Editor’s note: I noticed former Grass Valley City Council Member and gadfly Steve Enos, one of this blog’s readers, posted this comment here. It includes mention that he’s going to launch a website, “Clean Up Grass Valley”:
Steve wrote:
“Our community deserves clean and safe neighborhoods, downtown and public parks… we do not have these anymore and no one at City Hall is saying a thing about these matters. It’s time for change and it’s time to clean up our town!
“Over that last couple of years I have been emailing, calling, meeting with and begging some City Council members and the Chief of Police to help address this stuff… but no action and things keep going downhill. I have asked time and time again that they reach out to the community, to communicate and discuss these issues. Nothing, nada, zip.
“So very soon I’ll be launching a website on these Grass Valley issues, complete with 100’s of photos and very specific information and documentation.
“Since our elected representatives on the City Council and the Chief of Police have failed to address these issues and have refused to reach out to our community to discuss them it’s time for the members of our community to send a big message to them that our children, our seniors, our community deserve clean and safe neighborhoods, a clean and safe downtown, clean and safe shopping centers and clean and safe public parks…we don’t have them now but we will!
“I’ll soon be launching the Clean Up Grass Valley website to shine a light on all this.
It’s one thing to say you love Grass Valley, but actions speak louder than words. Sadly we don’t even have words out of City Hall, much less action.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Well, after reading this morning’s paper, it looks like someone has been “cleaning up” in Grass Valley.
Sad, I hope it isn’t true.
Here’s one example from a Grass Valley mother. This is a recent letter from The Union newspaper.
Parks unsafe for kids
August, 30 2012, By Sydney Elliott, Grass Valley
Grass Valley used to be such a nice, relaxing town.
I am a young mother, and the past few times I have tried to take my 11-month-old daughter to the park to play, I have had to either leave very shortly after arriving or bypass it all together.
Why, you ask?
This is because when I go to the park these days, all that are there are “druggies,” “hobos” and people making it a totally uncomfortable place to be.
The last time I tried to take my daughter, on Aug. 10, I took her to four different parks.
At all of them there were either a bunch of underage kids getting drunk and high or adults getting drunk and high.
I believe Grass Valley needs to have a better police force to enforce the law and keep the parks nice and clean and comfortable for the public.
It saddens me to say that Grass Valley has turned into such a sad excuse of a community.
Not only GVPD but the residents of Grass Valley need to step up and make this town back into the wonderful place it was five-plus years ago.
Thanks Jeff, the website will be launched soon. I’ll do outreach to let folks know when it’s up and running.
The website will be… CleanUpGrassValley.com
As the young mother worte in her above letter… “It saddens me to say that Grass Valley has turned into such a sad excuse of a community.
Time for change, time for a turn around! I love Grass Valley and I love this community… I hate what has been allowed to happen over the last few years.
I Love this community as well and happy to see the different individual & collective efforts that are made daily. That’s what it takes. Refusing to succumb to NIMBY mentality alone. Do one possitive thing in the community each day, it adds up. But at least do it!
Hear…here. !
Oh boy, and I bet he’ll start with his favorite punching bag Hospitality House!
Steve has a “unusual sense of timing” as he’s been complaining about HH for more than his 5 years (specifically about the HH patrons), but I will give him credit as there are issues that need to be solved and this will involve all parties (including LE), but the other thing that we need to understand is that we have people who are barely making it, if at all.
With the current economy we are almost all facing economic issues, and the people who were on the bottom rung of society are now homeless, so how do we solve it locally? We can do this by getting services and people involved, but not all of these problems can be solved locally.
If we fix our own problems, especially the economic ones, then the others will all start to shrink, but for now, with no local employment people are going to go out and abuse their surrounds, this includes the parks.
I want to hear how you’re going to do this Steve, or is this web-site just going to be a sounding board for complaining?
Please fill us in on what you’re going to do to fix this problem as I’d like to see your energy go into something constructive.
Brad,
Lets hope you’re wrong about the favorite punching bag and thanks for understanding thoughts on those who find themselves in need in our county.
Here is quote from one of my all time hero’s about poverty.
“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.”
Mother Teresa
Ben, you have my thoughts exact;y!
Hey Brad and Ben, if you want to help I’lll keep you posted about our first work day to clean up some of the trashed areas of downtown. After that we will work on our trashed public parks.
Julie Jordan of the Grass Valley Downtown Association just emailed out the following statement to DTA members and downtown businesses about this very issue.
Julie Jordan clearly agrees with our “Clean Up Grass Valley!” issues about what has been allowed to take place in downtown Grass Valley.
