If they’re not crowding into shitbag motels, they’re setting up tent cities by the river — welcome to “Grapes of Wrath II: From Hotels to Hoovervilles.”
In Sacramento, a tent city that has sprung up near the American River already has some 300 residents and is growing like the proverbial weed as working-class people join the chronically homeless in life in the great outdoors.
A spokeswoman for a Sacramento non-profit that provides “survival services” for the neo-homeless told The New York Times that the number of unsheltered people in her town rose 26 percent in one year:
“We have lots of folks living in their cars. People are buying storage units and living in them. People are trying to do what they can to put a roof over their head. Sometimes people romanticize camping, that they are free spirits. In fact, it’s an act of desperation.”
There are many such Hoovervilles in Bibleburg, albeit on a smaller scale. Walk 10 minutes north or west from Dog Central and you will see a cheap tent here, a ragged bedroll there; head south along the Monument Creek trail and you’ll see the po’-folks’ version of the RV camp — battered shopping carts and bicycles, and the soup kitchens and shelters just a short hop away.
Seven hundred people eat daily at the Marian House Soup Kitchen, up 40 percent from last year, according to the Gazette. And with unemployment up to 8.1 percent as of January — the highest level in nearly 17 years — they’re not likely to get lonely anytime soon.
Elsewhere, a Yale student is suing US Airways over a lost Xbox 360. He wants a million smacks for his pain and suffering, plus $1,700 to replace the hardware. A guy could buy himself a sweet little tent for that kind of money, and maybe a shopping cart to go with it.
Mad Blog Media 
On a bike ride the other day, I noticed a full-on home structure built between Fountain Creek and I-25. Constructed out of driftwood, scrap wood, and various bits of tarp, metal, and such, it was complete with a shopping cart outside. I was surprised at the seeming permanence of it – compared, at least, to your typical tents. Shit must be hitting the fan as bad as the press makes it seem, but for me, so far at least, there have been no changes. I’ll chalk that up to two things: 1. I’m unemployed/self-employed already, so I don’t have a job to lose, and 2. I’m already living well below the official poverty line, and my perceived well-being is not necessarily tied to economic factors. I suppose I am lucky indeed on both counts, despite all the years of second-guessing leading up to now.
If only people will turn to their bicycles as money-saving devices, the bicycle industry (myself included) will be just fine for a long time into the future. Currently Americans use bicycles for 1% of all trips. That figure in some European countries is closer to 20%. If we could even bump our usage to 5% – well, think of the benefit to the bike industry (not to mention the environment, our country’s physical health, mental well-being, and citified life in general). Now that’s what I call an economic stimulus!
I would be right along with you Joey, except I have to ride past that homeless camp mentioned in the Times piece to enjoy my ride. Sadly, dodging the crack deals on wheels, is not a happy time in the River City today.
I agree with you, Joey. One problem. We just killed another cyclist in Albuquerque in a hit/run crash. A Good Samaritan who stopped to render aid was hit by yet another vehicle but survived. Until we get the assholes off the road, most people will not want to ride a bike there. And who can blame them?
http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/crime-blotter-mainmenu-59/11316-bicylist-hit-twice-by-two-different-cars-died-.html