June Gloom Is Everywhere

School's out for the summer. And like many other families, ours longs for social and economic normalcy. Our oldest Beatrice has already been hanging out with her friends and started her job again as a camp counselor at a summer day camp. Our youngest Bryce is grateful for sleeping in, listening to music, watching movies, playing guitar, and waiting for their summer camps to start. We have no big summer vacation plans since Beatrice is working all summer, and so are Mom and Dad, but there are some fun things planned.

But the dark shadows of uncertainty are encroaching everywhere. Recession fears. AI taking our jobs. Global conflict escalations. Extreme weather (again) and fire danger (again). Splintered political and social ideologies that divide people everywhere. Authoritarianism on the rise. Misinformation and elusive variable truths. And I'm still mourning my dear friend. It's like the "June Gloom" as we call it in the Bay Area has blanketed everything. 

Now that our kids are teens and more aware of what's happening around them, the pressures of the adulting world combine with those dark shadows of uncertainty -- and Mom and Dad are stressing more than ever. 

Our kids a little more too, but they're still kids who know that Mom and Dad are taking care and worrying about most things for them still. Bryce wanted to organize a march supporting LGBTQIA+ rights, and did it, with a lot of help from Mom. It was peaceful and without incident, but what happens the next time if things escalate and flash-bang grenades are deployed by law enforcement and the National Guard is deployed, like what's happening in Los Angeles? We had a safety plan for Bryce's march and thankfully didn't have to use it. What happens next time is anyone's guess, but we'll be out there nonetheless. 

Plus, there are adulting worries less potentially violent but are still safety problems that we must worry about. Beatrice is stressing because she wants to get her driver's permit soon. We're excited about that, but we're not excited about our insurance rates. Ugh. But Mom and Dad are stressing because one of our cars has a transmission problem that can't be diagnosed and has become a safety problem for our family. So, that means it's time to shop for a new car after nine years, something we were not planning on doing in this frenetic tariff-driven, high-interest-rate economy. Ugh, again. 

No matter what, our family will invest in some summer normalcy without compromising our beliefs and principles. We will continue to peacefully protest to support the rights of everyone and to keep our country an inclusive democracy.

We'll also have to pay more for things, that's for damn sure, but we're grateful for what we can provide to our family. Blessings to those families who struggle to do the same.

June Gloom is everywhere. Be wary, safe, and well. 

The Clarity Bridge for Homelessness

We couldn't look away from the still smoldering burned out trailer camper. It was just outside of the city limits on Highway 1, and mask-wearing fire crews had surrounded it and were spraying it down with frothy fire retardant. 

"Homeless," I said.

"Yes, I'm sure," my wife Amy said. "I hope they got out."

"I know, although I don't see an ambulance or another vehicle that would've been towing it, so I'll bet they got out."

We have our own camper now, I thought. Scary.

We continued with our morning walk down the bike path to Wilder Ranch State Park, where just north of the park was the southern end of the CZU August Lightning Complex fires, the ones we nearly had to evacuate from in Santa Cruz. The ones that thousands did have to evacuate from. 

Over 900 homes were destroyed in these fires -- and there continue to be fires burning everywhere along the West Coast from Washington to Oregon to Southern California. These combined with the impact of COVID-19 on our economy and too many people out of work and renters nearing eviction, and the complexity of people experiencing homelessness may increase dramatically. The lack of affordable housing, social and economic inequity, mental health and substance abuse problems only exacerbate a problem that's not new to the Bay Area and many other communities through the U.S. 

During the Great Recession just over 10 years ago, we nearly walked away from our home before being forced into foreclosure having sporadic income at the time and being underwater with our mortgage. We had a newborn and a two-year-old and very little savings. The fear of not having a home for our family weighed heavily on us. We fortunately didn't lose our home and were able to make it work. 

According to the 2019 Santa Cruz County Homeless Census & Survey Comprehensive Report, a survey that's done every two years, there were 122 families with 419 individuals experiencing homelessness more recently (19% of the total homeless population). Slightly more than half (53%) were living unsheltered. Who knows where that number is now -- or where it might be in the next six months. 

