July 25, 2024

"Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered California state officials... to begin dismantling thousands of homeless encampments..."

"... the nation’s most sweeping response to a recent Supreme Court ruling that gave governments greater authority to remove homeless people from their streets....  His executive order could divide Democratic local leaders in California, some of whom have already begun to clear encampments while others have denounced the decision from conservative justices as opening the door to inhumane measures to solve a complex crisis. The order also comes as Democrats are uniting around Vice President Kamala Harris, a former senator and prosecutor from California.... Republicans have frequently pointed to homelessness in California as an example of the state’s purported decline.... In his executive order, Mr. Newsom advised California cities and counties on how best to ramp up enforcement on a signature issue of his administration. He cannot force them to take action, but can exert political pressure through billions of dollars the state controls for municipalities to address homelessness...."

From "Newsom Orders California Officials to Remove Homeless Encampments/The directive from Gov. Gavin Newsom is the nation’s most sweeping response to a Supreme Court decision last month that gave local leaders greater authority to remove homeless campers" (NYT).

57 comments:

Crimso said...

Of course, of course. It's an election year. Maybe not for him, but for the Party.

cubanbob said...

Crimso for the win. CA just might lose a number of seats to the Republicans. The Democrats have no principles other than winning and increasing government control.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Everything about Gruesome Newsome reminds me of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, right down to the slicked back hair and daily facial-mask regimen, except I bet Newsolini can probably get reservations at Dorsia and doesn’t need to kill the hookers himself.

tcrosse said...

This looks like a move to decentralize the fentanyl industry.

Rabel said...

Videos of the enforcement should be memorable if allowed.

mccullough said...

Sotomayor, Katanji Brown, and Kagan are so Progressive they are to the Left of California politicians

rehajm said...

I figured he'd just ignore it and keep doing what they like doing...

Skeptical Voter said...

Our Brylcreem Boy is a cynical son of a gun. Now he starts to clean up California so "San Francisco Democrat" doesn't look so bad. But he and the Kackler are joined at the hip politically.

hawkeyedjb said...

Sorry, homeless people. You were interesting pets to have around for a while but "The Company had decided to move in a different direction."

Leland said...

Are the Chinese CCP planning a visit to California?

Ice Nine said...

>while others have denounced the decision from conservative justices as opening the door to inhumane measures to solve a complex crisis.<

The solution to which "complex crisis" is, of course, to piss away mazillions more dollars on these bums and dopers.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Leland said...

Are the Chinese CCP planning a visit to California?

It wasn't that long ago that they visited. Place got dirty again that fast? Somebody ain't doing their job!

loudogblog said...

It's a misleading headline. The Governor is only saying that local jurisdictions can shut down homeless encampments if they want to. If they don't want to, they don't have to. All he's doing is restating what the Supreme Court decided a few weeks ago and offering them some advice on how to do it.

MadTownGuy said...

"Newsom Orders California Officials to Remove Homeless Encampments/The directive from Gov. Gavin Newsom is the nation’s most sweeping response to a Supreme Court decision last month that gave local leaders greater authority to remove homeless campers"

Newsom uses it to attack DJT's SCOTUS picks in 3,2,1...

The rule of Lemnity said...

Typical politician move. They only act when their interests are on the line.

At the Trump assassination attempt hearing, both parties unanimously condemned the SS. In the end, Trump is also one of them. An attempt on one is an attempt on all of them. Have they ever grilled any civil servants over the high crime in big cities?

Time to clear up the homeless from the streets of San Francisco, because it could hurt one of their own. Kamala. Never mind that the problem has been ongoing for decades.

Dixcus said...

The rule of Lemnity wrote: "An attempt on one is an attempt on all of them."

They better know that if Trump is killed, an attempt on one is going to lead to an attempt on all of them.

FullMoon said...

Lol. Californicator here. Right before local elections, Newsome had highway patrol as well as extra police clean up our notorious Tenderloin district. @ months later, back to same ol' thing.

Big Mike said...

Republicans have frequently pointed to homelessness in California as an example of the state’s purported decline....

It’s a “purported decline” because it’s a very, very real decline. Are you lefties listening when we speak truth to knuckleheads like you?

FullMoon said...

Would be productive if dems here would get serious about shoplifting and breaking into cars. Even dollar store ($1.25 NOW) starting to lock stuff in glass cases.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
retail lawyer said...

Nothing will change, even in an election year. The bigger cities were using the Grants Pass ruling as an excuse to let the problem fester while spending lots of money on NGOs to perpetuate the problems. The cities will find another excuse. That is all.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Will someone please explain the recent differences found at Althouse? I am thinking slowly, then suddenly.

Real American said...

knowing Newsom, it'll get publicity and there will be some photo ops but the problem will largely go untouched.

