1/1/2007: Joanna Garcia, who is a homeless women in Fresno, said the California Highway Patrol came to her tent today, telling her to get her things and leave - immediately. The two officers had shotguns and Garcia knew they were serious. Garcia and about a dozen other homeless men and women live on a narrow strip of land, owned by the State of California (Caltrans), near highway 99.

They have lived on what they call "the island" since the sanitation department, backed up by the Fresno Police Department, bulldozed their last shelter. There is now a preliminary injunction, issued by the Federal Court, to stop the City of Fresno from further attacks that take and immediately destroy homeless peoples property.

CHP officer Perry Miller told Joanna and the other homeless people on the island that the injunction does not apply to this situation. Joanna said "they told us that Caltrans was going to measure the distance around the island and that we have to be gone by the time he is done." But, the Caltrans worker came, did his work, and left without the CHP coming back to further threaten Joanna and her friends.

Most of the homeless people who were displaced did not know where they were going to end up. There are no camping areas in Fresno where they can safely set up a tent. There are only a couple hundred shelter beds for the (estimated) 8,000+ homeless in Fresno and all of those beds come with significant restrictions (for example the largest homeless shelter in town is for men only).

Photos | Community Alliance