0:01

When you're ready to ride Metro, we want

0:03

you to know we're ready for you. Here

0:05

are just a few of the people at Metro to tell

0:07

you how we're doing our part to keep riders

0:10

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0:13

greatly. You've found half sant, no

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We're doing our part to keep the DC area

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com slash doing our part. So

0:32

a lot of homeless problems

0:34

and stories that are getting national intention all

0:36

across the nations to a lot of different areas of the country

0:38

are dealing with this problem

0:41

right now. Definitely most acute

0:43

worst on the West Coast. We're city

0:46

after city up and down the coast is just inundated

0:48

with bums and junkies, and more and more are showing

0:51

up every day. Bumping around Washington, d C.

0:53

For several days. How many homeless people do you see? How How

0:55

common was it there? You

0:58

know, it doesn't really least oh you

1:00

know, a handful, pretty good handful

1:03

typical through the years, big city

1:06

collection of beggars. And there's

1:08

so many tourists in d C that

1:11

there are a fair number of beggars there. Um,

1:14

but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was helpful.

1:16

If you're if you're in San Francisco or

1:18

Los Angeles, you'd have a you'd have a handful

1:21

at the one coffee shop you're you're at.

1:23

Oh yeah, yeah. Like I said, it's it's pretty typical

1:26

the way it's always been, um, you

1:28

know, through the years. It's not exploding like it is on

1:30

the West Coast. Speaking of which you may

1:32

have seen or heard or read about Steve

1:34

Sylvester last week. He's an antique

1:37

shop owner in the Capitol City, California,

1:39

Sacramento, and had a mostly

1:41

naked guy bust into his his business

1:44

the other day and cause of Frankas

1:46

and Steve got interviewed. You know, honestly, I

1:48

think it mostly got attention because the dude

1:50

was mostly naked, and

1:53

that's kind of the hook for the dumb,

1:55

dumb media.

1:57

It's a big part of it. Interesting, that's

2:00

that's part of it. It also comes in the

2:02

wake of Liz Novak, who we

2:04

talked to, who is a shop

2:06

owner in the same area, who said she's

2:08

closing her up a business and moving it because of

2:10

the incursion of bombs and junkies.

2:13

Steve Sylvester joins us now to talk

2:15

about the situation in his part of the world and

2:18

the you know what he thinks is causing it is a

2:20

guy who observes it every day. Steve, how are you,

2:22

sir? Hi?

2:24

Yeah, I thank you for having me on the show. Oh,

2:26

it's our pleasure. We appreciate you taking

2:28

the time. Um. I assume you're

2:30

taking the time because you care about

2:32

the neighborhood where you live and work. I'm

2:36

in the center Sacramento. There's

2:39

a big freeway that cuts through it for the w X

2:41

Freeway, and underneath

2:43

each of the roads there is

2:46

camp City, right

2:49

and it's I assume a hell

2:51

of a lot of junkies there there

2:55

is. Um. The problem is there's four

2:57

types Congress and as

3:00

the people who are genuinely homeless, and I think

3:02

the city should spend every penny on getting

3:04

them rehouse. Then we have a

3:06

lot of mentally ill around here. If we call them

3:08

the monster shouters, that they're like the Stephen

3:10

King Norvel. There's a

3:12

couple that we know who actually want

3:15

to be on the streets. They don't want to

3:17

be part of society. They love the

3:19

the nomad life. But the biggest

3:22

problem for our area, and that's

3:24

happened in the last year, is it's all drug related.

3:27

It's street drugs. How

3:29

do you know that? Because

3:33

the crowd that are hanging around now are much

3:35

younger, and what happens

3:38

is that they'll suddenly become

3:40

absolutely crazy. And that's

3:42

because they've just taken something that's nice

3:44

and cheap and cheerful, and then they're going

3:46

around, usually causing

3:49

chaos in the local area. And

3:51

do you think here, I know you've said

3:53

in the past that there's been an increase in

3:56

the number of people are menacing your business

3:58

and making it tough to do business and the rest of it.

4:01

What's your sense of why it's increasing

4:03

so quickly? Um,

4:08

A couple of reasons really. I mean, we've got

4:10

I think it's five thousand, six hundred homeless

4:13

in Sacramento and that, apparently,

4:15

according to the rules, is increase

4:18

over the last couple of years. There's

4:21

there's two things that are happening that's making

4:23

Sacramento a little busier with the home's population.

4:26

One is what they call Greyhounds therapy.