We have a trailer camper now and it was ready to go when we thought we had to evacuate due to the fires. We also had multiple friends and family who said we could park it in front of their homes indefinitely if we needed to. We've learned a lot about camping in an RV, living in an RV at least for a few days at a time, and based on our own life experience, I can imagine having to live out of one for who knows how long. And wouldn't want to have to do that. What if our home had burned down? What if we lost our jobs and couldn't pay our bills anymore? So many what if's. 

And our daughters ask us "why are those people living there?", those people experiencing homelessness living in tents and RV's throughout our city and on the edges of the city, and the answers aren't easy to give. Many don't have a choice because they can't afford rent, although some choose to live this way. Plus, there aren't enough homeless shelters available in the city, there aren't any sanctioned and supervised safe parking/camping areas, there are those suffering from mental and emotional problems, addiction, just to name a few. 

Where we live there's a growing RV/tent encampment across the highway from us, still within city limits, but technically under the purview of Caltrans. Just a year and a half ago our city was grappling with short and long-term solutions on how to deal with this growing complex crisis where we live and elsewhere, with city staff researching successful communities dealing with their own homeless crises. At the time, we were also not supportive of any "safe sleeping areas" near us or anywhere in the city. 

According to our city website, The city of Santa Cruz invests millions of dollars each year in a combination of homeless services and reacting and responding to the externalities of homelessness. From law enforcement interventions for people in behavioral health crisis, to clearing encampments, to providing direct funding to local non-profit service providers, the City has addressed this issue from many angles. Despite this significant investment of City resources and time, the problem of homelessness persists and is growing. 

Persists and is growing. According to a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals legal decision from a few years ago, it's "cruel and unusual punishment" to enforce rules that stop homeless people from camping in public places when they have no place else to go. That means states across the 9th Circuit can no longer enforce similar statutes if they don't have enough shelter beds for homeless people sleeping outside.

A lot has changed in the past year and a half, and my wife and I are now advocates for safe sleeping areas in and around our city. There has to be a safe place for everyone in our community -- if they are sanctioned and supervised by the city and county. That was always supposed to be the plan, with millions available in funds from the city and county and multi-layer plans researched and recommended -- and then COVID-19 hit. 

That's the confusing part now. So much fo the information our our city website about homelessness is years old, and when we reached out to Caltrans, they passed responsibility back to the city and county. After reaching out to our mayor, city council, chief of police and one of the county supervisors, only the county supervisor responded. But we do know that law enforcement can't be responsible for it all. 

However, there are seemingly no plans in place, no fully functional transitional camps, not enough shelters to accommodate those in need of housing. And if they're are, we can't find the up-to-date information. There are local non-profits assisting the homeless and that's another channel for us to investigate further, like Housing Matters. 

What are we supposed to do? And what should we do? Of course we empathize, but these unsanctioned homeless encampments are a health and safety issue because there are no wellness checks that we're aware of, no animal control and no sanitation control (trash and sewage). They're a safety issue for the homeless, especially those families, children and young adults experiencing homelessness, and those of us with families and secure housing.

Here's the biased perception I'm working hard to move past -- the fact that we don't know who these people experiencing homelessness are (as of the 2019 census, 74% of respondents reported they were living in Santa Cruz County at the time they most recently lost their housing), and the same census shows they're not all criminals, addicts or mentally ill. They also don't know who we are, those of us secure in our homes, and the fact there are some of us who may be criminals, addicts and mentally ill. 

So, how do we build a bridge and help as community members beyond donating to local organizations and food banks? How can we volunteer more to help? Voting helps too, but the impacts aren't immediate and are also so polarized today. With local government budgets taking huge revenue hits going forward, a daunting fire recovery only just beginning, and with the weight of today bearing down more and more each day, what else can we do? It's not clear to us -- where's the clarity bridge for homelessness, hope and action? 

We love our community and we've survived earthquakes, fires, high cost of living, economic devastation, a pandemic (still surviving) and more. While many people may be leaving California for all of the above reasons, we are staying and raising our children here and will do what we can to help it heal, to build those new bridges and move forward. We empathize with those experiencing homelessness, because everyone deserves to sleep safely and to have access to the resources they need to improve their lives whatever their circumstance. 

