CHICO — Unsheltered homeless people in areas of Chico were given notice to start packing up early Wednesday morning as part of an enforcement process following settlement terms of Warren v. Chico.
They were familiar with the process, and a few shared their lived experiences and how they are at working toward shelter — or not — at the moment.
Gina Marmol visited a few friends around noon Wednesday at Teichert Ponds; she’d made her way from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway north of East 20th street where, earlier in the day, she and others were informed of enforcement and possible arrest by Chico police.
“A lot of it is private property, so that’s our fault; that’s not okay to do that. But at this point, they are talking about arresting us,” Marmol said.
Marmol’s tent was still near Community Park; she plans to move, but she said she doesn’t know what to do at this moment.
“I don’t know what to do. … I got people fist-fighting me in the middle of the night. I’m a 60-year-old woman; I get attacked by men, I get attacked by women — I’m like, ‘I’m over this,’” Marmol said.
“It’s so brutal out here. So brutal. And I try to keep a male somebody around me at all times, and they just want sex. … It’s (messed) up out here. It’s not okay.”
Police served seven-day notices to several people in the morning who live near businesses by Community Park; by the Chico City Plaza and downtown post office; and a Highway 99 right-of-way south of Highway 32.
Community Park
Near Community Park, several people in tents pitched along Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway received notices dated March 27.
The notices stated the city will require everyone to leave the public property by April 6, and that there are enough shelter spaces for everyone at the location. As of Wednesday, 20 beds are open at the Torres Community Shelter and 20 beds at Chico’s Genesis Emergency Housing Site.
Marmol said, at this point, she has been working to get back into a Pallet shelter at Genesis because another housing opportunity fell through. She commented that Chico police have been very kind in the proces, and that she is proud of them; that they are respectful and come “knock” on their doors.
“Chico P.D. has been absolutely amazing in the way we treat us now. And I want them to have credit for that. They’ve been so respectful; so respectful. And everyone amongst the homeless agrees upon that, because years ago … they’d done some (stuff).”
Also near Community Park, Leighton Reed said he has been moving around the city since enforcement at Teichert Ponds and wants to be in a Pallet shelter — but he’d only been referred to the Torres Community Shelter.
Reed said shelter assessments were given to everyone in the morning, though he’d told police he was going to just leave the area.
“Basically if they let us have one area, we’d just stay in one area. But, they’re just making it to where people are saying, basically, (forget) it,” Reed said, referring to people moving in front of residences.
Chico does provide an area of space for campers on the corner of Eaton and Cohasset roads, but it is only available to people determined incompatible with shelter — in which case, Reed does not meet criteria.
“They’ll see us out in the open next to a house; they don’t even care. … I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m probably doing it too, but I still feel guilty and I take off very quickly,” Reed said. “I’m not interrupting children in their play and all that stuff. We all think about that (stuff).”
Reed said he finds very little hope, though he appreciates people coming to bring food to him.
“(Hope) is mostly with each other; we give each other hope. But it’s getting to be that’s even falling short nowadays.”
City Plaza
People at Chico City Plaza said they received notices early Wednesday morning, including Lee Woodbury. She was grooming City Plaza landscaping with a broom, like one would at a zen garden — it kept her hands busy.
Woodbury told this newspaper about her experiences in several shelters that have been negative and does not prefer the shelter that is made available to her. She said she feels dehumanized.
“If I knew what else to be doing, I’d be doing it. And I’m really just at a loss. … It’s like you have all these things that don’t work for me,” Woodbury said.
Woodbury’s partner, Timothy Roush Sr., said he also does not prefer to be in shelter because he can’t stand being indoors — that he’d been “locked up” half of his life. He also experiences pain from metal in his body.
“Being inside walls freaks me out. Even going into the grocery store …,” Roush said.
Several others at City Plaza said they received notices as well. Woodbury said she woke up to police Wednesday at the steps of the post office.
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“They told me if I step foot on the post office property again, I’d get arrested, so I went like this,” Woodbury gestured bringing her foot down.
“Then I grabbed my bike and my backpack and walked away. Because if somebody’s not here to know their rights and push that boundary, they’re never going to do it.”
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