Approaching the bench issue

Editor: The bench issue has certainly hit a chord with the Lodi community. For example, in the last two weeks the Sentinel has had two front-pages issues on this and numerous letters to the editor (“Downtown (benches) divided: Lodi saga escalates,” April 23).

Obviously, people on all sides of the issue are frustrated by the lack of effective process. Frustration by all the parties is understandable especially since the problem seems to linger on without an effective solution and may be getting worse. For example, this week on a trip to Sacramento I noticed twice as many homeless camps along the Highway 99 freeway between Elk Grove and Sacramento than my trip a month ago.

As I indicated in a Aug. 22, 2020 Sentinel letter to the editor (“Focus on root causes of homelessness”), we are not addressing key issues of the problem. With a few exceptions, the predominant issues are mental illness and drug abuse.

Putting someone with one of these conditions in a tiny home in Lodi or an expensive hotel room in San Francisco without extensive supervision is not going to solve the problem. In the case of San Francisco, the cost of these rooms for the homeless is $20 million per month. Is Lodi ready to pay this cost for shelters that don’t work?

My previous suggestion for a four-phase approach still holds. Phase One, Problem Solving; Phase Two, Financing the Initiative; Phase Three, Focused Interventions; and Phase Four, Leadership Courage. Given the rising costs of the problem since last year, my recommendations make even more sense. TIM LONEY

Lockeford