People really love my dog. She seems to take it all in stride, but I find it somewhat amazing and amusing. The other day while I was shopping, Ojona, Spanish for “big eyes,” was entertaining a Trader Joe’s customer — and getting paid for it. Yes, you read it right. My dog got paid merely for sitting in the back of the box that is attached to my bike.
When I introduced myself, the lady said “what a cute dog!” Then I noticed there was some money next to Ojona — three dollars. Incredulous, I said, “you don’t have to give me money to pet her.” “Oh,” she replied, “it’s not for you it’s for your dog.”
Yes, even the City of Santa Cruz loves my dog, or at least dogs. In fact, our city has 22 parks, two of them reserved for dogs to freely run and play and our Department of Parks and Rec, I assume, cleans up their you know what if their master doesn’t pick up what their pets have left behind.
Fellow citizens, we are so fortunate to live and enjoy this amazing city — unless you are homeless. Imagine at 2 a.m. you have to go; maybe it’s diarrhea, or your period. If you are lucky you will find one of the few Porta Potties that the city provides, an insufficient number for the estimated “2,249 largely unsheltered individuals in Santa Cruz County.” (Note: The 2017 census shows a 14.5 percent increase since the 2015 census count of 1,964. One in four are women and the number of unaccompanied children and transition-age youth is on the rise.) If not, can you imagine how it feels having to relieve yourself behind a bush?
Yes, our city funds and manages 22 parks, but claim they can not keep bathrooms open at night. Further, the bathrooms at the Louden Nelson Community Center are closed day and night to the public, as is the one at City Hall.
Not only does my dog have a place to relieve herself day or night, she doesn’t have to worry about everything she owns, like five plastic bags and a bed roll on a cart or a bike, being stolen when she does her business. She merely wags her delightfully curved tail, and looks at me with her beautiful big eyes to let me know what she wants.
We homeless activists are well aware that some who are homeless are responsible for their plight. Drugs certainly are a partial cause for those who end up living on the street, but the major cause of homelessness is economic and bad luck. One in four people are homeless because of job loss, the second leading cause is drug or alcohol abuse at 17 percent, and at this time of rent control 14 percent are homeless because of eviction.
Fellow citizens — and members of our City Council — guilty by fate, bad decisions; or innocent by circumstances beyond their control, do any of our fellow human beings deserve being denied what most of us take for granted — all the more immoral because our city has an ordinance that bans individuals the right to sleep in public places?
Admittedly the issue of vandalism and inappropriate behavior by a minority is a legitimate issue, unless it is an excuse for discriminating against the most vulnerable in our community. We activists have made suggestions to the appropriate city officials, but have in general been ignored. Please join us at upcoming City Council meetings as we demand that those who have control over the bathrooms work with us to find solutions to open all bathrooms throughout our city, day and night.
Join us in making the plea that suffering homeless men, women and children have a greater priority to relieve themselves than my dog, even if they are not paid for being cute. Help us explain to our elected officials that they and we should “love our fellow human beings as ourselves.” Demand that they do everything necessary to alleviate the pain and suffering that comes with being homeless.
Philip Posner, retired rabbi and author is the founder and co-chair of Conscience and Action.