Goldenpause said...

Newsom will clear homeless encampments while simultaneously condemning the Supreme Court which gave him the green light to do so. In other words, another day in the life of a “progressive” politician. You get the government you elect, California. Enjoy.

Mikey NTH said...

The wetted finger is raised to see which way the wind is blowing. And Governor Gordon Gecko, I mean Newsome, is trimming his sails accordingly.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"it'll get publicity and there will be some photo ops but the problem will largely go untouched."

Despair, Inc. nailed it with their motivational poster, “Consulting: If you’re not part of the solution, there’s good money to be made by prolonging the problem.”

For Newsom, he'll be part of the solution now, since there's no value in an election year to prolonging the problem. That malibu-barbied-metrosexual has blood on his hands.

Yancey Ward said...

Whenever I look at Newsom I hear "Hip to be Square".

Aggie said...

Like a thunderbolt, it just popped into his head: Clean up the shitholes in time for November. It just came to him, out of the (Act) blue.

Michael K said...

So, Governor Hair gel noticed one of the problems that are making CA a shithole. Now do forest fires.

rehajm said...

Whenever I look at Newsom I hear "Hip to be Square"

Me, too! Huey Lewis' early work was a little too new wave for my taste. But when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.

Rich said...

This court is a nightmare, but even a stopped clock is right on occasion. Untying local and state governments' hands around this issue was a must do.

fairmarketvalue said...

loudogblog:"It's a misleading headline. The Governor is only saying that local jurisdictions can shut down homeless encampments if they want to. If they don't want to, they don't have to. All he's doing is restating what the Supreme Court decided a few weeks ago and offering them some advice on how to do it."

Your conclusion is fairly simplistic. It's more than mere advice. In reality, the Cali state government typically sends buckets of money to localities (notwithstanding its current $62 billion budget shortfall) for a variety of purposes. The state can distribute funds related to homelessness in such a manner that contrary localities will get less unless they get with the program and start to clear up their homeless populations. This is just the old carrot and stick financial incentive approach the feds have been using for years, and creates some serious pressure for the locals to do something. I see actions like this as the beginning of Newsome's positioning for 2028.

PM said...

"Dangit, I told them to move!"

fairmarketvalue said...

Richie wrote: "This court is a nightmare, but even a stopped clock is right on occasion. Untying local and state governments' hands around this issue was a must do.

By nightmare, I will go out on a limb here and speculate you're referring to the Court's 2nd Amendment and abortion decisions. I'm sure you have a plan to (a) term limit those bad justices and (b) pack the Court with enough good justices to make everything go your way.

Keep wishcasting. In his second term, DJT will have the opportunity to replace at least two and possibly three justices (assuming Sotomayer's diabetes gets progressively worse and she needs to resign for medical reasons).

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Any chance Newsom can use some of the areas where people of Japanese ancestry were forced to go in WW II? Some of them nicely forested, with peace and quiet? Cheap Nissen huts, running water, latrines. Or maybe the ranches that were used in the production of Hollywood movies--they don't make many Westerns any more. Or university campuses. Just make sure there is plenty of access to drugs that just might, fingers crossed, kill a lot of people. We are the humanitarians.

n.n said...

Democrats demolish. California is a sanctuary State. Since when have progressive liberals respected civil and human rights? Just do it!

n.n said...

Whether Obamacares, Bidencares, novel Green blight, etc., in a climate of corruption, throw another baby on the barbie, it's over.

Freeman Hunt said...

"Clean it up before November!"

boatbuilder said...

Will someone please explain the recent differences found at Althouse? I am thinking slowly, then suddenly.

Other than the proprietor recognizing and (quite refreshingly) calling out the outrageous bullshit that passes for "mainstream" political discourse these days, what differences are you referring to?

New Yorker said...

Anyone speculating that the executive order was merely concocted to take advantage of the Court’s decision in time for the election should read and consider the brief Gov. Newsom submitted in 2023 encouraging the Court to take the case in the first place, as well his brief on the merits earlier this year. It’s true that California argued for a narrower decision than the one the Court issued. But I think it’s also clear that Gov. Newsom has for some time been asking for and preparing to take advantage of a change in the law.

Humperdink said...

It's like inviting guests for dinner and then giving them the boot after the appetizer. Newsome should be ashamed. As should the border Czarette.

It's funny, my senior senator, Bob Casey (D-Coma) has awaked after 5.5 years and is now a border hawk.

FullMoon said...

Simple, now we can directly reply to a commenter. So, now we can devolve into GP (JK)

Rusty said...

Somebody must have told Newsome he's being considered for VP.
Ya know how to get rid of them? Quit paying them.

Mason G said...

"As should the border Czarette."

