As an Assistant District Attorney, I have worked as a point person, for District Attorney Kamala Harris and other District Attorneys, in programs instituted in San Francisco by Governor (then Mayor) Gavin Newsom, Project Homeless Connect and Alameda’s County’s Stand Down initiated by Judge Hyde.

These highly effective programs emphasized connecting the homeless populations to services such as job counseling, mental health counseling, drug abuse counseling along with medical assistance and personal grooming needs. The salient characteristic of these programs was the establishment of partnerships with private non-profits, business organizations and various governmental agencies. They often employed a carrot and stick approach to encourage, if encouragement was needed, meaningful participation.

The City of Martinez, to say the least, is not equipped to engage in addressing these very complex challenges. A homeless encampment established on the fly in our Marina Amphitheatre has and is a recipe for disaster … for the folks encamped and our community at large. There is no mechanism for connecting these individuals to the services they need to move on with their lives and there are no partnerships with governmental agencies or private entities to provide meaningful services. We need to partner with surrounding cities, non-profits, the County Counsel (who is responsible for establishing conservatorships), Human Services (who can provide social workers and others to address dysfunctional behavior at the County Hospital and other locations), and the District Attorney’s Office.

Services and partnerships are noticeably absent at the encampment in our Marina Amphitheatre (apart from portable showers and the like).