Americans who live in or near an urban population center are facing a series of homeless crises that have become the number one problem of our time.
We can either rise to the occasion and face this challenge, or we can let the destructive, cruel and inhumane spiral continue. We have a choice.
Most of us can no longer walk or bike on the streets, sidewalks, and downtown parks without facing an obstacle course of tents, bodies, human excrement, needles, trash, and a host of zombies. who walk that are impossible to distinguish between the right ones. down on their luck and others who are substance abusers out of control about to attack us.
We, the civilized taxpayers of our society, are forced to surrender our cities and parks to lawlessness. And that only cycles ever downward into only more illegality.
The social compact of our once great civilized society is disappearing before our eyes – America’s mass cities are nosediving.
In San Diego we had enough. We are no longer going to follow other once great American cities into the abyss of homelessness, lawlessness and street shantytowns.
San Diegans are coming together in a grassroots effort to propose an innovative program of what should be the homeless solution for America. It’s called Sunbreak Ranch.
A Sunbreak is defined as “a break of the sun at dawn; a new beginning”.
Ranch evokes a large open space environment with fresh air to foster revival and rejuvenation.
Sunbreak Ranch’s motto is “New Beginnings for Homeless People in Transition.”
There are more than 580,000 people currently living and sleeping in the streets and canyons of the United States today.
In San Diego, the true (unreported) homeless numbers are likely significantly more than 20,000 in the city proper, and 45,000 countywide.
Too many of us have been lulled into thinking that this carnage is a fait accompli.
Most cities in the world do not commit suicide in cities because of the lack of home like we do. This includes rich and poor, large and small cities.
Homelessness is a serious and catastrophic problem.
Certainly it can, and should, be managed humanely, compassionately, and in the context of a civilized society, respecting the law.
Sunbreak Ranch has three straightforward and achievable goals:
First, provide real help to our homeless brothers and sisters (and stop pretending that allowing them to sleep, urinate and defecate on the streets of our city is helpful or humane to anyone).
Third, return our cities to the Rule of Law, which is the key component of our social compact and all great civilized and sustainable societies.
Sunbreak Ranch is designed to be a large-scale temporary ranch in the layout of old California ranchos.
It will be a creative, unique place with more than 35 amenities and benefits that strive to make the ranch the best possible temporary home for our fellow homeless citizens.
Sunbreak Ranch will maintain a “clean, healthy, safe and secure environment” for everyone at all times.
To set Sunbreak in motion, we’re proposing a bold new strategy called “Federal Leadership, Local Control.”
We need the federal government to partner with us in launching Sunbreak.
Once launched though, the federal government’s role ends. From this point forward, locals (who always understand their communities best) take full operational control and responsibility of Sunbreak.
The best location in San Diego for this beta test is on vacant, unused federal land east of Interstate 15 on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
This location is in the geographic and population heart of San Diego County and easily accessible to all. From Interstate 15, take the Miramar Way exit, go east, and you’re there.
Sunbreak Ranch will be the location and solution center for the homeless.
It is designed to accommodate all homeless people, who can come and go as they please.
Individuals can reside in a community tent, or live on their own in a series of designated and protected spaces for families, single mothers, seniors, veterans, those with dogs, and others as needed.
Sunbreak Ranch will span 2,000 acres with vast open space surrounding it.
There will be portable toilets and portable showers, mess rooms, medical tents, storage facilities and on-site service providers, including dedicated teams of mental health professionals, substance abuse rehabilitation specialists and professional trainers.
There will be a free daily shuttle service to and from downtown San Diego – only 12 miles away.
Sunbreak will have private security as well as a permanent 24/7 public police station to maintain a “clean, healthy, safe and secure environment” for everyone at all times.
Sunbreak’s approach will be focused on diagnosing each person’s unique situation. And then it will help every person able to return to work and independent life.
For those who can’t, Sunbreak will provide the services that best help them.
With a Sunbreak safe housing option available to all homeless people in need, public waiting, camping, littering, defecating, urinating, illicit substance use and criminal activity in our roads, parks, canyons and river basins will no longer be allowed, and strictly so. enforced.
San Diego has the nation’s best year-round climate and vast adjacent federal lands, making it the perfect site to start a national homelessness solution. Sunbreak would quickly become a success in San Diego and could quickly be replicated on the West Coast and across America.
We need help in three ways to launch the Sunbreak initiative:
1. We need our president and the federal government to lease 2,000 acres of MCAS Miramar land to Sunbreak Ranch for $1 a year, and to designate this land as an “emergency federal homeless assistance area ” temporary. This will eliminate local bureaucracy and opposition.
2. We need our president to deploy the military and security services to build a tent city for Sunbreak Ranch at this site with surplus equipment from the Afghan and Iraqi deployments. Our military and security services have the manpower, expertise and equipment to build this entire tent city in weeks.
3. The cost of this Sunbreak experiment is minimal compared to the untold tens of billions of dollars that are currently (uselessly) spent on homelessness annually.
To demonstrate the viability of Sunbreak, we need significant individual philanthropists or organizations to step up and fund this three-year Sunbreak initiative with up to $275 million.
This funding will include the condition that when the first Sunbreak Ranch succeeds, the federal government will step in and begin fully funding a ranch outside of any major metropolitan center in the United States that agrees to return to the Rule of Law in its streets.
Homelessness is ultimately a responsibility of the public sector, but we first need the private sector and philanthropists to light the way forward.
The potential upside here is beyond compare to any other problem facing America.
The successful implementation of Sunbreak Ranch will save hundreds of thousands of lives, alleviate widespread suffering, unlock unfathomable human potential, and clean up American cities for all of us.
