A Quick Look at Saving San Pedro, a Facebook Group W/ George Palaziol

After investigating some of LA's City Council Members and who they are connected to, I decided to skim the Facebook page Saving San Pedro. I felt the public (and the world) has a right to know what elected officials are doing (since taxpayers fund their salaries).

Apparently, much of the page has been "cleaned up" but I was still able to capture a few posts of interest:

As you can see from the screenshot next, George Palaziol is poking fun at Caney Arnold. George even took the time to create a parody of Candyland, a child's board game, that I guess he's familiar with (click to enlarge):

For those of you wondering what Caney Arnold wrote, he put:

"Signed. Everyone also please directly contact your Councilperson. Tell them to identify public land in your District where these houses or even tents can be legally placed. Let them know that you are not afraid of having these in your area, otherwise they listen to the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) crowd.
Let them know that their homeless sweeps are unconstitutional, and ask why they keep doing them when it results in massive pain for the homeless, and then lawsuits by Carol Sobel suing the City for violation of homelesss civil rights. The City has lost an average of $1 million dollars in each of the last few years in these lawsuits. If we aren't calling, then all they hear is the NIMBY whining." 

Moving On

Next, this person (Jacy Page) was called out for "trolling" by James Baeza for this comment (click to enlarge): 

Of course I found the usual comments asking about where's the best place to eat or get your hair done. But I was shocked to see this post by Cathy Beauregard:

According to Cathy Beauregard, "what is so sad" is that it took her "8 years to get a native plant in the ground". And, she wrote: "it dont matter to "Homeless" [sic] . . . it is taking them less than a month to DESTROY the area....SMFH!!!" 

For those of you (like me) who didn't know, SMFH stands for Shaking My F*cking Head. 

How tragic for Cathy Beauregard, her native plant isn't thriving!

And it seems that even LAPD Officer Deon Joseph felt the need to tone the group down when he chimed in on March 25th, 2016 with:

"You guys really care about your city. Just always remember compassion. It is not the homeless who is the enemy. It is the negative fallout (the crime, and blight) that some homeless and even the housed engage in that is.
As you fight for a better quality of life for your community do not forget to be a voice for getting our government and philanthropist to provide housing and shelter (in a way that does not hurt the homeless or the community) that they desperately need.
A community that desires clean safe streets does not mean you hate the downtrodden."

And I came across some mean-spirited attempts at humorous posts, like these (click to enlarge):

Finally, I was kinda wondering the same thing as Rich N Yoma Gettler who asked, "So we're not so in the dark here, can you please tell us what it is we're here to save San Pedro from?" Click to enlarge to read the answers to his question:

Well, apparently Joanne Rallo told him to read the page description. What I found is this:

Note: I cut off their Popeye emblem (since I'm unsure if it violates copyright/trademark laws).

I wonder how many people are contemplating suicide because of the obvious self-serving agenda and heartless actions of this group. This is a sad day in my online writing career – exposing a horrible side of people I share the planet with (who appear to be living a privileged life). 

There's no compassion.

If you wish to help the homeless, we've begun a petition and are working towards securing land for these Tiny Homes. Please sign and share Elvis Needs Land: Come On VA and UCLA, We Can Do This!

Addendum March 29th, 2016

Click to enlarge | Source: Wikipedia with original source cited 

Addendum April 1st, 2016

George Palaziol would rather spend his time harassing people who help the homeless and applaud the efforts of L.A. city council (especially Joe Buscaino) who are systematically passing inhumane ordinances. Yes, it appears "healthy and safe streets" are more important than healthy and safe people. Source: L.A. council OKs law limiting homeless people's belongings to what can fit in a trash bin

Click to enlarge | Source: Facebook groups run by George Palaziol

On The Plus Side

Here is our latest petition update. We are now petitioning 21 people in a position of power to make things right. Please sign and share (it's okay to have family members sign too):

Stop Exploiting Homeless People: Now Petitioning the FPPC

Click to enlarge | Proof George Palaziol Started Facebook page

No worries George, I'll help you out . . .

Click to enlarge | Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Truth About June Richard, George Palaziol, Joe Buscaino, Melissa Lacanlale Montes, Mitchell Englander, Anthony Lucido, and Gayle Fleury

Gee, I'm constantly amazed at what I'm finding out about the Los Angeles City Council.

Not only did Elvis Summers reveal how abusive and foul-mouthed June Ellen Richard is towards someone less fortunate – a homeless person documented here: Crazy Teacher Shouldn't be allowed to teach ignorance and hate or teach kids

But it appears that June Ellen Richard is not who she claims to be. Click to enlarge:

Moving right along.

