I’m writing because I’m concerned about the welfare of this community, let alone the state of humanity. My fiancé and I have been living in a travel trailer for six years on the Central Coast. We went from being harassed by police officers and sheriff’s deputies for simply sleeping, to a massive back down after the COVID-19 outbreak. Sadly, we felt at peace after a world pandemic.
We’ve been working at local popular businesses and saving for an opportunity to accomplish our dreams up north while finding somewhat of a transit rhythm in the county. However, the unsophisticated and ignorant attempt to assist the “homeless” by opening the Kansas Avenue safe parking site program, bringing in an influx of out-of-state people, seemed to turn into a bust for all involved. Now, the safe parking programs (Kansas Avenue and the SLO train station) are shut down and the roads are inundated with those persons vacated onto the only allowed or “safe parking” roads.
Does the public honestly think all of us don’t try to get onward and upward? Do they honestly think that all of us wish to live nomadic lifestyles forever or that we don’t have hopes and dreams? Have they ever considered the failing of the system they believe so much in and that the lowest of any society can only be as great as the highest of that same society?
It’s frustrating that San Luis Obispo County decided to place people living in their RVs or trailers into a space between a pound, a jail, and across from a prison. Oh, and 40 Prado homeless shelter is across from a sanitation department. Wow! If that doesn’t make a statement about how this county feels about us! There’s an abundant amount of space around to provide simple parking or a place for the unhoused living in tents to live, yet that’s the best they could do!? Institutionalize people in that environmental energy only to evict them!? Please wake up.
Christina Linn
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Best of SLO County 2024.
I am not quite sure of the point of the letter, other than the writer is unhappy with the locations of the free camping spaces, and the Prado shelter, interpreting them as a shameful rejection by the county of her right to a desirable place to camp for free. Somehow the word “entitlement” keeps coming to mind.
You should have stopped with “I didn’t get the point of the letter” How is it that you admittedly didn’t understand but yet had no problem speculating the authors underlying intentions? You are either part the the solution or the problem. “Eyes to see and ears to hear”, I have lived here my entire life and it saddens me that someone would answer a letter questioning the people of San Luis Obispo s level of compassion with a response riddled with judgement and hate. In case you missed the point again, the answer is ” you are part of the problem” Ignorant and opinionated is the title I think accurately describes the your “I didn’t understand the point”reply to the original letter.
the real issue is that we homeless folks can and should live in reasonably sized vehicles. the home away from home thing is a big part of the problem. could you get along in a van? a hatchback? then maybe they could find a place for tents and street parking that won’t freak out the desperately property value minded locals albeit many people in slo are genuinely nice.
Six years is a good amount of time to be moving around in a travel trailer.This is only a suggestion if you didn’t like the “free” spots maybe put an ad on Craigslist list and find a more permanent spot to parks yourself,now you might have to pay rent for the spot though.
Join the rest of us and rent till you can afford what your looking for.