Folsom City Council punts homeless Wye trailer idea

Bowing to a flood of public pressure, Folsom city officials gave up last month on a homeless outreach mobile home "trailer" idea for the Wye railroad property in the Historic District. The Folsom City Council was set to discuss a modular building outreach during the regular March 24 meeting. They were met by an army of angry locals overflowing into the foyer at City Hall. The Wye property is a three-acre site owned by the city of Folsom, located north of Bidwell Street between Oakdale and Forrest streets on the southwest corner of the Historic District along Folsom Blvd. and Light Rail. The site was once a railroad junction on the Sacramento-Placerville Railroad corridor and still has two railroad spurs and the historic Station Master House and grounds. The Wye triangle includes a roughly 1.2-acre undeveloped section used by the Folsom Public Works Department as an auxiliary corporation yard since 2010. Mayor Mike Kozlowski previously asked city staff to investigate whether the site is a viable location for a homeless services facility, likely a mobile home that would serve as an office for outside agencies already performing homeless outreach here. After a squadron of 29 concerned Folsom citizens spoke for several hours at the March 23 meeting, Kozlowski and the rest of the council washed their hands of the unpopular proposal and vowed to forsake the idea. On a motion by Kozlowski, the council voted unanimously to stop further design or planning for a homeless service trailer at the Wye. "I do appreciate your desire to do something to address the homeless issue. I don't think what was proposed is the solution or the location," said Folsom Councilmember Sarah Aquino. "I do think we all agree that that is a gateway to the city and a gateway to the Historic District, and certainly would like to see something special at that property." Folsom staff said 29 people spoke before the council, including Jeanne Shuman, Nicole Shuman, Beth Croteau, Mike Sellitti, Jackie Sellitti, Gary Grice, Crystal Tobia, Amber Felts, John Felts, Darla Smyth, Leonardo Martinez, Deborah Grassi, Diane Luzader, Missy Ingle, Linzi Miner, Dustin Silva, Paul Keast, Joseph Nicolai, Jim Harville, Bruce Cline, Tanya Morales, Alexander Zaplatin, Eric Lucero, Colleen Shannon, David Loya, Doug Scalzi, Jim Snook, Christine Canelo and Mike Reynolds. Most speakers voiced "angst" about recent homeless crime in the neighborhood and the possibility of camps emerging around the location, possibly accelerating homeless activity rather than fighting it. Some pushed increased law enforcement funding instead. Folsom Police Chief Rick Hillman said city crime has gone up "quite a bit" in the past year, and the Problem-Oriented-Police unit (POP) that responds to homeless complaints is forced to focus on other crimes. "We have had a more than 400-percent increase in organized retail theft, over 100-percent increase in robberies and 53-percent increase in rapes. Crimes against a person are more important to us than cleaning up homeless encampments. That is an important thing as well, we just don't always have the resources to do that right now," said the chief. Hillman said he will return to the April 23 council meeting to speak in depth about the city's current crime statistics, Folsom PD resources and needs to serve the community.