From Julie Jordan of the Grass Valley Downtown Association:
“We realize there are some homeless issues that are contributing to the massive trash issue, BUT we are working with Cindy Maple, at the Hospitality House in reminding their guests to be mindful and pick up their trash as well”.
Here’s the entire message the DTA send out on this issue:
DOWNTOWN STREETS
We want to remind you to PLEASE CLEAN THE FRONT OF YOUR BUILDING!
Downtown is looking pretty dirty. It only takes a few minutes to step out in front of your store and look, sweep, pick up and take a step back and remember, as a visitor, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE???? …I have picked up cigarette butts, trash and debris along the street a lot lately. Other merchants and staff have also noticed graffiti and trash. As staff we do our best BUT we all need to work together to make sure OUR DOWNTOWN stays on top of things to remain inviting to visitors. It’s all about CURB APPEAL!
We are a couple weeks out on power washing, BUT if we do not maintain our streets the washing will NOT make a difference.
We realize there are some homeless issues that are contributing to the massive trash issue, BUT we are working with Cindy Maple, at the Hospitality House in reminding their guests to be mindful and pick up their trash as well.
Thank you Steve for actually spear-heading these efforts and working with HH to come to a resolution that will make some real differences.
I would be honored to help with these positive efforts to make a difference in out area.
opps….. “in OUR area”
Steve, I just spoke with Cindy Maples and as “usual”, your version of reality, and what actual reality is, seem to be two different things….
Steve used the comment section of the Union newspaper (over the past 5 years) and posted almost 2000 comments (under his “Baja” moniker) to take cheap shots at the HH facility whenever he could. The majority of these were done hiding under his moniker to put our-right lies about the facility and it’s patrons. He’s an embarrassment to the people of our community and mostly to himself.
Now now again seems that Steve is again trying to get HH’s use permit revoked, but trying to hide his actions under the cover of another moniker known as: “Clean Up Grass Valley”.
It’s amazing that it the same old crap, but just new flies!
Steve, maybe it’s time you move somewhere else where you’ll be happy, as you sure seem to have a problem with living here. These little tactics fool no one and once again are an embarrassment to yourself, and our community!
Brad and Steve,
I will be there to help if your stated purpose is to actually beautify/ clean up Grass Valley not demonize a certain segment of the population. Although I live in Nevada City I consider Nevada County home.
The mention of HH in my post is directly from Julie Jordan, Director of the Grass Valley Downtown Association. It directly addresses some of the issues facing our downtown. I say good for Julie! This was just sent out by Julie to a lot of people. I did not write it, I did not send it. Isn’t Julie Jordan on the Board of HH?
Julie Jordan said this, not me:
“We realize there are some homeless issues that are contributing to the massive trash issue, BUT we are working with Cindy Maple, at the Hospitality House in reminding their guests to be mindful and pick up their trash as well”.
“Clean Up Grass Valley!” is a new effort being undertaken by the long running community organization “Grass Valley Neighbors”. This effort is to clean up our neighborhoods, our public parks, our downtown and our shopping centers. All of these should be clean and safe, but sadly they are not.
The recent letter to The Union titled “Parks unsafe for kids”, August 30 2012, by Sydney Elliott tells the real story from a local Mom. I do not know Sydney Elliott but I know many that share her views, including myself. Reading the daily Police Blotter in The Union provides all one needs to know to share this position.
Sydney Elliott wrote:
“Grass Valley used to be such a nice, relaxing town.
I am a young mother, and the past few times I have tried to take my 11-month-old daughter to the park to play, I have had to either leave very shortly after arriving or bypass it all together.
Why, you ask?
This is because when I go to the park these days, all that are there are “druggies,” “hobos” and people making it a totally uncomfortable place to be.
The last time I tried to take my daughter, on Aug. 10, I took her to four different parks. At all of them there were either a bunch of underage kids getting drunk and high or adults getting drunk and high.
I believe Grass Valley needs to have a better police force to enforce the law and keep the parks nice and clean and comfortable for the public.
It saddens me to say that Grass Valley has turned into such a sad excuse of a community. Not only GVPD but the residents of Grass Valley need to step up and make this town back into the wonderful place it was five-plus years ago”.
So argue, insult and make wild claims… or help address the above issues. I’ll keep Brad and Ben posted when our first community clean up takes place and I hope you both show up, roll up your sleeves and help.
