I guess the existential question posed by Santa Cruz becomes: what is the difference between myself and a homeless bum?
In the picture above the bum has a fully kitted out Mercedes van with the new Starlink satellite uplink and so forth. The RV below is not the worst you’ll see on the streets of Santa Cruz but is it a dwelling and not a traveler? I like to think of myself as a nomad, a traveler, a wanderer, but am I just a bum too? A person who chooses to be houseless on the margins of society? I suppose so.
For people like us who live in a van by choice, as a way to stay on the road and go to the edge, we find ourselves in the middle of two worlds in this strange town. There are no rules here. Or better there is no enforcement of any rules as far as I can see.
Delaware Street on the far west side (north end) of town is notorious as a camper’s haven for the residentially challenged. Never mind overnight parking is not permitted.
This is an industrial zone a little inland from the waves at West Cliff Drive and it is also home to a Marine Biology lab, an expansion from the University of California campus up the hill. So people work here and jog here just as they might anywhere. Right through the homesites of the vehicle dwellers.
They say there is a dumpster for trash somewhere here but I could see no porta potties so that issue is up for speculation. Rusty and I walked the woods a little and came across lavatorial evidence which begs the question: what is going on?
The West side is by no means the most messed up part of the city as downtown is the epicenter of houseless living as you might expect. And it is shocking to a former Key West dispatcher who would regularly take three am calls from irate citizens complaining about people parking in residential spots without proper permits. Around here is there any law and order?
Bear in mind the winter climate on the Central Coast is cold and very wet and freezing temperatures are not unknown. This area is called the Benchlands and it is a part of the river bed that runs through town. Layne and I used to picnic here in those halcyon days when we were planning our wedding and she worked as a public defender in the courthouse.
And you may be surprised to learn this refugee camp with no running water, showers or facilities beyond trash and porta potties (and needle disposal) is located right behind the courthouse.
People living in their cars are entirely visible to anyone working, or being sentenced, in the courtrooms of Santa Cruz County.
I may be just old fashioned but I find this situation bizarre beyond my comprehension. I have asked each of the numerous locals we have broken bread with if they have an opinion. They just shrug their shoulders and say that’s the way it is. That there is no better solution than anarchy beggars belief.
There are no rules that are enforced, there are no cops on patrol unless they are zipping through downtown in their heavily tinted patrol cars. And I do understand Santa Cruz County has a serious gang problem but still there is no quality of life in a town where you are literally tripping over homeless bundles on the sidewalks.
Quite aside from the indecent inhumanity of the situation even lunatics, never mind the working poor deserve some attention in a town bending under the weight of murders and other random violence.
As Rusty and I walked back to GANNET2 in the courthouse public parking lot I saw my first three cops on foot, two deputies and a courthouse security officer. They were clustered around a full size box truck, perhaps thirty feet long, parked in a car space in the lot.
I heard the sergeant calling in the tag on this giant intruder and then the driver came back, a portly middle aged white guy protesting loudly he couldn’t find anywhere to park. “Unbelievable!” I heard one of the deputies protest in exasperation.
Less than a hundred yards away were the structures of the unsupervised abandoned homeless and hopeless, lunatics, impoverished, veterans, hobos and addicts. The truck backed up and drove off. Law enforcement dispersed. I shook my head and gave Rusty some water.
Then there are the parked vans all over town, alongside the cars and RVs and we see them day and night. No overnight parking is a city ordinance but who cares?
So are we bums? I don’t think so, not least because we expect to be on our way to Seattle on Thursday, and not a minute too soon. The irony of this town living through sky high rents while living in a tidal wave of street life is plain weird. I’m not convinced the two are directly related as life on the street seems to be a community not a rent refuge. I’m certain some car dwellers have slipped off the rent ladder in the face of high prices but the street people who aren’t insane and there are lots of those mumbling as they stagger around hopelessly, are hobos of professional standing. We could easily l8ve here on the streets rent free if we wanted to.
I’ve found lots of porta potties for easy dumping, trash cans for trash, showers at the senior center and even free food if you want! I tell you it’s crazy here and maybe that’s the draw. The word gets out and like attracts like. I don’t know if it’s tolerance or what but I cannot imagine living in this town with the real estate prices as they are and tripping over the realities of daily sidewalk life in a town with zero police presence. Layne’s friend Stacey, a lawyer, lives in a fenced apartment complex and she has found bums sleeping in the toilets in the pool house. She once nearly brained a sleeper in the dumpster dropping a bag of trash on him. She can’t receive packages as they will be stolen. On and on. Barbara a retired lawyer routinely gets her car broken into on the street as she lives a few blocks from the jail. It’s intolerable and everyone just shrugs. I have no answers other than to point at KOTS on Stock Island where you can stay for free, have a locker and a shower and get help to get back on your feet. What they do here I have no idea but it’s not working. Good luck and no we won’t be living on the streets here. It isn’t free enough for me.
Not our van, just one very much like ours! We are not alone.
