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our part. So a lot of homeless problems and stories that are getting national intention all across the nations to a lot of different areas of the country are dealing with this problem right now. Definitely most acute worst on the West Coast. We're city after city up and down the coast is just inundated with bums and junkies, and more and more are showing up every day. Bumping around Washington, d C. For several days. How many homeless people do
you see? How How common was it there? You know, it doesn't really least oh you know, a handful, pretty good handful typical through the years, big city collection of beggars. And there's so many tourists in d C that there are a fair number of beggars there. Um, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was helpful. If you're if you're in San Francisco or Los Angeles, you'd have a you'd have a handful at the one coffee shop
you're you're at. Oh yeah, yeah. Like I said, it's it's pretty typical the way it's always been, um, you know, through the years. It's not exploding like it is on the West Coast. Speaking of which you may have seen or heard or read about Steve Sylvester last week. He's an antique shop owner in the Capitol City, California, Sacramento, and had a mostly naked guy bust into his his business the other day and cause of Frankas and Steve
got interviewed. You know, honestly, I think it mostly got attention because the dude was mostly naked, and that's kind of the hook for the dumb, dumb media. It's a big part of it. Interesting, that's that's part of it. It also comes in the wake of Liz Novak, who we talked to, who is a shop owner in the same area, who said she's closing her up a business and moving it because of the incursion of bombs and junkies.
Steve Sylvester joins us now to talk about the situation in his part of the world and the you know what he thinks is causing it is a guy who observes it every day. Steve, how are you, sir? Hi? Yeah, I thank you for having me on the show. Oh, it's our pleasure. We appreciate you taking the time. Um. I assume you're taking the time because you care about the neighborhood where you live and work. I'm in the
center Sacramento. There's a big freeway that cuts through it for the w X Freeway, and underneath each of the roads there is camp City, right and it's I assume a hell of a lot of junkies there there is. Um. The problem is there's four types Congress and as the people who are genuinely homeless, and I think the city should spend every penny on getting them rehouse. Then we have a lot of mentally ill around here. If we call them the monster shouters, that they're like the Stephen
King Norvel. There's a couple that we know who actually want to be on the streets. They don't want to be part of society. They love the the nomad life. But the biggest problem for our area, and that's happened in the last year, is it's all drug related. It's street drugs. How do you know that? Because the crowd that are hanging around now are much younger, and what
happens is that they'll suddenly become absolutely crazy. And that's because they've just taken something that's nice and cheap and cheerful, and then they're going around, usually causing chaos in the local area. And do you think here, I know you've said in the past that there's been an increase in the number of people are menacing your business and making it tough to do business and the rest of it. What's your sense of why it's increasing so quickly? Um,
A couple of reasons really. I mean, we've got I think it's five thousand, six hundred homeless in Sacramento and that, apparently, according to the rules, is increase over the last couple of years. There's there's two things that are happening that's making Sacramento a little busier with the home's population. One is what they call Greyhounds therapy. The local newspaper reported that in Nevada they actually give one way tickets to get out of the state and come to Sacramento, that
it's a much better place to get benefits. And then another piece of news that I found out was that a hospital, a mental hospital in Vegas, over a five year period, bust out fifteen hundred people out of Nevada, of which a third came to California. And that's what we have a lot around in the failure. Wow, that is something. Yeah, that's amazing. Steve Sylvester is a Sacramento business owner. He was on the news last week when I drugged up maniacs smashed a bunch of stuff in
his antique shop. You're either a city or a state that spends your money on shipping homeless out, or you're a city or a state that spends money on attracting homeless more or less. Yeah, uh, Steve, how often do you have to say clean up in front of your store? Human waste and that sort of thing. Well, it's Tuesday morning, and it's habit. It was a fairly clean day to day, so I could open the san Tour without a problem.
But it can be a needle sitting outside which you have to go and pick up um and that's not too bad. I hate to say the worst thing is is the human waste, and that it really is the waste, the worst part of the day. How often does that actually happen? Or you've got human poop on the sidewalk or wherever you gotta deal with um? Probably about four
times a week. I've noticed it's cut I know it's it's cut down a little bit because we used to have a mentally ill homeless guy and he used to drag around these two waist in containers and he had this thing that he had to poop on top of the car. Oh boy, yeah, that's a thing. That's an interesting thing, like the hood and the top of the car. He would he would squat on the top of the
car and then threw his business down the windshield. And then, of course in the hot Sacramento weather, when you go there seven o'clock and out to pick your car up, it's the last thing you want to do. You're gonna have to get that detailed, is literally the last thing I want to do. So, Steve, would you when you appeal to the police for help with this sort of thing? Um, what happens? What are you told? Well, here's the problem is that the police are in their own set handcuffs
because there really is nothing that they can do. Their hands are tied. I mean, if someone on the street does something that's technically eagle like vandalism when we had our shot windows broken, um, then they're going to raish someone for vandalism. But if they're just walking around parking at the moon, I mean, there's nowhere for them to go, so really they just have to move them on and
make sure they're not ill. And that's it. Your thoughts on folks who give to panhandlers, Oh yeah, Well, here in Sacramento, as I said, down very near the freeway that cuts through the center of the city, but on the other side of the store, there's a very long road called Broadway. And I mean, I love Sacramento, and I love Broadway because it's all of about thirty cyberous restaurants.