As many of you know from my previous almost-viral post: Why Removing "Tiny Homes" is Detrimental to LA's Homeless and Society

George Palaziol (who was appointed by Joe Buscaino) to the San Pedro Homelessness Task Force, appears to spend much of his time abusing those in support of the Tiny House movement. (Even leaving me abusive commentary).

Oh, but it doesn't stop there.

After I posted this impromptu Skype chat with Dean Ryan (Producer, Social Commentator, Film Maker):

Someone named Melissa Lacanlale Montes left me a horribly abusive comment, it began with:

"Lady you are from Canada you have no idea what it's like over here in our town.. Or Country! You stated yourself you can't understand what's going on point bland you can not understand! You want to ..." 

And it became more and more abusive from there. She referred to homeless people "as zombies". Feel free to contact Google YouTube for verification. Of course, I didn't approve her comment.

Imagine my lack of surprise when I found out she is also connected to LA Councilman Joe Buscaino! A quick Google search turned up this:

When I started to investigate LA Councilman Joe Buscaino, I found out he (along with LA Councilman Mitchell Englander) voted against other LA council members (12 - 2) who wanted to settle with Brian Beaird's family.

Wonder who Brian Beaird was? At the 45-second mark in the following video, you can clearly see that Brian Beaird, 51, a former army veteran with the National Guard who was disabled exits his vehicle in a subdued fashion.

He has NO weapons and appears to be surrendering to police (about to raise his hands).

But instead, he is shot in cold blood.

Both LA City Councilmen, Joe Buscaino and Mitchell Englander, felt "the shooting appeared justified" – yeah. Scroll over to the 45-second mark and watch it again for yourself.

But Bernard Parks, former City Councilman and LAPD chief stated: 

"This is a case that clearly had significant potential liability far beyond what the settlement offer was. It was a good business decision when you have a loss of life and you have evidence that could be viewed as overwhelming against the city of LA." 

Source: Family of Unarmed National Guard Vet Killed on Live TV to Receive $5 Million Settlement by Ian Blair

And what's the deal with Los Angeles Councilman Mitch Englander?

A quick Google search led me to a Los Angeles Daily News post by Dakota Smith and Rick Orlov titled Sex harassment suit filed against chief of staff to Los Angeles Councilman Mitch Englander. In it, his former aide complained about John Lee, chief of staff. 

But LA Councilman Mitchell Englander questioned her if she:

"Only wanted to be a Public Safety Deputy so she could walk into the fire stations and be naked in front of the male firefighters."

UNREAL! And there were more abusive comments and inappropriate conduct that followed.

This woman's suit alleged: "After these comments, the Plaintiff knew the discriminatory and harassing conduct was so ingrained within District 12 staff that it would never stop."

More recently, in a KHTS AM 1220 post on January 27th, 2016, Assembly Member Scott Wilk stated: 

"I enthusiastically endorse Mitchell Englander for County Supervisor ... Mitch is the candidate with a proven record on increasing public safety, supporting local business and delivering services for the people who live and work in his district."

Increasing public safety??

And this just in . . .

Click to enlarge image. The left side shows Anthony Lucido (part of the Facebook group Saving San Pedro). He states: "Looks like Rose Webster not going to like what's happening to our town. Let the blogs blow."  On the right side of the image is a screenshot of the Facebook invitation I received from Anthony Lucido one week ago (March 19th, 2016).

Addendum March 26th, 2016

Gayle Fluery left me a comment below and I addressed each of her points. Here's what I found out about her (click to enlarge):

Awe, how sweet! Click to enlarge:

Want to help? Please sign and share our petition

 Curren Price: Reverse Your Order to Confiscate and Destroy "Tiny Homes" for LA's Homeless

Why Removing "Tiny Homes" is Detrimental to LA's Homeless and Society

A week ago, I began the Change.org petition: Curren Price: Reverse Your Order to Confiscate and Destroy "Tiny Homes" for LA's Homeless and I've been tracking both sides of this issue every waking hour.

I decided to petition help from outside of the US (the Canadian Red Cross) because the number of homeless people is growing exponentially. As of June 2015, there were an estimated 44,359 homeless souls (an increase of 55 percent) since 2013.

In fact, over a third of America's chronically homeless live in California. Source: Now Calling Upon the Canadian Red Cross to Help

People are and will be dying in the streets.