I fully agree with Sydney Elliott’s statement:
“It saddens me to say that Grass Valley has turned into such a sad excuse of a community. Not only GVPD but the residents of Grass Valley need to step up and make this town back into the wonderful place it was five-plus years ago”.
I am no longer on the board of Hospitality House, and have not been since being hired as the director, but I still fully support the work that they do. I do want to express that I was not singling anyone or any group out about the issues that we are facing in our downtown. I consult Cindy Maple on various issues as to how to handle the homeless epidemic that we seem to have in Grass Valley. I was certainly not implying that it was the guests at Hospitality House, just as I was not accusing our merchants of causing the dirty streets, and debris that has accumulated in our trash areas.
The message to the membership was please, help me, help you and our community and keep a safe, clean and vibrant downtown that we can all continue to enjoy.
I know some of the people that have taken up residence in the downtown area are not allowed at Hospitality House for one reason or another. Though they are still here, like it or not. These are the people I feel that we need to reach out to and ask to help us all keep downtown clean. Thus far I have been successful in asking those that visit E. Daniels Park on a daily basis to please use the trash receptacles provided. Communication is key here.
My first priority as the director of the Grass Valley Downtown Association is downtown. So yes, I am concerned with what is going on. I have vandals (young kids I imagine), tagging everything they can get their hands on with graffiti.The remedy, remove it as soon as we see it. The trash?… pick it up and eventually, I believe people will get the message that we care about our downtown and they should too.
Argue, insult and make wild claims? Steve, Steve, Steve…… You make us all laugh as your motives has not changed one bit since the time that you started your own public war against the patrons and management at HH, but you’re right as my claims might been a bit off as you may have only posted 1980 times, as after the first 1900 (or so) I like many others lost count…..
It’s time to become a responsible ADULT and admit what everyone in this community knows. You have a HUGE problem with the HH facility, and you’d do anything, including telling us all these stories with no basis about the people at HH.
Like I sad before, the same old crap, just new flies!
Brad,
Cool it on your language here, or I’ll bounce you faster than you can throw a pastie wrapper in a downtown Grass Valley trash can. We don’t talk like that here.
We want to keep the dialog constructive. This is an issue that demands collaboration. Thanks!
Got it Jeff!
Seems someone has been spending far too much time blogging on Rebane’s website and has picked up some bad manners. And yes the “Clean Up Gtrass Valley!” effort is part of UN Agenda 21 and by the way tinfoil is on sale at Safeway this week.
But since Brad went an insulting, personal attack binge and started talking about HH I guess he wants to discuss some of these issues. Happy to, but first thing folks (including Brad) need to do is read the required “conditions of approval” for HH and then get back to me so we can discuss them. I’d be happy to discuss them here or maybe at a future Grass Valley City Council meeting. Start by reading the HH Conditions of Approval, the required HH operational plans, the HH “Good Neighbor Policy” and let’s have a factual, real discussion about this, but Brad will need to leave his personal attacks and insults back at his house, which is not in Grass Valley, not in my neighborhood, not in our downtown and not even in Grass Valley.
Julie, your recnet DTA message/email about the dirty conditions of downtown Grass Valley is spot on and you should not back away from your message to DTA members.
Julie, your DTA message is factual and much needed. The vast majority of folks agree, as do the many business owners, residents and visitors I have talked to about these issues. Things need to change and this downhill slide must be reversed. Thank you for raising some of these issues!
Having lived in this neighborhood for over 15 years, I join the others that are now stepping up saying they have never seen downtown in such a dirty mess. It’s tragic. As one example… each week I pick up trash and bags of empty malt liquor and cheap vodka bottles that pile up in the City parking lots, the landscaping areas of businesses, in parking lots and under the overpass right next to the school. At each spot dozens of “empties”, mostly from the Circle K on S. Auburn and the Bottle Shop on Colfax Ave tell the truth, as do those folks that spend their days drinking and doing drugs in and around downtown.
This is daily, this is not random, this is what our community has been allowed to degrade to and we have laws in place in Grass Valley that say this is illegal. It’s not to be tolerated or accepted, it needs to stop. Downtown must be safe and clean and currently it’s not… as the facts and Police Blotter clearly show.
One just needs to read the Police Blotter and the newspaper each day, look around downtown, spend time at our shopping centers and our parks. Talk to the business owners, employees and customers. Crime has skyrocketed over the last couple of years here. Theft and burglaries have exploded, most of that is in and around our shopping centers and places like Rail Road Ave. and Plaza Drive and this is no surprise.