Other "Days of Coronavirus" posts:

Stars to Shine

Loving Community Wide Shots Abound

A Foundation Worth Saving

This Hit-And-Run Thunderstorm

Help Prevent the Back-to-School Bullying

Memories Now and to Come

Especially Our Kids

This Old "No" Guy Jedi

Choose Eyes of Love

The Morning Work

We Shared Blue Genes

Agree to Disintegration

The Teacher Parade

All These Things Can Lead To Grace

Our Freedom Is Always Welcome

A Well of Strength

This Bad History

No Shirts, No Shoes, No Problem

The Iceberg Underneath

The Healing Hope We Can Give

Donate Your Date Nights and Help Feed Families

About All The Things

Dad, Our Family's Computer Guy

The Newest Normal

Where Our Troubles Are All The Same

This Is The Life

When There's Nowhere to Go

Jenny, Jenny, Who Can I Turn To

This Is The Life

"You can learn about life
When you play the game of Life..."

–The Game of Life

I skipped college and became a dancer. Although I loved dancing, the work was grueling and the pay wasn't great, so then I decided to go to night school and become a veterinarian. I loved animals, so it made sense. Kids, not so much, so I didn't have any. I did get married, though, and my wife and I enjoyed our travels, bought multiple properties over the years, made risky stock market moves and retired with over $2 million in the bank.

All in the span of one hour.

This was family game time playing the board game Life, time we used to carve out each week when the world was a much different place. Family time is still a priority, and now that we can't do much elsewhere or with anyone due to coronavirus and the shelter-in-place order in California, we're spending a lot of time together in our house working, schooling, playing, venting, stressing and the list goes on. My wife Amy has put together a great home school program for our girls and soon our school district will start distance learning. We can still get out and go for walks and exercise, just as long as we keep our distance from others. We're also learning how to play tennis together since we have free courts down the street from us.

Even with the structure, our family is stressed. It's scary and complex how big of a disruption this has become is such a short time. We've never experienced anything like this and our girls certainly never have. Five days of home school and we've only just begun. Our oldest, Beatrice, is struggling with going to sleep with her mind racing; she misses her friends and school and is worried about the virus. And Mom and Dad are struggling with staying asleep because of everything that's disrupting our lives. It also doesn't help that our new dog Jenny is starting to bark at any new distant sound she hears, including in the middle of the night. Ugh, that better not be a pattern. The most mellow of all of us is our youngest, Bryce, although she misses her friends and school just as much as Beatrice does.

The game of Life was always a fantasy game about living your life as an adult. However, playing it today isn't even close to the surreal landscape of what's happening to us all now. Nearly 300,000 infected globally with COVID-19. Over 10,000 dead. The numbers change hourly due to more testing (still woefully unavailable in the U.S.). Community lockdowns are the becoming the common denominator -- don't go out if you don't have to, non-essential businesses shut down, store shelves empty of staples, supply chains struggling to stay in place. By the end of March, over 1 million people will be laid off and/or furloughed in the U.S. alone, and that could go to upwards of 5 million in April.

We were going to run an errand today, with me running inside a store to buy something fun for our family to share, but then decided against it. We'll wait until it's available again online to be shipped to the safety of our house; we all have to acquiesce to this new life we're living.

We also need to figure out how to help those who will need our help, as there will be millions of people out of work. Governments are mobilizing to help, but we must also help on the local level. Donate food and money when you can, especially to food banks and to programs like Meals on Wheels and others that help families in experiencing financial distress, seniors who need assistance and people experiencing homelessness. Check with your local county and city leaders and community service programs to see how else you can help.

But whatever you do, do your part to flatten the curve and stem the spread of this deadly virus. When there's no where to go, keep your families safe and sound at home. Keep in touch with your family and friends from afar regularly via phone and video calls and texts and other messaging apps, as well as your employees, colleagues and peers if you're fortunate enough to stay employed during this global pandemic. And if you are hiring, please share that will your networks. Many more of us may be in a bad way as the months wear on, so supporting each other must be the new normal.

This is the life and it's not a game. Settle in, settle down and be safe. Bless you all.

When There's Nowhere to Go

"There's gonna be nowhere to go," said Beatrice about the fact that we wouldn't be doing much outside of the house due to social distancing.

"Why don't you 'go' into a book and explore the world of imagination," I said.

She didn't find it amusing and ignored me.

"No, really," I said.

Still no response. But then I did get a glare. The good news is that before the libraries closed for an indefinite amount of time (like many public places closing temporarily to mitigate the spread of coronavirus COVID-19), my wife Amy took Beatrice and Bryce to a nearby library branch and checked out a bunch of books for the girls to read.

