I am writing to address the growing homeless and crime problem in our community. I have many friends with businesses in the North County and they have been plagued with problems. One of my friends is security for the buildings where his shop is located. Twice during one week in May he ran off two people casing the joint.
From the entrance to Madonna Road off the 101 (where there’s a huge homeless camp in plain sight) to the riverbed in Paso Robles’ fires over and over and over. I know why the cops can’t do anything. Their hands are tied by local politicians. I know the cops aren’t sitting back having doughnuts and coffee while they laugh at the problem. They want to act. I am demanding action!
How much of our taxpayer dollars are going to the fires and such? My guess is a lot. The crime in the North County has gotten out of control. Strong-armed robberies in daylight and break-ins and lost property are just a few of the problems. I am not sure what to do about this issue. I wish I had a plan. Maybe a bus ticket back to where they came from is needed. I know it would cost much less than what we are spending now. The homeless people who are from our area should get housing and help. We could do a much better job if we were just taking care of our own.
I am not trying to be mean or uncaring. I know how hard life can be. I had a homeless friend live with me for two months. I tried everything to help her. In the end she wanted to be homeless. I did not kick her out. Honestly, it was eye-opening for me.
I am worried about the safety of not just myself, but everyone on the Central Coast. I know most of the homeless are harmless. However, there are many who are very dangerous, and we have seen that in real time lately.
Writing to address the problem is all I know I can do, so I’m doing just that. I am encouraging everyone else to do so too. Especially the business owners. Enough is enough; it is time to get off our laurels and get into action before it is too late. I have lived in this area for 49 years, and I can say life on the Central Coast is not what it used to be. I am pleading with the citizens of our beautiful community to take our county back, no matter what that looks like.
Lori Moffat
Paso Robles
This article appears in Jun 3-13, 2021.
Dear Lori Moffat,
While you make several valid points here, you should prepare yourself to get attacked from the whacky Alt. Left. They do not appreciate anyone saying we should be tough-on-crime, expect people to be law-abiding, or expect the drug bums to move out of our public spaces.
The crime epidemic you address in your letter has largely been facilitated by the liberal California state legislature’s veer to the dangerous left. They have decriminalized property theft, decriminalized drugs, lessoned prisoner’s sentences and backdoored dangerous felons out of our prisons. While whacky liberal politicians enjoy taxpayer-provided bodyguards and guarded homes, average taxpayers are left to fend for themselves as the criminality rages around us. We are expected to accept becoming crime victims so the liberals can focus on spending our tax dollars on illegal immigrants.
I recommend that all citizens arm themselves and prepare for this situation to grow worse. Also, vote in every election and oppose liberal, weak-on-crime politicians who couldn’t care less about average citizens.
Abandon Democrats in 2020.
Hell yeah, Steve! Lock ’em up! Homelessness isn’t a crime but it should be! Then we could be tough on crime, like real tough guys that we are. I heard the majority of people experiencing homelessness don’t actually commit crimes or use drugs (some alt left whacky facts I saw in something called a survey) but that doesn’t mean they aren’t guilty by association – by not having a home like me and you right! My approach to problems has always been to get real angry and hope they go away, I don’t see why this won’t work here, too. Nothing we’ve ever done or supported has contributed to this problem whatsoever. Can’t believe this is happening to us. All I ever wanted to do was benefit from a society built off of enormous public wealth, and contribute the absolute minimal back. Why is that so hard to understand! Man, why can’t more people just be like us, we’ve got it all figured out. Right, buddy!
LOCK THEM UP!! WAY TO GO LORI!!!!!!! You are right on! I HAVE HAD IT WITH THESE HOMELESS IDIOTS!!!!!! NO MORE! Tell them to LEAVE our cities and go to Fresno or some other hellhole. Prosecute them all and lock them up till they decide to squat elsewhere. OR they could live in neighborhood character’s house…He likes them.
If you want to see where the enabling approach to the homeless leads, just go take a look at San Francisco and Los Angeles. Both spend immense amounts of money providing services, and are tolerant of all sort of behavior, and yet, seem genuinely baffled why the problem doesn’t seem to get any better.
We all should feel committed to providing a social safety net for the people who CANNOT provide for themselves, but we also should NOT feel obligated to provide for the people who WILL NOT provide for themselves. It’s real simple.
