Temporary shelter could be housing homeless this summer

Now that the city council has approved temporary housing for the homeless, when will the first tenants be moving in? This summer sometime, says City Manager Steve Schwabauer. He says the program coordinator the city hired will provide the tents, which will go up inside the current building on the Sacramento Street property. The whole operation will be mostly out of sight of the public, by design. He says when the new access center construction reaches a certain point the tents will be moved outside, but will remain hidden behind a security fence. Schwabauer says the temporary quarters will house up to 50 people, or about a third of the city’s homeless. It will be first come, first served. He says the city will “try to get people who want to go” to the shelter, starting with the neediest individuals. However, he says police still won’t be able to drag unwilling participants kicking and screaming to the temp shelter. He says they are hopeful the allure of a safe haven serving good food will be enough incentive to fill up the place. But it won’t be until the permanent facility is finished that police will legally be able to “strongly encourage” street residents to take advantage of the shelter. A court ruling says the city can only kick people out of public spaces when there are available beds for them elsewhere.

DA RESPONDS: District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar has issued a response to the recent no-confidence vote taken within her organization among the deputy prosecutors. In a written statement, she refutes the claim that a majority of her staff attorneys voted “yes” on the survey. “The math is simple. There are seventy-four (74) voting members of the SJCAA, and less than half of those members voted yes. Less than half is not a prevailing majority,” she said. According to DA candidate and current deputy DA Ron Freitas, of the 42 attorneys who cast ballots, 35 voted no-confidence. Seven voted “no,” and the remaining 32 didn’t vote at all. “While Mr. Freitas wastes his and others’ time playing political games, District Attorney Verber Salazar is on the front lines protecting San Joaquin County residents and getting results,” the press release states.

ON GUARD: We have learned there seems to be a wallet-snatching operation going in town. We’ve heard from a couple victims who say they’ve lost their wallets while shopping in local grocery stores (Safeway being one of them). The thefts reportedly occurred when the victim bends down to look at something, or turns the other way for a few seconds. The scoundrel(s) then runs to Target and buy gift cards using the victim’s credit card. Gift cards are apparently untraceable and can be used like cash. Beware.

OPEN AGAIN: Sacramento Street between Pine and Elm is open again, after being closed for a year and a half. The closure was due to a fire that gutted the old Rex Pool Hall and an adjacent building housing a tattoo parlor. It took over a year for insurance companies and structural engineers to decide what to do with the historic brick buildings on that side of the street, all of which were more-or-less leaning against each other. It was subsequently decided the buildings should come down, which necessitated the street closure for safe

ty reasons. Most of the buildings along that side of the street were built in the late 1800s after a fire destroyed the entire block, save one building. The World of Wonders (WOW) Museum has big plans to expand operations to include the now-vacant lots across the street.

MIGRATION: A couple months ago Caltrans led a coordinated effort with the city of Lodi to clean up the large homeless campsite tucked away in the cloverleaf of Turner Road and the Highway 99 off ramp, on the north side. Well, just like spring flowers, homeless tents are beginning to sprout again on the south side of Turner and 99. It’s literally across the street from the old one. … City Manager Schwabauer says Caltrans is willing to negotiate an arrangement whereby the city has the authority to take over control of the state right-ofway property (around the freeway, for example) for the purpose of cleaning up illegal homeless encampments. Any arrangement would be at city expense, of course, says Schwabie. What a deal!

GOIN’ GREEN: Last week we wrote about the Vaccarezza brothers being on the cover of a recycling industry magazine. They were spotlighted for all their conservation innovations. However, Clare Zastrow Reynolds reminds us that the Vaccarezza boys’ father, Dave Vaccarezza, has been involved in recycling since he was a young man. Indeed. Dave remembers working for his dad Rudy, dragging cardboard boxes up from store basements (like JC Penney’s), loading them on a truck and taking them to their company yard, where they would be crushed, baled and sold. Dave also remembers his dad digging a sixty-foot-deep shaft by hand for the cardboard baler to be installed. While we think of the “going green” movement as a recent phenomenon, it’s actually been around a long time.

UPDATES: The curbs, gutters and sidewalks are in at the new subdivision being built at Lower Sac and Harney. It’s a phase of the Southwest Gateway project, which stretches from Kettleman to Harney. Some 1200 homes will be built by the time it’s finished. Tom Doucette and FCB Homes is the developer. … Strings Italian Café will be closed for a few weeks while they perform a “dining room refresh.” Strings is located in Sunwest Plaza, the old Walmart shopping center. … Denis’ Country Kitchen will apparently reopen under new management on Thursday, May 5, according to an online announcement. The longtime favorite eatery was sold last year and became The Greek Fork, but now it looks like it will change hands again and be back to the original menu and staff.

COMING DOWN : Ya know those redwood trees along the fence at Lakewood School, the ones the city is planning to saw down because they apparently cause power outages? There’s a story behind them. They were planted by Lakewood School students in about 1980 as part of a conservation project. The city partnered with PG&E to provide the trees, and the kids supplied the labor, according to Charlene Lange, who worked for Lodi Unified at the time. People have wondered, do they really have to come down? Aren’t there any tree-trimmers at the city anymore? Apparently, the Tree Lodi organization concurs the trees are a nuisance and should be replaced.

BRUNCH UPDATE:

There are more Sunday brunches around town than we thought, naturally. Here are a few to keep in mind with Mother’s Day coming this Sunday: Towne House Restaurant at Wine and Roses, Oddfellows Tavern in Woodbridge, Dancing Fox on School Street in downtown Lodi, Woodbridge Crossing in beautiful downtown Woodbridge, and the Grateful Gypsy Bistro on Locke Road in lovely Lockeford. Nina Chandler also suggests stopping by one of the vegetable stands around there while you’re out that way.

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Steve is a former newspaper publisher and lifelong Lodian whose column appears most Tuesdays in the News-Sentinel. Write to Steve at aboutlodi@gmail.com.