Let’s admit mistake on mental health facilities

Random thoughts on local housing issues and unrestricted park camping:

Rampant homelessness is a west coast phenomenon that has been growing since the 1970s. As other readers have pointed out, a local response — no matter how it is framed — cannot ever be adequate.

Use of pleasurable intoxicating substances (including alcohol) for more than a few hours per week is incompatible with legitimate employment. There is no cost level of housing that will be “affordable” or accessible for folks with addictions and no legal means of support.

A civilized society should always make provision for those who are incapable of managing their lives — even for those who, arguably, do not deserve such help.

If it were only clean and sober families down on their luck that needed assistance, there would be many more Chicoans ready to help.

In recent decades, anyone seeking to purchase a piece of California real estate, especially in the very desirable coastal zones, has been forced to compete with a growing world-wide group of wellheeled buyers.

Chico families who dutifully pay taxes to support our wonderful parks and open spaces are entitled to use clean and safe public restrooms, and should not have to put up with meth-fueled and obscenity-laced fights on our plaza.

We eliminated large mental health facilities decades ago. They weren’t perfect, but they weren’t dungeons either. It’s time we admitted our mistake and made the effort to restore an effective mental health system, including appropriate protections for both civil liberties and public safety.

— Carl R. Ochsner, Chico