Feeling sorry for the cadre of homeless drug bums who occupy our public spaces only leads to more of them, and we owe them the lessons of self-respect, self-reliance and self-determination. To provide for people who are able to provide for themselves is to disable their initiative, and no society will thrive when it undertakes to curtail a sense of personal responsibility.
The white, liberal elites have tried to hoist their ‘progressive’ viewpoint on the rest of us, they claim that we just haven’t done enough for the homeless, the poor, the addicted, etc. The truth is, America is the greatest opportunity society in the world, and many of these people are very capable of providing for themselves, if it is demanded of them.
I advocate taking back our public spaces, reducing handouts to those who refuse to work, and reinvolving non-profits in the distribution of public aid. Governments are famously inefficient at helping people, and, too often, their attempt to help results in a hammock and not a springboard.
Amazing change will occur if we take care of the cannot’s, do something else with the will nots.
Blue Lives Matter.
A wise and revered Man once gave the world this sage advice: “ Love thy neighbor and treat others as you would want to be treated.”
Is there any reason to doubt that that formula is a key to community betterment?
The keys to unlocking and reveling in a brighter future for each other and our community will be found in our hearts not in specious logic and self-absorbed outbursts from the ego.
Where love is, true and lasting wisdom follows.
I say forgive them, Lord, they know not what they do.
Phony atheist who quote our prophets, by definition, are false prophets, their rhetoric is deeply flawed. These are people who embrace BLM hatred, Antifa Anarchy, SQE baloney, highway shutdowns, indoctrinating our students with ethnic studies trash, choosing Hamas over Israel, attacks by their supporters on babies, tearing down Thin Blue Flags (in the company of an assassinated police officers widow) and supporting criminals like Tianna Arrata and other rioter and looters.
Does this behavior fit your definition of ‘Christian’?
Folks, when you hear somebody stand up on a soapbox and extoll their ‘christian’ virtues, judge them by what they do, not what they say. These people seek cover for their idiocy, and they have no shame in even hiding behind our greatest examples.
“You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time”. -Abe Lincoln.
Not even the police or detective Benedettis Family members are claiming that he was assassinated. Anyone who claims that detective Benedetti was assassinated either does not understand the meaning of that word or is purposely trying to antagonize people and create animosity and violence and disunity in our community, a common horribly horribly perverse strategy commonly advocated by Nazi sympathizers and American white supremacists.
Those who truly care about the welfare of our community know that in the wake of horrible violence, community members should be trying to calm others and bring peace and unity to our community, rather than spreading misinformation and inflammatory comments in order to create additional chaos and suffering.
Now is the time for healing and a calm examination of exactly what went wrong on that tragic day and how similar tragedies might be avoided in the future. Lets not let the deaths of detective Benedetti and Mr. Giron be in vain or be someones excuse for perpetuating violence and ill will throughout our community.
Frankly Fella, i am not concerned about the death of Cop Killer Edward Zamora Guillon.
The moral equivalency of the Whacky Alt Left places an equal value on the life of their duped follower as they do on brave law enforcement officer Luca Benedetti, and now we see the bizarre leftist tearing down Thin Blue Line flags and indoctrinating Cal Poly Ethnic Studies Professors warning college students of a police presence in our community. These people are willing to incite violence in their followers and their out-of-touch values encourage the worst behavior. Get it?
If people like Heidi Harmon, Andy Pease and Jimmy Paulding and the Alt Left bloggers really cared about our community, they would be reaching out to their low information followers to tell them to cease their violent idiocy. Officer Benedetti would be alive today save for the reckless rhetoric of Tianna Arrata and people like Heidi Harmon and Jimmy Paulding KNOW FULL WELL that they have incited people to violence.
The far Left will stop at nothing to destroy our country and community, and we have seen that they will go to any lengths to promote division and despair among us. As their followers begin to act out violently, we must separate right from wrong and investigate those so-called leaders who engage in incitement. Going forward, we need to embrace mainstream leadership and avoid the political extremes which have gotten to where we are today. Get it?
