Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton has been outspoken about the homeless crisis in San Diego, co-authoring an op-ed on Saturday calling for his relocation from the city.
Walton had a signature on the san diego times with George Mullen. The article features complaints about how the homelessness crisis has affected the town’s residents and describes Sunbreak Ranch as the saving grace for the town’s problem.
«Most of us can no longer walk or bike downtown streets, sidewalks, and parks without facing an obstacle course of tents, bodies, human excrement, needles, trash, and a host of zombies.» streetwalkers who are impossible to distinguish between those who are just down on their luck and others who are out of control and substance abusers about to attack us,» Walton and Mullen wrote.
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Sportscaster and former NBA player Bill Walton attends a game between the Washington Huskies and the USC Trojans during the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Conference basketball tournament at T-Mobile Arena on March 10, 2022 in Las Vegas.
(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The proposed Sunbreak Ranch site is located on the vacant lot east of Interstate 15 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, according to the article. The proposal includes 2,000 acres of open land with workers, portable showers and medical tents. Those who decided to come would live in a community tent or could camp in their own protected areas.
The article said that Mullen needed three steps to help launch the plan.
“We need our president and the federal government to lease 2,000 acres of land from MCAS Miramar to Sunbreak Ranch for $1 per year, and designate this land a temporary ‘Federal Emergency Homeless Relief Area.’ This will eliminate the local bureaucracy and the opposition.
«We need our president to deploy the military and security services to build a tent city for Sunbreak Ranch on this site with surplus equipment from the Afghan and Iraqi deployments. Our military and security services have the manpower, experience and the team to build this city-wide tent in a matter of weeks.
«The cost of this Sunbreak experiment is tiny compared to the untold tens of billions of dollars currently spent (in vain) on homelessness each year.»
Former UCLA Bruins great Bill Walton looks on during a college basketball game between the Villanova Wildcats and the UCLA Bruins on November 12, 2021 at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
(Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BILL WALTON CALLS SAN DIEGO MAYOR ABOUT HOMELESS CRISIS, SAYS HE WAS RECENTLY ASSAULTED
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Walton previously criticized the mayor over the crisis. In September, he emailed Gloria about how he was mugged by homeless people while she was riding her bike.
«You have failed us and yourself,» an email from Walton to Gloria read, according to the Voice of San Diego.
“Once again, while leisurely bicycling early Sunday morning in Balboa Park, I was threatened, followed and assaulted by the homeless population in our park,” he wrote in August.
He also wrote about it in mid-September on Instagram.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria
(City of San Diego/File)
«Sadly and heartbroken, I can no longer call my hometown of San Diego the best place on earth,» Walton wrote on Sept. 19. «I can no longer say that SD is a safe and healthy place.» , clean and beautiful place. I can no longer urge my family, friends, tourists and businesses to come to SD to live, work and play.»
Gloria touched on the topic of homelessness on Thursday.
«It’s not right that children have to walk in the middle of the street past the camps to get to school,» he said through Patch.
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Gloria said she planned to get down to business to end the crisis. She promised to open more shelters, clean up encampments along city sidewalks and limit evictions, among other things.