4:30

The local newspaper reported that

4:32

in Nevada they actually give

4:34

one way tickets to get out of the state

4:37

and come to Sacramento, that it's a much

4:39

better place to get benefits. And

4:42

then another piece of news

4:44

that I found out was that a

4:46

hospital, a mental hospital in Vegas,

4:49

over a five year period, bust out

4:52

fifteen hundred people out

4:54

of Nevada, of which a third

4:56

came to California. And that's what we have

4:59

a lot around in the failure. Wow,

5:01

that is something. Yeah, that's amazing. Steve Sylvester

5:03

is a Sacramento business owner. He was on

5:06

the news last week when I

5:08

drugged up maniacs smashed a bunch of stuff

5:10

in his antique shop. You're

5:12

either a city or a state that spends your

5:14

money on shipping homeless out, or you're

5:16

a city or a state that spends money on attracting

5:19

homeless more or less. Yeah,

5:22

uh, Steve, how often do you have

5:25

to say clean up in front

5:27

of your store? Human waste

5:29

and that sort of thing. Well,

5:32

it's Tuesday morning, and it's habit.

5:34

It was a fairly clean day to day, so

5:37

I could open the san Tour without a problem.

5:39

But it can be a needle

5:42

sitting outside which you have to go and pick up

5:45

um and that's not too bad. I hate

5:47

to say the worst thing is is the human

5:49

waste, and that it really is the

5:51

waste, the worst part of the day.

5:54

How often does that actually happen? Or you've got human

5:56

poop on the sidewalk or wherever you gotta

5:58

deal with um?

6:01

Probably about four times a week. I've

6:04

noticed it's cut I know it's it's

6:06

cut down a little bit because we used to have a

6:09

mentally ill homeless guy and he used

6:11

to drag around these two waist in containers

6:15

and he had this thing that

6:17

he had to poop on top of the car. Oh

6:20

boy, yeah, that's

6:23

a thing. That's an interesting thing, like

6:26

the hood and the top of the car. He

6:29

would he would squat on the top of

6:31

the car and then threw his business down the windshield.

6:34

And then, of course in the hot Sacramento

6:36

weather, when you go there seven o'clock

6:38

and out to pick your car up, it's the last

6:40

thing you want to do. You're gonna have to get that detailed,

6:43

is literally the last thing I want to do. So,

6:46

Steve, would you when

6:49

you appeal to the police for help

6:51

with this sort of thing? Um,

6:53

what happens? What are you told? Well,

6:57

here's the problem is that the police are

6:59

in their own set handcuffs because there

7:01

really is nothing that they can do.

7:03

Their hands are tied. I mean, if

7:06

someone on the street does something that's technically

7:08

eagle like vandalism

7:10

when we had our shot windows broken, um,

7:13

then they're going to raish someone for vandalism.

7:15

But if they're just walking around parking at the moon,

7:18

I mean, there's nowhere for them to go, so

7:21

really they just have to move them on and

7:23

make sure they're not ill. And

7:26

that's it. Your

7:28

thoughts on folks who give to panhandlers,

7:32

Oh yeah, Well, here

7:34

in Sacramento, as I said, down very near the freeway

7:37

that cuts through the center of the city, but

7:39

on the other side of the store, there's a

7:41

very long road called Broadway. And

7:44

I mean, I love Sacramento, and I

7:46

love Broadway because it's all of about thirty

7:49

cyberous restaurants. But outside

7:51

most of the restaurants there will be people taking

7:54

for money, and I do wish

7:56

people would not give them money because the

7:58

money is not going to be used by themselves

8:00

food. It's going to be used to

8:02

get a quick fix. So I

8:05

s cct from outside restaurants, give

8:07

them some food. They'll probably say no because

8:10

they really want the money. You know, the police in

8:12

a lot of areas say the same thing, don't give

8:14

them money. And when the Governor

8:16

of California, Gavin Newsom was the mayor of

8:18

San Francisco, I know that was a campaign

8:20

he was into do not give money

8:23

to beggars. So I don't know how that.

8:26

I mean, he's a lefty, he's the compassionate

8:28

lefty. I don't know how word is not gotten around everybody.

8:30

Stop giving money to beggars.

8:33

Right, why are you doing that? Right?

8:35

Beggars are not quote unquote the homeless,

8:37

necessary and necessarily they're beggars.

8:40

So, Steve Um, how

8:42

long do you plan on sticking it out if it gets

8:44

significantly worse? Are you thinking you're relocating

8:47

or are you committed to where you are? Oh?