RIP Luca Benedetti
Blue Lives Matter
Reject BLM/Antifa/SQE Nonsense
Just Say No to Alt.Left Foolishness
Support Israel over Tourist Hamas
Stop Far Left Hate Crimes Against Jews
End Biden/Harris Border Crisis: No Children in Cages
Abandon Democrats in 2022/2024
Support Law & Order over Looting & Rioting
Tough-on-Crime vs. Early Release Democrat Felons
Luca Benedetti Hero vs Edward Zamora Guillon Cop Killer
Democratic America vs Communist China and Russian Totalitarianism
Order and Freedom vs Chaos and Decline
Steve, Stevie, Steven, again, you’ve nailed it. Government programs are famously inefficient at helping people. I think we need to defund government programs. So, in the name of expediency, let’s just axe the most expensive department from the city budget. Which happens to be, oh wait, oh no, I’m seeing that it’s actually the… the police. But, again, I think you’re absolutely right, unless maybe you’re being dishonest here, which can’t be the case, but I think we may need to defund the police due to maximize our strategy of cutting government programs. Very sorry.
You know, this reminds of that Christian parable, when Jesus, famously obedient to all laws and respectful of all power structures, walked into the Temple and said, “You moneychangers are doing a great job! Moneychanger lives matter!” And that was it. No unrest, or incivility, or overturned tables at all, really. Always mainstream, that Jesus. It’s right there, in the Bible. We should all be more peaceful, mainstream, and obedient, like Jesus, who everybody loved.
Defund Government Programs (but maybe not my favorite ones)
What Would Jesus Do (if he didn’t do the things he did)
Support Self-Reliant Non-Homeless Winners
End Government Handouts to Poor Children
Teach Self-Reliance Through Child Labor
Do “Something Else” With People Who Need Food And Homes
The above post looks like a rant from a desperate free-loader trying to defend the handouts he receives from others. Sad.
I guess absurdity has its place, but nothing compares to rational thought. For working -class people, most want to live in a society that will assist the cannots, but doesnt coddle the will nots. There is a difference between the two, and I think maybe some of us are a little tired of supporting people who simply lack the initiative to support themselves. In big cities, and even in SLO, our public spaces are being occupied by addicted bums who refuse to work, and allowing them to take over our parks, libraries and other public spaces renders those places unusable for children, families, the elderly and others.
You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choices.
Some of our Alt. Left friends want it both ways. In typical lefty fashion, they want to behave in an inappropriate manner, then, at the same time, in order to address their deficits, be rewarded with the wealth created by others. I guess nobody taught them that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and the only thing on the house is the roof. As even the Shredder admitted, the vast majority of people in San Luis Obispo DO NOT want to ‘defund the police, and whacky liberals can repeat that BLM talking point, but normal people respect law enforcement, and know that the police make our community healthier and safer for all of us.
Provide for the Cannots, tell the Will Nots to go get a job like the rest of us.
A Conservative is a liberal who had to move out of his parents house, get a job, and pay taxes.
I choose to end funding for social programs and constrain the supply of housing and living wage jobs. And I also choose to be free of the consequences of these choices. Police are wealth creators. I am a big-brained rational thinker.
Let’s take a poll: how many people think it would be a good idea for law-enforcement or the news media to investigate the individuals or organization behind the Steve Edwards White supremacist propaganda campaign? Legal or illegal? Fair or unfair? Necessary to quell the scourge of racist cheerleading and intimidation Our community has been suffering through since the Trump-inspired insurgency? Or should we ignore it with the belief that it will simply fade away?
What do you folks think about this?
Maybe the folks behind the Steve Edwards white supremacist propaganda have information about one of San Luis Obispo Countys most blatant and notorious unsolved crimes: The burning down of more than a dozen units of farm worker housing in Nipomo by as yet unidentified arsonists. Supervisor Lynn Compton of Nipomo is also someone who might be worth talking to as she seems to know Many of the extremists in her neighborhood, and even appointed some to influential public positions. Why should she object to a few questions if it means tracking down racist arsonists who are still at large and may be terrorizing others as we speak?
Thanks again for the free rent in your head, Rightword!
It is flattering to know how my non-liberal ideas trigger you, and your obviously obsessed with me and the ideas I represent, I would encourage you to seek professional help get some insight about this, and they could probably help you with some of the other issues you face as well, lol.
