San Jose homeless meeting turns NASTY: residents shout down woke mayor over ... trends now
A California residents' meeting got nasty this week, with residents shouting over their Democratic Mayor Matt Mahan, who wants to build a semi-permanent homeless camp near their multi-million dollar homes.
Mahan, a former tech entrepreneur, grinned uncomfortably at the San Jose community forum on Wednesday evening, as homeowners in chorus shouted 'No' when he suggested erecting tents on a paved lot donated by a utility company.
Homes near the proposed site at Willow Street and Lelong Street are worth millions. A newly-built five-bedroom with porcelain kitchen countertops and hardwood floors is on the market for $3.6 million.
Tensions in San Jose epitomize the housing crisis in California, with some 180,000 homeless people posing a worsening problem for liberal-leaning residents who worry about their prized assets tumbling in value.
San Jose's Democratic Mayor Matt Mahan struggled to convince residents of his plan for a secure homeless camp in their neighborhood
Dozens of locals turned up for the meeting and heckled Mahan when he vaunted his camp plan
At the meeting, Mahan pleaded with residents to let him turn the makeshift encampment of homeless people more permanent and safer, erecting tents on a paved area, with security patrols to prevent drugs and crime.
'We can take the area across the street that's Valley Water land that is paved we can do a safe sleeping site,' Mahan said.
The mayor assured the angry crowd it would have 'some rules, with tents in a row with trash pickup, with some amount of security and case management.'
Relocating the unhoused to a 'managed' site would tackle the 'noise, drugs, crime' and other scourges they were complaining about, he insisted.
'You've got to give us an option of where people go.'
But the residents were not buying it.
Mahan was left smiling awkwardly as they shouted down his plan, insisting that any camp should be built elsewhere.
'I don't see how moving that same group across the way and suddenly managing them is suddenly going to change those entire people or change the environment,' one public speaker said.
San Jose resident Kathleen Almoslino spoke up for residents in her Willow Glen neighborhood.
'I think our city needs to sue the county,' Almoslino told ABC.
Resident Kathleen Almoslinosaid she wanted the homeless people moved 'somewhere else'
The mayor wants to turn this makeshift homeless camp into something safer and more permanent
The planned site would have 'tents in a row with trash pickup, with some amount of security and case management,' the mayor said
'I think the county needs to do their job and ... find some unincorporated property somewhere else — not smack-dab in the