Screenshot of Marisol Medina's Video Post / Homeless Woman Clearly Distraught

What's more: Elvis Summers and Marisol Medina are working around the clock to salvage their hard work and assure the homeless "they will get their Tiny Homes back". Take a peek at this heartbreaking footage.

The gist: a homeless woman is frantic (naturally) that her Tiny Home is being taken away from her. Marisol, Elvis, and their team are bearing the brunt of this woman's outrage.

And the homeless woman is right: the Tiny Home was gifted to her (and legally belongs to her). But because the city has already removed (without notice) and destroyed three Tiny Homes, Elvis and Marisol are simply trying to save the rest of them.

Now, the "city" has managed to make the good guys look like the bad guys.

Ripping these homes away from the homeless is clearly detrimental to their mental and emotional health. Can you imagine how hard Elvis and Marisol need to work on maintaining trust with people they've been helping all along?

And if it's hard for Elvis and Marisol, it will be impossible for city workers to gain their trust.

Of course, all of this is a violation of basic human rights. One cannot move forward in life without having basic needs met. The most simplistic reference – that still holds true today – is Maslow's hierachy of needs:

"One must satisfy lower level basic needs before progressing on to meet higher-level growth needs. Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower-level needs."

In fact, Maslow predicted that "only one in a hundred people become fully self-actualized" because of how our society operates. To spell it out for the Curren Price et al:

• All humans need air, food, water, and shelter from the elements. 
• All humans need to feel safe, secure, and free of any fear. The stability provided by laws (especially human rights laws) in a society are of utmost importance to uphold.
• Next, we need to feel cared for, loved, and that we belong. (Not feel like an outcast or be forced into hiding).

For the city to make it impossible to have these basic human needs met and expect the homeless to "find a good paying job and get off the streets" is asking the impossible.

The impossible.

The one night I spent (as a teen, huddled next to my then boyfriend) went like this:

Slept on and off from 1 am - 2:30 am. Got startled by strange noises. Worried about being asked to leave or having our few belongings stolen. At 3 am, security told us to leave. From 3 am until 6 am, we walked around in a park, rested on park benches, grew hungrier and more tired.

At 6 am, a coffee shop opened and we sat there trying to figure out what to do next (and where to get more sleep). We were hungry for the next 6 hours until about noon (when high school friends offered us some of their lunch). We just had to keep moving to avoid anyone asking us to "leave the premises".

We had no money.

I simply cannot fathom how anyone can "turn their homeless life around" carrying on like this for more than a few days. Without adequate sleep, food and water, you cannot live. You cannot sleep if you are fearful.

And to maintain a sense of safety (as well as dignity and privacy): a room with a locking door is crucial.

Furthermore, it is entirely false that these Tiny Homes have no ventilation. They have two windows and eight vents. Yeah, EIGHT vents.

And when I viewed this video of Curren Price claiming that drug paraphernalia was found by city workers, I had a good chuckle. It's obvious they've copped a brand new box of needles (off the shelf) as opposed to providing REAL footage.

Sure enough, I later learned that these allegations were false and misleading. Click to enlarge:

Facebook feed of Welcome Home: A Tiny House, Huge Purpose

And it seems that Joe Busciano (one of the most vocal opponents of Summer's projects) has George Palaziol on his team to troll, bully, and threaten Marisol Medina.

Yeah, I'm not exaggerating. Click to enlarge:

Facebook feed: Tiny Houses for the Homeless Rally!

Gee, for someone on the San Pedro Community Homelessness task force, George Palaziol is spending an inordinate amount of time abusing Marisol Medina. In fact, I'm still finding commentary of his.

You'd think he'd be out there trying to help the homeless. 

So, I tried to find out what he actually does do and found this post by Donna Littlejohn of the Daily Breeze. Notably, Littlejohn's article confirmed that Los Angeles City Councilman, Joe Buscaino, appointed the group (shown in a photo, further along) and:

"Meetings are not expected to be open to the public but will be structured as working sessions."

"The intention of this task force is to create a smart, effective and civil dialogue between San Pedro stakeholders about issues caused by homelessness."

WAIT . . WHAT!!

The public cannot attend (unlike what Tiny Homes is trying to accomplish with their rally) and it appears that stakeholders are more concerned about their bottom line (money).

Ohhh now I understand why George Palaziol is publicly bashing Marisol Medina and Elvis Summers (and probably other members of their team).

Hmm, yeah. Better beware of this guy. Click to enlarge to get a good look:

Facebook photo via Joe Buscaino September 16th, 2015

Want to help? Please sign and share our petition, Curren Price: Reverse Your Order to Confiscate and Destroy "Tiny Homes" for LA's Homeless