SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Saturday, there was a heated discussion at McKinley Park where members of the community met with local leaders about the growing issue of homelessness in Midtown and East Sacramento.
The discussion comes after city of Sacramento Council Member Katie Valenzuela announced a proposed safe ground site for some homeless individuals at Sutter's Landing Park.
The news did not sit well with many in the community. Some neighbors who live near the park worry there will be a significant uptick in crime and worry the value of their home will also drop significantly.
"I can't believe what's been happening in our city in the last few years," said one longtime Sacramento resident who attended the discussion. "It's shameful — I don't know what the mayor is doing."
Neighbors also worry there might be a spillover effect into their streets like some have seen at other "Safe Ground' sites in Sacramento and think alternative solutions need to be put in place.
"We have 100 acres as I've heard, we have 8,000 homeless people that we need to serve," said another concerned resident. "The solution is intermodal shipping containers. We live right by the Bay, we have thousands of them stacked up."
Valenzuela agrees that what's happening on the streets of Sacramento is not acceptable and says the city is actively working on a more permanent solution to finding a place for unhoused individuals to go. She says part of the solution is to expand capacity for mental health and drug treatment but also says, for the time being, the city needs to put a temporary solution in place as soon as possible.
"The site at Sutter's Landing was proposed to be a temporary site until we open a larger site in South Sacramento at the Job Corps — temporary means about six months," said Valenzuela. "I'm not gonna be anybody that tells you this is gonna be a long-term or an ideal solution. I'm not gonna say that to anybody because it's not, it frankly isn't — it's a crappy solution, but it's also the only solution that I've been able to come up with."
According to Valenzuela, if the city decides to approve the "Safe Ground" site at Sutter's Landing Park, the site would be actively monitored 24 hours a day. Only cars and RV's would be allowed and the site would have a fence surrounding it. Access to restrooms and garbage collection would also be available.