But outside most of the restaurants there will be people taking for money, and I do wish people would not give them money because the money is not going to be used by themselves food. It's going to be used to get a quick fix. So I s cct from outside restaurants, give them some food. They'll probably say no because they really want the money. You know, the police in a lot of areas say the same thing, don't
give them money. And when the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom was the mayor of San Francisco, I know that was a campaign he was into do not give money to beggars. So I don't know how that. I mean, he's a lefty, he's the compassionate lefty. I don't know how word is not gotten around everybody. Stop giving money to beggars. Right, why are you doing that? Right? Beggars
are not quote unquote the homeless, necessary and necessarily they're beggars. So, Steve Um, how long do you plan on sticking it out if it gets significantly worse? Are you thinking you're relocating or are you committed to where you are? Oh? No, I'm committed. I mean we've been here nineteen years, almost as long as you've been on the radio. But we have a big store, and we do have lots of compassion and we know what the problem is now, so
we'll stick through it. There's there's got to be an answer. Well, you're you're Oh yeah, I'm a total optimist. My big problem is the city's got a bucket load of money to deal with the homeless problem. And um, what they're doing at the moment is such a short term quick fix. It's not going to work right, well, said, well, we need to stay in touch on this, Stephen. And one
final note, Jack and I began are well. It was early in our radio career that we worked in downtown Sacramento, not far from where you are, and uh, and ate breakfast most days there at the Pancakes Circus, which I think is very near your business. And I'm pretty sure I gained ten to fifteen pounds in a year eating breakfast there. It's still there and pounds can still be put on right on the end of the same block pancakes the size of a man hole. All right, Steve,
great to talk to you, and let's stay in touch. Okay, thanks for yout you got it. How do you How do you get up on the car? You climb up on the bumper, You climb up on crawl up on the right. It's a very ritual, the thing he's got going on there, because you've got to like start on the top and move down the windshield. I wonder if he has any interest in like what model it is or anything like, look at that Alexis. I've never pooped on Alexis before. I don't know. Maybe he's like belligerently
pro American cars, all Japanese cars, super patriotic, you know. Anyway, that's really not the point of the conversation, not really say yeah, it's it's it's unvolivable. Yeah, it's incredible. Well, and listen to you were mentioning that story earlier where there's a state park where the bums have taken over in the junkies and and the guys are like, you know, we can be uh leaninging on some stuff like the
littering if you just cooperate a little bit. Why are we taxpayers, abiding citizens, begging for please don't hurt us. We won't ask much of you. Just you know, keep crapping on the streets and stealing and breaking windows and doing drugs. And it's your park now, just don't damage it too much. I tell you what. And this is why Trump got elected and why he might get re elected, he says, making about about Trump slightly the Ninth Circuit
Court with their bizarrow reeling ruling. Rather, I'm sorry, I'm reading and talking at the same time their bizarro ruling where you can't boot somebody out of a park unless you can prove the government has provided a bed for them. They're a junkie, they like doing drugs, they have no interest in working like the rest of us. What if three more guys decided to become junkies today, that means the government has to get three more beds. Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals. You're letting the junkies in the bums run society. It's not how it works. Life, liberty and suit of happiness is the only thing government's supposed to provide that didn't guarantee you a place to live. No, they're supposed to protect your liberties, period, and it certainly doesn't guarantee you a place to live in super expensive areas of the country. Wha could do judges? Man, that's
at the root of a lot. Yeah, our text lines four five to nine five kft, you know, And I'd like to do to some of these judges, like to climb up on their car where you parked? All right, when you're ready to ride metro, we want you to know we're ready for you. Here are just a few of the people at Metro to tell you how we're doing our part to keep riders safe. We're cleaning like Neville before greatly. You've found half out of no mask, no Metro need one. We have a few extras at Metro.
We're doing our part to keep the DC area moving. Find out more at well mata dot com, slash doing our part even