Sunbreak is a unique program where everyone wins. A “clean, healthy, safe and secure environment” will be provided for those desperate for it; our homeless brothers and sisters will have the opportunity to turn their lives around; and our cities will be returned to civilized normality.
We invite everyone to join our Sunbreak effort. Let’s go to work.
George Mullen is president of Sunbreak Ranch and Bill Walton is an NBA Basketball Hall of Famer. Both are San Diego natives. Please contact them at gdmullen@gmail.com.
Who owns the San Diego Union newspaper?
| May 23, 2015, front page | |
|---|---|
| Owner(s) | Patrick Soon-Shiong |
| Founder(s) | William Jeff Gatewood |
| Publisher | Jeff Light |
| founded | 1868 as San Diego Union |
How do I cancel my subscription to the San Diego Union-Tribune? A: To cancel your subscription, call us at 1-619-299-4141.
What is the circulation of the San Diego Union-Tribune? More than 850,000 people read the San Diego Union-Tribune each week in print or online, with more than 5 million unique visitors overall, 36.2 million monthly page views, 1.1 million monthly video views, and nearly 700,000 followers on social media.
What is San Diego’s leading newspaper? The San Diego Union-Tribune is the city’s primary newspaper, published daily.
How old is the San Diego Union-Tribune?
The San Diego Union-Tribune is San Diego’s largest media company and its oldest business, dating back to the Union’s founding in 1868. Today, Union-Tribune publications reach more than 96 percent of and San Diego County homes every week.
Where is the San Diego Union-Tribune printed? in 2015 and keep the land in Mission Valley that was home to UT’s three-story press. Since then, the U-T has been printed at the L.A. plant. Times and transported to San Diego every night.
Who Owned the San Diego Union-Tribune? In 2015, it was acquired by Tribune Publishing. In February 2018 it was announced to be sold, along with the Los Angeles Times, to the investment company of Patrick Soon-Shiong Nant Capital LLC for $500 million plus $90 million in pension liabilities. The sale ended on June 18, 2018.
Who owned the San Diego Tribune?
“We’re not sold to Alden, and there’s nothing wrong with owning the U-T.” Soon-Shiong, a biotech entrepreneur, and his wife, Michele, bought The Times and Union-Tribune in June 2018. for $500 million.
Who is the San Diego newspaper? Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who after a protracted sale now owns the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, is different from his predecessors.
Who is the publisher of the San Diego Union-Tribune? Jeff Light is editor and managing editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune.
What are people from San Diego called?
Do people call San Diego SD? âSD, PB, OB, IB, exc.â- It is common in San Diego to make the name of a city an acronym. For example, Pacific Beach is referred to as âPBâ and Ocean Beach is known as âOB.â You are used to hearing these terms used, and you do not need to ask yourself every time what they mean.
What do the locals call San Diego? Some may scoff at San Diego’s nickname – âAmerica’s Finest Cityâ- but this SoCal metropolis offers more than year-round weather.
Is San Diego a Spanish name?
From the Spanish San Diego (literally âSaint Diegoâ). Diego is a name on its own not a diminutive of something as previously identified here as: Santiago (âSaint Jamesâ), ultimately cognate to the English Jacob and the English James.
Is Diego a Spanish or Mexican name? What does Diego mean and mean? The name Diego is of Spanish origin and means “suppliant”. It is believed to come from the name Santiago, and in medieval times, Diego was Latinized as Didacus. Didacus is believed to derive from the Greek word didache, meaning “teaching”.
Where did the name San Diego come from? Spotted in 1542 and named San Miguel by the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the area was renamed for the Spanish monk San Diego d’Alcalá de Henares in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno.
What name is Diego in Spanish?
Other Variations of Names So it can be said (according to the theory that I believe) that Diego can be translated into English as James, it can also be seen as the equivalent of Jacob, Jake and Jim. And on the reverse, James can be translated into Spanish not only Diego, but also Iago, Jacobo and Santiago.
What is the word Diego in Spanish? The name Diego is of Spanish origin and means “suppliant”. It is believed to come from the name Santiago, and in medieval times, Diego was Latinized as Didacus. Didacus is believed to derive from the Greek word didache, meaning “teaching”. syllable: 3.
What is Javier’s English name? Javier (pronounced [xaËβjeɾ]) is the Spanish spelling of the male name Xavier. The name derives from the Catholic Saint called Francis of Xavier, where Xavier refers to the birthplace of the saint.
What’s a person from San Diego called?
San Diegan (plural San Diegans) Someone from San Diego.
What does San Diego mean in Chinese? The simplified Chinese translation for San Diego is å£å°äºå¥, and the traditional Chinese translation for San Diego is èå°äºå¥. The simplified Chinese translation for the city of San Diego is å£å°äºå¥å¸, and the traditional Chinese translation for the city of San Diego is èå°äºå¥å¸ .
What does Sandiego mean? From the Spanish San Diego (literally âSaint Diegoâ).
Who owns SD Tribune?
The deal involves $500 million in cash plus the assumption of $90 million in pension liabilities in a deal expected to close this quarter or early in the second quarter, according to the company statement. The new owner will be Nant Capital, LLC, a private investment firm of Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.
How do I cancel my Union-Tribune subscription? A: You can cancel at any time by calling Customer Service at 1-619-299-4141.
Who owns San Diego? “We’re not sold to Alden, and there’s nothing wrong with owning the U-T.” Soon-Shiong, a biotech entrepreneur, and his wife, Michele, bought The Times and Union-Tribune in June 2018. for $500 million.