That characterization is in the process of being memory-holed, you know.

Kitty said...

So, what changed? He's been in office since 2019. It's ben an issue throughout.

Kitty said...

So, what changed? He's been in office since 2019. It's ben an issue throughout.

Jamie said...

Thanks for the context, New Yorker. I am the opposite of a Newsom fan, but - as Rich said above about the Supreme Court, an opinion with which I disagree - even a stopped clock.

Schellenberger is my go-to on this subject. Open air drug markets are corrosive. Private housing is deadly if you're an addict - no one is checking on you. Shelter, but group shelter, first - then earn a private room by testing clean, every day. And deal forthrightly with the mental health issues, if necessary via institutionalization. You can't effectively treat schizophrenia on the street, and few families can treat it well at home.

Homelessness shouldn't be an intractable issue. Just as I didn't support Obamacare because it was using a sledgehammer (revamping the entire health insurance marketplace...) to kill a mosquito (...on the pretext of making health insurance available to the uninsured, who were a relatively small cohort - what was it, less than 10 million? This is not to say I'm not open to a structure other than employer-sponsored insurance; I'm just saying we were sold a bill of goods), the problem of JUST homelessness, without addiction and/or mental illness, is small. The big problems are the addiction and mental illness.

chickelit said...

Jamie said..."Just as I didn't support Obamacare because it was using a sledgehammer (revamping the entire health insurance marketplace...) to kill a mosquito (...on the pretext of making health insurance available to the uninsured, who were a relatively small cohort - what was it, less than 10 million? "

Please don't forget...and most do...that Obama was driven by his mother's plight: A woman who politicly eschewed the US and all it for which it stands for her adult life UNTIL she presented with cancer abroad. Only then did she come home to die; only then did the son blame the "system" for not covering a woman who had not paid into the US healthcare system.

Dr.Bunkypotatohead said...

"He cannot force them to take action, but can exert political pressure through billions of dollars the state controls for municipalities to address homelessness...."

So how is that supposed to work? He used to give San Francisco money to deal with the street bums and they didn't. So now he will withhold the money and then what? This is like South Park's underpants gnomes scheme.???Profit!

LibertarianLeisure said...

occupy Wall Street was the beginning of thed emise of Portland, Oregon. They stopped enforcing no camping on public spaces. I used to work downtown. It was a delightful place to live and work. We moved out in 2016 and visited in 2022 for a wedding. The difference in just those few years was incredible. Nice areas formally were riddled with abandoned stripped cars, graffiti, shopping carts, trash. My heart goes out to those homeless folks but this wasn't that, this was destruction and blight.

mikee said...

Newsome: "BEHOLD! I mandate the solution to the problem! The problem that I created and supported. No, I provide no means to fix things, I just say fix it!"

Thus he advertises his availability for the VP slot.

EdwdLny said...

Clean them up ? Nah, not going to happen. The billions given away to do that were pissed away years ago. So ,no. They'll just rotate them around the state depending upon who and where a photo op and/or speech is scheduled. Never underestimate the capacity for democrats to use and abuse their constituents.

Fred Drinkwater said...

NPR had a segment about this yesterday. According to them, Newsom was explicit that cities have to provide housing or shelter to anyone moved out of an encampment.

In other words, he was reassuring his real constituency that the money flow will continue.

Don't be fooled by a headline.

Skeptical Voter said...

Brylcreem Boy makes another stupid meaningless gesture that "sounds good."

Joanne Jacobs said...

Homeless (or "unhoused") people who create these shanty towns are very, very unpopular in California. Crime, disease, polluting the creeks ...

We also have working poor -- not mentally ill or addicted -- who sleep in their campers or cars, find showers they can use and often go home to the boonies on weekends. They'd be helped greatly if California made it easier and cheaper to build housing.

Fred Drinkwater said...

Joanne! How are you?

loudogblog said...

fairmarketvalue said...
loudogblog:"It's a misleading headline. The Governor is only saying that local jurisdictions can shut down homeless encampments if they want to. If they don't want to, they don't have to. All he's doing is restating what the Supreme Court decided a few weeks ago and offering them some advice on how to do it."

"Your conclusion is fairly simplistic. It's more than mere advice. In reality, the Cali state government typically sends buckets of money to localities (notwithstanding its current $62 billion budget shortfall) for a variety of purposes. The state can distribute funds related to homelessness in such a manner that contrary localities will get less unless they get with the program and start to clear up their homeless populations. This is just the old carrot and stick financial incentive approach the feds have been using for years, and creates some serious pressure for the locals to do something. I see actions like this as the beginning of Newsome's positioning for 2028."

Do you have any proof that Newsome is actually sending any additional funds to specifically to remove the homeless encampments? Don't forget that we have a massive budget deficit here in California.