Some hard questions continue to lack obvious solutions
At President Joe Biden’s first press conference a reporter asked about his solution to the influx of minors crossing the southern border. His reply: “I don‘t know.”
Some will criticize that burst of truth, but it’s actually a refreshingly frank answer that we should hear more often.
There are national, state and North Bay issues where no one really has viable answers. That includes the plight of the chronic homeless, high cost of California housing and clearing hills of flammable debris.
These are close-to-home quandaries where the truthful answer to the issue is, “I don’t know.”
The most pressing is the flood of homeless men and women inundating good parts of urban America, particularly in regions with temperate climates. Society has a handle on those whose fate is due to unemployment, domestic violence or poor job choices. For them, housing, job training and fair pay are solutions.
The chronic homeless form an entirely different category. This dilemma baffles both governments and social service providers. Those living on the streets of American urban centers represent a mental health crisis more than a lack of housing.
Most chronically homeless people suffer from symptoms resulting from a double diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse.
These are the men and women camping in Marin’s hills, under freeway viaducts and in filthy tents throughout the flatland of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland and Seattle.
Their diagnosis is often schizophrenia. Described in Dr. Stephen Seager’s must-read “Street Crazy,” it’s a “developmental disorder that unnaturally disrupts the way the brain is wired from birth, resembling more a form of dementia or brain failure.” Schizophrenia is often treatable, yet a symptom is the victim’s denial of illness and rejection of appropriate medication.
Failure dealing with chronic homelessness isn’t due to lack of effort. Despite San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing spending $364 million annually, each year the homeless population increases. Visitors to the city can see with their own eyes this well-intentioned effort is failing.
Residential care for the mentally ill is anathema to progressives and libertarians who believe no one, no matter how ill and self-destructive, should be compelled to do anything against their will. Then there’s the tax-adverse right who disdain paying for social services. The result is institutional gridlock and universal frustration.
“I don’t know” is the proper reply to questions about removing dead trees, flammable brush and combustible non-native plants dominating Marin’s hillsides. During the pandemic I’ve been trekking the steps, lanes and paths of Southern Marin. What I see is no different from hilly Twin Cities, Ross Valley, Novato and San Rafael neighborhoods: dead trees and brush everywhere. The problem appears so great that the initial reaction is hopelessness.
Voters have prudently taxed themselves to address this, the greatest threat to life and property in Marin. With 20 years of aggressive brush removal we’ll make a big dent. Until then, the practical approach is maximizing fire insurance coverage and following Mill Valley’s lead toward moving evacuation preparedness to a higher level.
No one knows the answer to an issue dominating the Legislature: California’s relatively high cost of housing. The answer from Sen. Scott Wiener, other buildbaby-build politicians and developers is to construct millions of multi-unit apartments and eliminate single-family zoning.
If that was the magic bullet, housing in New York, Hong Kong, London and Tokyo would be dirt cheap. Those cities are built to the hilt yet their housing remains prohibitively expensive.
To mimic communities whose housing is priced so that virtually anyone employed can own their own home or condo, check out Buffalo, Tulsa or Bakersfield. Their jobs-housing balance demonstrates it’s all about demand. Well-paying jobs in those spots are in short supply resulting in low-priced homes.
These are close-tohome quandaries where the truthful answer to the issue is, ‘I don’t know.’