit because they were going to put an aqueduct through samarina to transport water to and from samarina in and out of samarina to other cities and there's these huge water tanks up on the top of the hill that they're living around that they're getting breached and they're dumping trash and sewage and hey you're a homeless person you got to go pee where you're going to go pee into the aqueduct now that's all a problem that's going to cause third world problems in our area yes rats bubonic plague that's been an increase in la it's coming to samarina heaven forbid because it seems like it seems like fire is always follow these homeless people you know heaven forbid that core of samarina catches on fire we could not only just lose the park we could lose the hill we could lose the hill the backing the hill are you know all kinds of businesses mortuary jack white or mire insurance flowerland and it's a hop skipping a jump from st bernides hey yeah it's a hop skipping a jump from st bernides hospital too that doesn't make it's convenient for them to get treated that means it could catch the hospital on fire there's all kinds of homes and residences around there not to mention the brand new pacific high school they're building uh that they're trying to get reopened again and all kinds of problems you know i call it the harris and the paris problem the harris district being where the harris building is caught on fire already and there's only a matter of time before a city hall goes the convention center goes the hotel goes because they're empty they're they're not being utilized uh there's only a matter of time you know if paris goes paris el park goes so go samarina yes the city might step open the brink about being able to be brought back and i say that also in a different way because i i feel that's the largest occupation of homeless is paris hill park there's lots of other smaller encampments but when i say small i can count 10 or 15 in one area and that's that's that's not small driving across the uh that's a city block if you think about some city blocks that only have 10 houses on them or or nine houses that's a city block right headed east on the 210 look up on the freeway encampment on the other side of the road by 30th street they have a homeless encampment there all along that ridge right there tents and everything in paris hill park they did to two and three tenths a piece there's one guy that's built like a whole like fort up there against the hill with steps he's built yes you know he's really built up like a compound up there yeah and he might be the king of the homeless and that's the other thing it's an interesting social thing yes they are they're organizing yes their own community their community they're hierarchy they're hierarchy who's in charge who's the one you pay attention to yes uh the communication is easiest so i used to do shared living instead of shared living and shared housing especially right after the pandemic after operation home key and the easiest group of people that i was able to get off the streets and into a shared living home they were all homeless on the street together they already knew each other they one had one had a vehicle so they all had a vehicle and they wanted to go together they they knew each other and they have been facing the same conditions it's important now with the grants passed act that you know they're moving folks off of the public state property they're homeless but we don't have options for them to go anywhere so we really need to look and see now it blows my mind we do have options they're not just making them available right we need we need to get serious about this we do and like for certain patients i call them patients st bernie's hospital has two wings they're not using two five stories hundred rooms right on one floor right they could do that um there's the radison hotel right you know there's all kind of easy population people know the challenges of the population it's not easy population sometimes you're dealing with you know a mix of different type of you know um disabilities and and conditions north and air force space but it's worth it it's worth it we have a whole commissary building that was built brand new that got abandoned when they closed the base in nineteen ninety-three right that building has not been used since nineteen ninety-three it's a huge right fifty thousand square foot building we have armories throughout the county that we don't use anymore we they're they're outdated they're solutions they are solutions now i heard of figuring and maybe you know about this maybe you don't and maybe coming crossways at you i heard that the city of samadira has like eight hundred thousand dollars yes so the city of samadira you know was awarded hap funding a few a couple of years but yes it's uh don't ask me about the outcome i'm gonna tell you hap age that's a definite fun ap yes um and they were awarded eight hundred thousand dollars and the reason that they were allowed to apply for that much because that much was because they had a capital project attached so they were so and they were awarded that much we haven't we haven't seen any seen anything come out of that quite yet they say it's it's in the progress in progress but that that amount toward anything that they produce would significantly help us address the problem of homelessness yes and you know we need to advocate and go to city council more often and tell them you know what we really need you to get going with that eight hundred thousand and that project for the shelter that would be a little bit of a bandage for some transition stuff yes you can't create permanent housing but right it could create it could create a kind of area that you can level the ground moat you know right make it livable um you know we have all of these um construction tank things that they put on the backs of ships to sip cargo containers cart mm-hmm yeah i've seen those they're amazing they could easily be developed into like rooms right with uh like a spoke kind of an area where they put them around spoke and the hub has the the showers the the laundry facilities the internet right so that we could do that's their temporary home housing mm-hmm some financial assistance we could do we could get that for them we could get that that's available and then then the couching that not the couch excuse me it's wrong coaching coaching we need live coaches we need people to go out there and help these people right case managers advocates that's what we need we have we don't need some high-paid person we just need a person with a good heart mm-hmm and a logic and you have those in San Bernardino I'm privileged to know so many people so many agencies you have a pastor you could get a little stipend but you don't need somebody that's no $300,000 you have agencies like Operation Grace Pastor Jessica Alexander she's right here in San Bernardino she's building a campus for youth housing and youth sheltering and and it's it doesn't take a lot it doesn't it takes the will it takes the will and the one um we have a project family assistance that we've