Lets face it, we live in a non-binary world where people are free to disagree, remember? The last time I took American History, I think that one of the purposes of the Founding Fathers and the American Revolution was to advance freedom and insure that it was OK to arrive at different conclusions. Your illogical rants suggest to me that maybe you fail to understand this point, and I want to let you know that us non-liberals are not going anywhere fast, we are part of the community. 🙂
Moreover, it is a characteristic that white, liberal elites do not think anyone should or can disagree with them, your imperious, condescending, arrogant opinions on this and other issues reveals the extent of your misguided beliefs. For instance, after the assassination of brave Police Officer Luca Benedetti, it was inevitable that people would question what role the reckless BLM rhetoric played in inspiring the murder of one of our finest. It turns out that our community OVERWHELMINGLY supports our law enforcement, and over $600,000 was raised in community donations to care for Officer Benedettis widowed wife and children. Alt. Left liberals HATE that our community has rejected the preposterous BLM/SQE/Antifa ideas of ‘defund the police’.
Cop killer Edward Zamora Guillon was a BLM dupe, and his murder of Officer Benedetti proves that he was influenced by BLM politicians like Heidi Harmon and Jimmy Paulding, who lure low information voters to support their misguided causes. The whacky Alt. Left HATES that our community embraced law enforcement after Officer Benedetti was murdered, they HATE that money was raised for his wife and kids, they HATE that the Thin Blue Line flags were flown throughout our community, and they HATE that there are people here who will call them out on their BS. Hate!
Get it, Rightword? You live in a world where there are a lot of people who disagree with you, and thats a good thing. We reject whacky left ideas like too much government, high taxes, so-called ‘progressive ideas’, law enforcement hatred, cancel culture, sanctuary city, BLM/Antifa bullying, Hwy 101 shutdowns, weak-on-crime judges, assaulting police officers, amnesty for illegal aliens, demanding conformity of opinion, etc., etc., etc. Get it? We DISAGREE with you, and you can investigate us all you want, its laughable!
Thanks again for the free rent!
Blue Lives Matter.
The bottom line is love thy neighbor and see God in everyone and everything.
I think youre mixed up. I am Rightword2, not Rightword. I would appreciate if you were more careful with making that distinction unless you actually are talking about rightword rather than rightword2. Or maybe you are once again trying to mislead people? Its really hard to tell sometime. Thanks
I don’t mind people disagreeing with me. Happens all the time. No sweat. I can handle it. Go for it. You’re welcome to disagree as much as you want
My advice to my ‘friend’ would be that, when you have nothing to say, say nothing at all.
Reject Alt. Left Extremism
Stop Violence against Police Officers
Say NO to BLM, Antifa, SQE Foolishness
No Chaos at Border/Open Borders
No ‘Electric-Only’ Policy/Save Clean, Abundant Natural Gas Option
No Takeover of Local Public Parks to Homeless Encampments
No Free Rent Subsidization for Out-of-Town Low Income Newcomers
Stop Suppression of Moderate/Conservative Voices
Investigate True Source of Wuhan Virus
Reject Highway 101 Shutdowns/Violence against Babies
Stop Intimidation Attempts against Downtown Merchants
Stop BLM Thuggery/Rioting & Looting in Name of ‘Peaceful Protest’
We should all be so lucky to have Steven unpack his massive, rational brain for us on such a consistent basis. Truly a prodigious talent. Who else would be able to identify the true nuances of this debate.
I say, “we should criminalize homelessness”, and, well, that’s just a good conservative opinion. You say, “That is neither a practical or moral solution to the problem,” and that’s typical arrogant, smug, white liberal elitism that doesn’t allow for disagreement. Suppression of conservative voices must be stopped. As a conservative voice, it’s OK for me to arrive at different conclusions about how to inflict violence and injustice on people. You telling me I’m wrong is cancel culture!
Where else can you learn that the American Revolutionary War was actually fought to ensure that it will always be “OK to arrive at different conclusions”? The Revolutionaries didn’t like how the King and his taxes were being so unfairly cancelled. After the revolution all conclusions were always accepted by everyone in US history. Look it up. The American Revolution, the one and only good resistance ever waged, was actually very mainstream and conservative. Much respect for the rule-of-law shown by those revolutionaries to resist and overthrow the British like that.
Truly, Mr. Edwards, sir, you are a great mind. Consistent and rational. Influenced by all the great reactionaries of your time. Bestowed with the no less of a grift than our greatest poster, the poster in chief, DJ Trump himself. Please don’t ever stop posting.
Thanks for all the free rent, whacky liberals, always a pleasure!
They’re actually BUMS…drive them out of town !!! Or better yet…let them shack up with leftys….the body stench should be to leftys liking
Because leftys have their heads way up their asses
Keith, I admire that you speak truth to power, the whacky left partisans need to hear it.