This is a lot for adults to get their heads around, and unfortunately too many have panicked and made runs on stores for many different kinds of staples, toilet paper, and much more. We stocked up too, but that's something we do regularly anyway since we live in earthquake and fire territory. And now we have a pandemic coursing through communities around the world. Of course, there are those adults denying this is even happening, calling it fake news and propagating conspiracy theories, and that only makes things more dangerous for those most susceptible to contracting coronavirus.

It's even more stressful for our children. Beatrice has told us more than once to stop talking about the virus. Our girls' school just closed for at least one week, but we're pretty sure it's going to extend up to four weeks through their spring break. We've talked to the girls about what coronavirus is and why it's so important to practice social distancing, the fact that it helps decrease the possible spread of the virus to susceptible older people and those with breathing problems. Check on the elderly who live alone; Amy just had a dear uncle pass away, and although we're not sure what the cause was, he was alone.

These are unprecedented times for the entire world and our girls have never experienced anything like this before. We did during the 1989 earthquake, but this is a much different animal. The girls may have a few playdates with their friends during this shut-down time, but if things further escalate, we won't be going anywhere for awhile.

Amy has lots of learning activities planned for Bea and Bryce, and since we'll all be home indefinitely, I'll be helping as well. Besides working from home, there's also house projects we've planned and there's no time like the present, especially when you're trapped at home. But even with all that, a bigger worry for me and millions of families around the world beyond the virus is the economic impact of what's happening.

I understand we're getting a little more frightened every day about coronavirus and its impact; I'm more frightened about it all. When you start shutting it all down, you start impacting all the hourly workers who work in travel, hospitality, entertainment and more, and those who work in retail and more, all of whom can't work from home, who won't get paychecks if they don't work. Thankfully some employers will continue to pay their hourly workers and provided additional sick time if needed.

And now that schools are shutting down, many hourly works with children can't work anyway because they'll have to stay home and care for them and potentially have home school them, which for those of us who have a child who struggles academically, like we do, isn't optimal. And if your spouse and her colleagues depend on schools being open because of the actual work they do, like mine does, then that impacts us, again. Our school district is doing what it can to ensure that our children continue to have lessons, whether we home school them and/or there are virtual learning options available. They're also ensuring that the lower income children who depended on breakfast and lunch meals will continue to get them.

But now the economic ripples are already turning into waves. We’ve been in a growth (bull) market for 10 years, and now we’ve hit the bear-market skids. It’s impacting the economy on all levels with the big unknowns being for how long and with what lasting effects. It's already impacting negatively smaller businesses like mine and many others. Local merchants are taking a huge hit because fewer people are going out to make purchases except for essentials, hence the run on stores (our local Trader Joes, Costco, Safeway, New Leaf and more are doing okay right now).

Plus, some of the organizations I work with are starting to slow hiring, especially those in hospitality, airlines, retail and other customer-facing industries, and this will contribute to the economy grinding slow to a stop. More and more events have been canceled and employers are shutting down travel, even locally, and asking employees to work from home.

A week ago I tried to be more light-hearted about the situation, talking about our new dog Jenny and the last of my work travel for who knows how long. That feels like 10 years ago now. But what happens six months from now when there's nowhere to go and the virus is still here and the economy bottoms out? This is why we need to support our local economies as best as we can during this time; it impacts us all.

Don't get me wrong; my glass is always half full and I believe we will survive this. And while I hope this isn't truly the end of days, I do worry that the more start acting like it, the more it will have lasting negative repercussions beyond the illness itself.

Let's all stay safe and sane during these times and help one another if we can. It may be a year before a vaccine is available, so practice social distancing, get tested if you're sick and self-quarantine if diagnosed and you don't need medical treatment, because we can all still support each other virtually from afar. What we don't want to do is to swamp the hospitals and overwhelm the nurses and doctors like we've seen in other countries.

When there's nowhere to go, we need to take care of each other, especially those who will need extra help during these challenging times.

Bless you all.

A Scorched Perspective

They stood on overpasses holding American flags and painted banners and signs. We couldn't read the signs as they were facing westbound traffic on Highway 50, out of the Sierra Nevada mountains and into the Central Valley, and we were heading east toward Lake Tahoe.

