The Good, Better and Ugly

PHOTO:KCS

"When was the last time you had a cold?" a friend recently asked.

His point was colds have practically disappeared because we're wearing masks, washing our hands, rubbing our palms and fingers with sanitizers. We're more conscientious about cleanliness, at home, in our automobiles and when we venture out into our world of potential infection. We take wide berths when we cross paths with others.

A year ago when this thing started -- the Novel Corona Virus Pandemic, COVID 19, now known simply as COVID -- we entered a new and different way of living with hopes that it would be a temporary thing.

Today the number of COVID cases in the U.S. is nearly 29 million people. Deaths from COVID are more than 520,000 in this country, world leader in mortalities caused by the global pandemic.

We read obituaries in our local newspaper that do not mention cause of death, yet we learn that many had COVID. Many of us know of someone close who has died of COVID, a relative or in-law, a friend or friend of a friend.

A year ago we didn't know. Today we act differently. We've modified our lives, which has caused a domino effect knocking down one peg after another from how we work, where we work and even where we live. Real estate has gone through the roof here in Santa Cruz.

Houses are selling here before being listed. You can't find a beach shack for less than a million dollars. Houses listed for sale receive multiple offers and are sold for cash within hours.

Why live in a dense urban environment when you can work and live in a rural atmosphere or near the beach? "Zoom," once a space age term of the future, is today a common method for meetings, parties and classes. The future is now.

We have three different vaccines in the U.S. with more than 2 million people a day getting shots. The death curve has dropped, cases are down and people are going out.

While we are slowly emerging into the new normal, braced by a better understanding of how to stay well and safe, an elephant has rolled over in the room and farted. We don't know what to do about a serious blight that has been among us and has become a more visible problem.

That is, homelessness. It's a dirty word that is difficult to say, because we don't know what to say. There are about 2,000 homeless people living in Santa Cruz, whose population is about 65,000. These numbers do not include those who are sleeping in cars and vans and RVs at the periphery of town, or park their vehicles on neighborhood streets at night.

Stories are rampant about theft, trash, sewage, needles and more. People complain but no body seems to have an answer. The city has been moving the homeless camps from one location to another. There are lawsuits defending encampments and human rights. The mayor recently sent a letter (endorsed by many citizens) to Gov. Gavin Newsom asking for funding to help address the problem.

The state has a surplus of funds -- thanks to high taxes and the frugality of our former Governor Jerry Brown. Santa Cruz has received less financial support than most cities in the state even though our percentage of homeless is greater, according to our mayor.

Homelessness is a national, and global, problem, like the pandemic.

A core of local homeless people are mentally ill and drug addicts. They live under tarps and sleep on the cold ground wrapped in tattered blankets surrounded by stuff, lots of stuff that they cart around. There's the former pro surfer-now-addict with his looney girlfriend who move their van from one spot to another. There are many forlorn stories that could fill an encyclopedia of sadness.

In Venice, a beach town in Southern California with a Santa Cruz-type vibe, real estate values are going down, according to a story in today's Wall Street Journal. The homeless population of Venice, nearly 2,000 people in an area of three square miles, has grown by 57% since 2019. Residents are fleeing into the nearby suburbs of Santa Monica and the expensive rural canyons where they feel safer. And don't have to see it.

The United States is supposed to be a world leader. Didn't we used to unite -- as our name suggests --to work for the betterment of all. Maybe that's always been a sham. We had the Rockefeller's and the Clampetts, millions of dollars apart. But it wasn't until the Clampetts struck oil, became rich and moved to Beverly Hills that we could laugh at and with their funny ways.

It could happen to anyone, right? Strike oil and be able to light cigars with hundred dollar bills?

Maybe the homeless just need to get rich. Maybe the states need to deed a section of property to them, reservations. Where they can take drugs and wander around to their hearts' content and we never need to see them again? Just like we did to the Native Americans.

Maybe we need a new idea. It's not going away anytime soon. But we could well be on the verge of subduing COVID, for a while. And that's a start.