The Union did some good coverage on some of this. Read The Union stories under these headlines… “Battle in the Basin” (May 14, 2012), “Complaints of vagrancy regular fare in Downtown (GV)” (May 15, 2012) and “Burglaries” (Aug. 17, 2012).
It’s long past time to bring real attention and action to clean up downtown, our parks, our parking lots and shopping centers. Time for the endless drug deals and drug and alcohol use in and around the Safeway shopping center, ED Park, around town and in our other parks to stop.
Juile, what about the long running transient “flop” right across the street from the DTA office? Why has this been allowed to continue unchecked for the last couple of years? Why is that area, just a few short feet from the Del Oro mural full of trash, sleeping “beds”, discarded clothes and empty booze bottles (many that have been stolen from Safeway as evidenced from the pried off liqueur security caps one finds there)? Nothing says “Welcome to historic downtown Grass Valley” like this does. Do I really need to cover the ongoing mess around the intersection of S. Auburn and Bank Street?
One just needs to read the Police Blotter and the newspaper each day. One just needs to look around downtown, our shopping centers and our parks. One just needs to listen to Dan Castles, President/CEO and co-founder of Telestream as he is also talking to folks and groups like the ERC about these issues and how they are impacting our local economy and tourism, Dan Castles has been talking about Telestream’s problems recruiting and bringing skilled folks here to work at Telestream as a direct result of these issues.
So I agree with Julie Jordan’s recent message (provided above) to downtown business owners about the state of downtown.
I fully agree with Sydney Elliott’s recent letter to the editor that states… “It saddens me to say that Grass Valley has turned into such a sad excuse of a community. Not only GVPD but the residents of Grass Valley need to step up and make this town back into the wonderful place it was five-plus years ago”.
It’s time to “Clean Up Grass Valley!”. Our website for this effort will soon be up and folks can then contact us to help address these issues.
As usual Steve, your wrong as during your @2000+ ratings about the HH facilities and it’s patrons, I did live in GV, so again, let’s not open that door unless you want to talk about history.
I do not live in GV downtown now, but if you want to limit these discussions to people that live in GV, then maybe you need to re-evaluate posting here as many of us here (including the editor) do not. If you want to talk about history, tell us all why you tried to post so many “untruths” about this facility.
I’d also like to know exactly what you’d done to facilitate the movement of this facility in a constructive manner?
If I remember right Cindy Maples did ask you to be in charge of fund raising, so I’d like to know just how much money did you raise to facilitate the movement of this facility? Was it $1,000,000, $1,000 or $0.00? My sources tend to show it was the later, as there was plenty of talk, but very little in the way of outcome.
Steve E,
First, its Julia Jordan not Julie.
My offer still stands if you are truly trying do a community clean up project I will do my best to fit it into my busy schedule. Having a nicely kept community benefits all.
Reaching out to all members of the community including those you have shed in a negative light here would be a much more productive way of handling it. Walking by someone and either saying something negative to/ about them or giving them a look that could slice through a human soul isn’t a good way to try and build a good relationship.
Have you ever considered the economic crisis going on around the country has hit small rural towns just as hard as cities? I strongly encourage you to read about income inequality and its affects on society. Maybe if you understood a bit more about the causation you would be more willing to use your energy working towards a solution rather than pointing fingers at those who have found themselves at the bottom rungs of the social ladder (SES) who income inequality affects most. What you have expressed on this thread are all symptoms of people either self medicating or having no sense of belonging to a larger community.
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence
Physical Health
People in more equal societies live longer, a smaller proportion of children die in infancy and self-rated health is better.
Mental Health
People in more equal societies are far less likely to experience mental illness.
Drug Abuse
People in more equal societies are less likely to use illegal drugs.
Education
Children do better at school in more equal societies. Find out more.
Imprisonment
Unequal societies are harsher, they imprison a higher proportion of people.
Obesity
Obesity is less common in more equal societies.
Social Mobility
There is more social mobility in more equal societies.
Trust and Community Life
Communities are more cohesive and people trust each other more in more equal societies.
Violence
Homicide rates are lower and children experience less violence in more equal societies.
Teenage Births
Teenage motherhood is less common in more equal societies.
Child Well-being
Unicef measures of child well-being are better in more equal societies. Find out more.
Equality not Growth
Further economic growth will not improve our health or well-being. For a better quality of life we need greater income equality.
Rich and Poor Countries
More equal societies spend a higher proportion their income on overseas aid and perform better on the Global Peace Index.
Equality and Global Warming
inequality fuels status competition, individualism and consumerism. It makes it harder to gain public support for policies to reduce global warming.