8:50

No, I'm committed. I mean we've been here nineteen

8:52

years, almost as long as you've been on the radio. But

8:55

we have a big store, and we

8:57

do have lots of compassion and we know

9:00

what the problem is now, so we'll stick through

9:02

it. There's there's got to be an answer. Well,

9:04

you're you're Oh

9:06

yeah, I'm a total optimist. My

9:09

big problem is the city's got a bucket

9:11

load of money to deal with the homeless problem.

9:14

And um, what they're doing at the

9:16

moment is such a short term

9:18

quick fix. It's not going to work

9:21

right, well, said, well, we need to stay in touch

9:23

on this, Stephen. And one final note,

9:26

Jack and I began are well.

9:29

It was early in our radio career

9:31

that we worked in downtown Sacramento,

9:34

not far from where you are, and uh,

9:36

and ate breakfast most days there

9:38

at the Pancakes Circus, which I think

9:41

is very near your business. And I'm pretty

9:43

sure I gained ten to fifteen pounds in a year

9:45

eating breakfast there. It's

9:48

still there and pounds can still be

9:50

put on right on the end of the same block

9:52

pancakes the size of

9:55

a man hole. All right, Steve, great

9:57

to talk to you, and let's stay in touch. Okay,

10:00

thanks for yout you got it. How

10:02

do you How do you get up on the car? You

10:04

climb up on the bumper, You climb up

10:07

on crawl up on the right. It's

10:10

a very ritual, the

10:12

thing he's got going on there, because you've got to like start

10:15

on the top and move down the windshield. I wonder

10:17

if he has any interest in like what

10:19

model it is or anything like, look at that

10:21

Alexis. I've never pooped on Alexis

10:24

before. I don't know. Maybe

10:26

he's like belligerently pro American cars,

10:28

all Japanese cars, super patriotic,

10:31

you know. Anyway,

10:34

that's really not the point of the conversation, not really

10:37

say yeah,

10:42

it's it's it's unvolivable. Yeah,

10:44

it's incredible. Well, and listen to you were mentioning

10:46

that story earlier where there's a state

10:49

park where the bums have taken over in

10:51

the junkies and and the guys

10:53

are like, you know, we can be uh leaninging

10:55

on some stuff like the littering if you just cooperate

10:58

a little bit. Why are we taxpayers,

11:01

abiding citizens, begging

11:04

for please don't hurt us. We

11:06

won't ask much of you. Just you

11:08

know, keep crapping on the streets and stealing

11:10

and breaking windows and doing drugs.

11:13

And it's your park now, just don't damage it

11:15

too much. I tell you what. And

11:17

this is why Trump got elected and

11:19

why he might get re elected, he says, making

11:21

about about Trump slightly the

11:24

Ninth Circuit Court with

11:26

their bizarrow reeling ruling.

11:29

Rather, I'm sorry, I'm reading and talking at the same time their

11:31

bizarro ruling where you can't boot

11:34

somebody out of a park unless

11:36

you can prove the government has provided

11:38

a bed for them. They're

11:40

a junkie, they like doing drugs,

11:43

they have no interest in working like the rest

11:45

of us. What if three more guys decided

11:47

to become junkies today, that means the government

11:49

has to get three more beds. Ninth

11:52

Circuit Court of Appeals. You're letting

11:54

the junkies in the bums run

11:56

society. It's not how it

11:58

works. Life, liberty and suit of happiness

12:00

is the only thing government's supposed to provide that didn't

12:03

guarantee you a place to live. No, they're supposed

12:05

to protect your liberties, period, and it certainly

12:08

doesn't guarantee you a place to live in super

12:10

expensive areas of the country. Wha could

12:12

do judges? Man, that's at the root of a

12:14

lot. Yeah, our text lines

12:16

four five to nine five kft, you know,

12:18

And I'd like to do to some of these judges, like

12:21

to climb up on their car

12:24

where you parked? All right, when

12:33

you're ready to ride metro, we want you

12:35

to know we're ready for you. Here are

12:37

just a few of the people at Metro to tell you how

12:39

we're doing our part to keep riders safe.

12:42

We're cleaning like Neville before greatly.

12:45

You've found half out of no

12:49

mask, no Metro need

12:51

one. We have a few extras at Metro.

12:54

We're doing our part to keep the DC area

12:56

moving. Find out more at well mata dot

12:58

com, slash doing our part even