I’m proud of Gov. Newsom for two things he did this week: he vetoed that bill that would have allowed so-called safe injection sites, and he went to war with that judge, Orrick, who is refusing to allow Caltrans to clear their property at the infamous Wood Street homeless slum.
I have mixed feelings about injection sites. I understand the impulse of the part of supporters to save lives and keep users from shooting up in the streets. But I also have concerns about what is, in effect, a city enabling illegal drug use. It seems to me we should be eliminating addiction, not making it easier for addicts to keep up a suicidal lifestyle.
The Governor indicated he’s still open to the idea of safe injection sites; he just wants more details, and would be open to a pilot project someplace, instead of launching a full-scale program in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles. That makes sense to me: let’s figure out if these sites actually work and—as the Governor warned—if they have “unintended consequences.”
The Governor also involved himself in our own local problem, the Wood Street homeless slum. (I’m not calling it an “encampment” because it’s not one.) You know the story: the sprawling mess has been there for years. This year alone, it has spawned 48 fires, including two yesterday. It has made that part of the city unlivable and a national embarrassment. Caltrans, which owns much of the property, wants to clear it out. But a Federal judge, Orrick, slapped a temporary restraining order (TRO) on them, under which the slum can’t be cleared unless Oakland provides alternative shelter for the hundreds of people living there, which the city says it cannot do.
What Newsom did was directly confront Orrick by demanding he dissolve the TRO, which Orrick shows no sign of doing. Meanwhile, Oakland government is sort of stuck in the middle of this fight. Oakland has no obvious way of providing all that shelter, and so the standoff continues. The only way it might be resolved is for a higher court to invalidate the TRO, which would free Caltrans up to clear the site. And this is what Gov. Newsom has vowed to do: fight it out in court.
What Newsom has done takes some guts. Politicians rarely want to get involved in such messy social issues as injection sites and homeless slums, both of which arouse fierce passions in voters. But what we’ve seen for years, particularly with homelessness, is that nothing gets done unless somebody with power makes it happen. Oakland’s civic leaders have steadfastly refused to take any sort of meaningful action with regard to homelessness, instead preferring to hold endless meetings, create ridiculous new positions, and babble about “our unhoused brothers and sisters.” Whether you like Newsom or not, at least he’s letting Orrick and Oakland know they’re in a legal knife fight with the Governor of California. Who do you think will win that one?
Steve Heimoff