The number of homeless people dying on the streets, along the riverbank and under bridges is going up in Sacramento, writes Bill Lindelof of the Sacramento Bee. As the total climbed to 705 homeless men, women and children dying between 2002–2015 tin California’s capitol, state government bureaucrats at the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), propose that the public spend $260 million to help fish in the Sacramento River.
The office of the SWRCB is directly across the street from dozens of homeless encampments at Cesar Chavez Park and under a mile from the riverbanks, bridges and streets where so many tragic souls have lost their lives.
The total sum to be spent on 4,000 fish is, according to the SWRCB, an expense of $260 million per year. Of the 4,000, 90 percent are expected to die, be eaten by predators or be caught by commercial fishermen and sports anglers, barely leaving 400 survivors to spawn, at $650,000 per fish. That same $260 million is enough money to provide 86 million meals to the homeless community each year, enough to cover rents for 142,857 low-income seniors per year or provide 900,000 free dental exams.
With hundreds of men, women and children dying in our streets because of starvation, failing bodies, lack of housing, substance abuse and indifferent or incomplete medical care, you would think that the government workers at the SWRCB who encounter this homeless community on a daily basis on the streets or in the park across from their offices might seek to spend $260 million on lifesaving programs that actually save more than just fish.
But in our exceptionally “progressive” state, we have gone so far to extremes that our state government and bureaucrats would rather spend $260 million failing to save fish to make a political point that they’ll step over the dying homeless to do it.
Aubrey Bettencourt is the executive director of the California Water Alliance, a statewide water policy non-profit that advocates for the water needs of California families, cities, businesses, farmers and the environment. Follow @AubBettencourt and visitCaliforniaWaterAlliance.org for more information.