been trying to get off the ground for a while for some tiny homes and a shelter bed project and we're working diligent diligently to bring that to the county um pastor uh Sharon Green at VVFRC up in the high desert she is constantly creating shelter shared living spaces for seniors for families we don't have a place up there anymore shelter for families we just open they just open pods for families homeless families at the Victorville Wellness Center there's eight they're full and they're going to be full we had a list of over 60 families in the high desert that were homeless pods and only eight you know right there are literally millions of these places you can put this little styrofoam insulation in them they don't have to be fancy just a home because I tell you what it's hot right now and I feel bad for them being out there and they need water and then thirsty and it's a miserable form out there but give it a few months and then it gets miserable the other way exactly and now it won't be just dehydration and problems like that right then it will be the other opposite you know right and and it gets down into I think it's terrible that we do we have a season a homeless season but it's from June until February it's from June until February because that's when it's the hottest and it starts to get the coldest and the and in the winters when the mountain homeless they come down from the from the mountains during that time so we have even an increased number of homeless on our streets because they're trying to get away from the elements yeah so today we've been talking with Suzetta Scott and we were talking about National Solid Area Week and how it approaches to homelessness causes homelessness why people are homeless you know it takes a unilateral approach not a holistic you know one approach to it takes a song you can't just round them up and take them and put them someplace they got to go someplace those types of things and speaking of that now is you know are there some maybe just some places that we can go to right now yes there's is there like an overall listing of these places or well to get help um we I recommend folks use connect IE you go online is connect c-o-n-n-e-c-t-i-e online and you can find out um where the resources are in the county according to where you live connect IE connect IE just the way it sounds and you can go on and you can find out um and you'll get numbers and you'll you'll see listings of people who have um shelter the best best way is to call two one way and and that's the beginning of our coordinated entry system you call two one one and then you get you start you get your assessments you find out what your needs are and then they're going to direct you to your region where you are if you're homeless you should call if you are homeless yes and there are phones out they have phones oh yes yes people yeah yeah but you know they're getting more resourceful but you know we need to give them those resources but there's help there's help and there's hope and there's people like you know all the folks in market agency that that's that's we lived to help and we want to help we have such a committed staff to domestic violence victims human trafficking victims reentry and the youth that's what we do and and i'm so proud to work for this agency because as a homeless advocate the most you want is to work for somebody that believes and holds your values just like you do absolutely and you know the last thing we need to supply to our homeless and you might think it's frivolous and it's not because it's part of their spiritual it's part of their mental well-being is to help provide a little joy yes a little happiness can you imagine being homeless and it's just so downtrodden you're fighting and you're trying to survive and you're trying to hold on your belongings not just for the people homeless around you but possibly from government entities that want to come and take it from you to get rid of you to move you on they don't care what happens to you they just don't want you where you are and and so you know there is a place down in Los Angeles where they provide a homeless day a homeless festival and it's it is amazing what they do they they bring in bands they bring in face painting they bring in the showers they bring in everything they need food uh they're dancing they're having a good time it's a joyous time uh and uh you know giving them little things like backpacks and their little belongings and stuff like that also homeless counseling you know where can they go social programs they also bring in medical staff and personnel right to do health checks a little bit of health checks and you know those things like that and they even have dentists that come down yes people that cut hair they give them all these services and these people are so happy and they're dancing and they're having a great time and that for you that would be over the day that ends the hour that ends but then that lasts for weeks and weeks and weeks when it makes a difference in their lives for a long time so we need to look at doing that too and look at doing some stuff like that and that's what that 800 000 you know spend 10 15 000 of it to do something like that uh you know do it at parasail park you know as they're kicking them out before you kick them out you know fire up the barbecues put on the hot dogs the hamburgers whatever you bring in the bands the DJs uh you know face painters i like that because um it it just gives folks something not only to look forward to um but there's lots of kids the hope festival just call it the hope festival yeah something like that bring in other advocates so they can come and see the folks that they're advocating for right so i hope we can do something together and the police come there and the firefighters come there right and they have a one-on-one and instead of just get out maybe that could replace our last um night our last NBC News on KCAA Loma Linda sponsored by Teamsters Local 1932 protecting the future of working families Teamsters 1932.org ABC News Radio I'm Brian Schook Donald Trump is holding a news conference at his new jersey hey it is Ryan Seacrest there's something so thrilling about playing Chumba Casino maybe it's the simple reminder that with a little luck anything is possible Chumba Casino.com has hundreds of social casino style games to choose from with new game releases each week play for free anytime anywhere for your chance to redeem some serious prizes join me in the fun sign up now at Chumba Casino.com sponsored by Chumba Casino no purchase necessary vgw group void where prohibited by law 18 plus terms and conditions apply at your job do you ever have to deal with a nose roller how about a snub pulling well if you're installing a new conveyor belt system dealing with the different components can sound like you're speaking a foreign language luckily you've got a team ready to help Granger's technical product specialists are fluent in maintenance repair and operations so whenever you want to talk shop just reach out call clickgranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done