The Mama got online with her phone and looked for a news reference to the flags and banners. Then she found something about honoring a firefighter killed by a tree battling one of the many blazes burning throughout California. 

That's when the procession of local firetrucks and CDF firetrucks streamed past us on the left as we drove beyond Placerville. We grieved audibly explaining to the girls there were lots of fires burning that were dangerous to everyone including the fire fighting men and women trying to put them out.

The Golden State is a tinderbox, more so than usual due to the five-year drought and the increasingly hotter annual temperatures. There are currently well over a dozen fires burning in California, both in Southern and Northern California. 

At the same time state water tables and aquifers are low getting lower and lower. Lake Tahoe was visibly lower to us, and we experienced the difference as well as we waded way out along the South Shore beach where we stay. The water level that only last year hit our chests was barely above our knees, this being the 6th largest U.S. natural lake and the second deepest. Little if any snow collected along the Sierras this last winter, and even if the projected Godzilla El Nino (who comes up with these names) hits this coming winter, it will only be a brief reprieve from probable longer spells of dry, hot weather in the West.

The entire state of California has been on mandatory statewide water restrictions for residential and business properties since January 2014 with one exception -- groundwater for agriculture. In fact, California is the only state in the nation that has never regulated groundwater. Ever. Farmers in the Great Valley are for the most part free to pump as much water as they want and they don't have to really track it.

I grew up in the Central Valley in Visalia and was actually shocked to learn that parts of Porterville, a town near Visalia and where my dad was from, have run out of well water. You actually have to go to the fire station to receive bottled water so you can survive. Your hygienic needs must also be met in church parking lots where makeshift sinks and showers are set up. Can you imagine that in 110 degree heat?

For a state that is economically thriving, this seems to be madness to me, the part where some communities are beginning to actually run out of water while many farmers are receiving investment money to drill deep and deeper into the California water table and suck it dry for profitable cash crops that are only profitable because of the drought. 

I'm all for capitalism, but c'mon. We continue to be our own worst enemy when it comes to compromising basic necessities for a quick bottom line.

I get the fact that may take hundreds or even thousands of years for natural climate change, and the man-made short-term destructive nature, to force the West Coast population to live elsewhere, but mercy me this is scary. We've done our part locally in Santa Cruz to cut back on water usage and continue to be well under our allotment. There's a lot more we could do as a state and the privatization and further regulation of water in California could be a good start.

When we hiked above Emerald Bay in Tahoe, one of the many natural wonders we've been grateful to visit more than once, I couldn't help but wonder what might come of this lake and all of California someday. Would it all be a desert? Would we experience another ice age? Would the state burn up in massive fires? The span of geological time is unrelenting in its slow wake, and our current generations of human progress and memory will wash away like the fossilized ash of those before us.

No matter how resilient we are in California, and how much water most of us are saving, the scarcity of life-giving resources leaves a scorched perspective on both near-term and long-term survival. We could all use a little #BhivePower and positive hive mind mentality at this point.

Daddy K thinks in economies that scale, shuffle and shapeshift

I read a great opinion piece today in the The Wall Street Journal online titled There Is No 'The Economy'. I agree with much of what Zachary presents in the article, because:

In truth, what used to be "the economy" is just one part of a global chess board, and the data we have is incomplete, misleading, and simultaneously right and wrong. It is right given what it measures, and wrong given what most people conclude on the basis of it.

The world is composed of hundreds of economies that interact with one another in unpredictable and unexpected ways. We cling to the notion of one economy because it creates an illusion of shared experiences. As comforting as that illusion is, it will not restore a simplicity that no longer exists, and clinging to it will not lead to viable solutions for pressing problems.

I know an op-ed piece is no consolation to friends and family we know who are struggling because they're out of work, or because of skyrocketing fuel and food prices, or because of homes that have lost value when the mortgages have not, or whatever the situation.

I remember vividly what it was like to be in financial ruin, which was right after I met Amy (and thank goodness she kept me around) – and that was even before being laid off from the dot.com company I worked for during the bust of 2000-2001. But those are stories for another time.

I'm fortunate that our firm is currently chugging along and that we can provide steady jobs for few folk. We've even increased the number of telecommuting days for staff to save money on fuel and help the environment a little bit more.

My heart goes out to those who are struggling. The world is shuffling and shapeshifting by the minute.

Hold on tight, B. Hold on tight.