How Did It Happen?

The Strange City Border

But, how did this happen? The answer has to the do with a particularly strange border that allows the City to exploit the people of Arden & Carmichael with absolute impunity.

For decades, the people of Arden & Carmichael have fought over a peculiar piece of land - often called "The Peninsula" or "The Thorn". This land, while part of the City of Sacramento, doesn't contain any city residents.

Instead, it contains the Haggin Oaks and Del Paso Parks, The Children's Receiving Home, and the Natural Sciences Museum (now closed). Due to its unique location, the only people who use the park (and are affected by it) live in the unincorporated areas of Arden & Carmichael.

Arden & Carmichael Have No Voice

Because County Voters cannot vote in City elections, County residents have to endure the lack of city attention to the park, which currently, and throughout the history of the park, has fostered unlawful behavior that has spilled into the surrounding neighborhoods.

City decisions are made without fear of neighborhood repercussions. We have no voice. We don't matter.

The following is an interview of Doug Ose by Sacramento CBS 13. He represented Arden and Carmichael in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.

The City's Plan

A Convenient Location

When the City decided to create a number of "respite centers", to house the ever-growing City homeless, the abandoned museum became an attractive choice. Since no voters live within "The Thorn", it gave the city an opportunity to solve its homeless problem without angering any voters.

1. The Homeless Center would be located on the eastern-most tip of District 2's boundaries. This is far outside the neighborhoods of the City.
2. The only City land that would be impacted includes: the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex, the Children's Receiving Home, and Del Paso Regional Park (nature preserve).
3. The only communities, that would be impacted, are outside the City's boundaries.

Bus Their Homeless to the County

The Homeless Center is not a 24-hour facility. Instead, it will be open for only stretches of 23 hours.  This is by design.

Every day, the Center will temporally close and all the homeless, that were bussed here, will be forced outside. Where do they go? Some may wait for the Center to reopen, but not all. Many will wander into our neighborhoods or into Del Paso Park. Not all the homeless will return to the site. The next day, like clockwork, the City will bus new homeless to the Center to fill (the now empty) beds.

The City's policy, of abandoning the homeless in the County, harms not only at-risk children, the environment, and families, but also, the homeless themselves. There are real solutions; this is not one of them.

The Failed First Attempt

The City had only one problem: the site is located within feet of the Children's Receiving Home. Sadly, many children are the victim of environments plagued by drugs, alcohol, mental illness, and violence. Often they have suffered from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. The Children's Receiving Home is a save haven for these children.

So, when the City first attempted to create the Homeless Center, they, intentionally, didn't warn the families in Arden, Carmichael, or even the Children's Receiving Home itself.

The Second Attempt Succeeded

The City never abandoned their plans to bus their homeless to the County. On July 26, 2022, the Sacramento City Council approved the new Homeless Center.

Nearly a dozen people called in to the City Council Meeting with desperate pleas and warnings. These included parents, business owners, environmentalists, child advocates and homeless advocates. They were all ignored. In fact, not a single plea or comment was responded to - or even acknowledged - by City Council.