Our take: City to discuss homelessness and San Manuel’s moves to diversify

San Manuel Tribe Makes Strides

The San Manuel Tribe has recently made massive strides in expanding their core business and diversifying their economic prospects.  First they received permission from the city council to move ahead with the construction of a million plus square foot warehouse facility adjacent to many others in the area of the airport.  Then they announced on Tuesday that were purchasing the Las Vegas Palms Resort and Casino for $650 million.  This is a step that puts them at the heart of the gaming industry with a property that has always been a bit troubled, however still has a recognizable brand name and all kinds of possibilities.  Time will tell if both of these rolls of the dice come up 7’s or craps but they certainly have done well by their tribal members with the diversification and expansion.

A Real Discussion About Vagrancy or a Stunt?

Councilwoman Kimberly Calvin at a recent meeting called for an item to be put on the city council agenda for a discussion of homelessness in the City of San Bernardino.  With a nod of the head to Captain Obvious we thank her for noticing.   One would hope that this is actually an attempt to have a frank discussion about a real problem rather than the sort of straw man and ad hominem attacks that the councilwoman has launched previously at Mayor Valdivia.  She has previously accused the Mayor of being both sexist and racist which is confounding since he is not Caucasian but himself a minority – a Hispanic.  The city of Austin Texas which had an explosive housing problem just passed a measure making it illegal to camp outdoors on public property – like parks, libraries, sidewalks, empty lots and underpasses.  This is the kind of effort that along with crackdowns in public intoxication, public urination and defecation, drug use, petty theft, aggressive panhandling and generally having more aggressive law enforcement that will lead to a reduction in vagrancy and the associated quality of life issues.  However we doubt if these are the kinds of tough-on-crime policies the councilwoman would support.  Rather we suspect this is a political stunt to try to blame the mayor for the failures of several pervious democrat run administrations.