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By Keith McCarter
I attended the ICUC forum on October 6, 2015 for the San Bernardino City Council candidates. I was shocked at some of their answers concerning the various topics. Let us take for instance the topic of homelessness. One of the candidates actually said, he would pay the police to round them up and send them to another city. This answer reeked of insensitivity.
Others said it should not be the cities responsibility. They suggested that it is a State and Federal problem. I can understand their rationale with this answer, even though this answer is a bit short sided.
I must say that I was particularly impressed with Mr. Damon Alexander’s answer. It was very simple. He suggested to do what other cities have done. Combine the services of the different social services departments, local, state and federal. Then we provide the services the homeless needs and help them get back on their feet again. I COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS CAME FROM THE MOUTH OF A REPUBLICAN. But I was completely fascinated with the simplicity of his answer.
In actuality, many of the bigger cities have done this. Also, Los Angeles city has just begun to combine these services as well. One of the major problems with providing services to people is that the people do not know how to access the available services. By lowering this barrier, Mr. Alexander suggests that the homelessness situation will be minimized if we follow the lead of the larger cities.
One last point I would like to mention. Politicians usually boast about what they have done to help other people. I was fortunate enough to speak with a few members from Damon Alexander’s camp. I was informed and witnessed him arranging an event to feed the homeless last Saturday on October 3rd.
So when a question arose about homelessness, he did not boast about him using his time, money and energy to feed the homeless at the park during the previous Saturday. He simply gave a professional answer to a serious concern of the city. Is this humbleness? I do not know what it is, but it is very refreshing to witness a candidate taking so much of their person to help alleviate the social impact of a dire concern without trying to use it for political gain. If elected this Damon Alexander will be a breath of fresh air to the City Council of San Bernardino.
