Bob Slobe’s essay in the March 3rd issue of Sacramento News & Review is getting a lot of attention.

His article received a response last week from North Sac resident Giles Lauren, who favored Hugh Biggar’s “Butterflyman” article to Slobe’s Essay. Lauren’s commentary to Slobe was:

My second prong, barbed, concerns Bob Slobe’s essay, “Unsafe ground.” First, I admired the article because Mr. Slobe was able to put his thoughts to paper clearly. I am grateful for his insight into what North Sacramento once was.

As a resident of North Sacramento, I was surprised at his allusions to the Woodlake Reach. I regularly walk this part of North Sacramento, and I have never been threatened nor I have come across any drug users’ needles or any pornographic material; moreover, human excrement is certainly as common in Mr. Slobe’s home as it is anywhere inhabited by man. On the Reach, one is more likely to meet with a veteran whose pension is inadequate to pay the rent for an apartment in one of the buildings that developers like Mr. Slobe own. These sorry people can’t afford heroin and needles; crystal meth, the odd joint or bottle of beer seem to provide their pleasures. Might I suggest that Mr. Slobe take a stroll down Sacramento’s K Street some afternoon? The Sacramento Housing Authority has poured about $20 million into North Sacramento over the past decade, and today there are more vacancies on Del Paso Boulevard than there were when they started. Planning for 1950 will help none of us, Mr. Slobe; look around you.

 
Still, it seems some residents of North Sacramento share Slobe’s opinion regarding the homeless. In this week’s Letters to the Editor, two writers show their support for Slobe, one going as far as suggesting North Sacramento become it’s own city again:

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Re “Unsafe ground” by Bob Slobe:

Bob Slobe speaks for residents and businesses who have had it with city of Sacramento, which is slowly destroying nearby communities by turning the American River Parkway Area into a homeless ghetto. For over 25 years, we have been promised that the next new program will solve the homeless problem. The problem keeps getting worse.

Tell you what: All these people who push for the next new program need to step up to the plate. It is time that new programs and services be dispersed evenly through all council districts. We have buses and light rail. Why don’t we start out by putting the first Safe Ground camp in the rail yard between Land [Park] and Curtis Park?

It is unbelievable that [letter writer] Giles Lauren frequently walks through the Woodlake Reach of the American River Parkway and hasn’t ever seen any of the tons of trash and human waste that everyone else sees. He says it is completely safe, yet at least three bodies have been found in that area in the past couple years. Hikers often are chased by dogs running wild or mugged by these people he claims are only homeless veterans who drink beer and do crystal meth. What it does prove is that Mr. Giles Lauren is blind and has also lost his sense of smell.

Kenneth Lauszus
North Sacramento

Secede from Sac?
Re “Unsafe ground” by Bob Slobe:

Bob Slobe is spot on! Maybe North Sacramento needs to be the city of North Sacramento, once again!

Brad Martin
North Sacramento

Meanwhile, Safe Ground continued on seemingly obvious to all this, setting up a canopy outside Old City Hall on March 15  in what looked like a way to get more supporters. They later attended the Public Comments section of City Council.