Your views: Dear Mayor Lincoln and City Council Members
I hear a lot of lip service being paid to solving our homeless issue in
Stockton. I also see large amounts of money being earmarked and spent
on this issue.
Yet, as I walk around downtown, it appears the problem is only getting worse. In the 20 years I’ve worked downtown, there were never people camping in Fremont Park. They are now. How can we, as a city and as a society, allow our fellow humans to live in squalor and filth under our freeways when there are vacant apartment buildings all
over the downtown area.
Please explain to me why the following buildings have sat vacant and quietly rotting for years (some even owned by the city) while the homeless population has skyrocketed?
1. 520 E. Lindsay St.
2. 640 N. Center St., “Oak Center” (former YMCA)
3. 807 N. El Dorado St., “Mayfair Apartments”
4. 1005 N. El Dorado St., “Eden Lodge”
5. 26 N. California St., “St. Leo Hotel”
6. 119 S. Sutter St., “Henery Apartments”
7. 201 N. California St., “Hotel State”
8. 1 N. California St., “Main Hotel”
9. 533 E. Main St., “Hotel Terry”
10. 34 S. San Joaquin, St., "Hotel Fair"
Why have these buildings not been rehabilitated? Is the city powerless to enforce
codes and mandate owners to clean up their properties? While the city
spends millions on building new housing, I believe the following buildings could be made habitable much more quickly and at less expense.
Please explain to me why this is not happening, or is it simply that
property rights are sacrosanct over human rights?
William Maxwell, Stockton
This article originally appeared on The Record: Letters to the editor (July 31, 2022)
