Monday, July 18, 2005
Sigh...I am so sad and frustrated.
On the way home from work this afternoon, I saw a stream of white liquid heading towards a drain on the street. I quickly realized that this was paint- someone was rinsing out a container that had held paint. The sidewalk above the drain reads something to the effect: "Do not dump/Drains to Bay." I just didn't have the energy to stop, with all of my work equipment, and confront this guy and try to convince him to stop dumping toxic chemicals into the Bay, where wildlife and water quality will suffer as a result of his actions.
Last night at the gym, I was heading down from the weight room to the locker room, near the entryway. I could hear loud voices, so I stopped to listen, and eventually went to a place where I could see what was going on. I saw two agitated staff workers and one man who was crying. One of the staff people was gesturing with a pen that was in his hand. I guess I had arrived fairly late in the confrontation, cuz a cop came in and immediately handcuffed the guy. What I have been able to piece together from their reports is that this guy came in and wouldn't leave- he said he was afraid to go back outside. He asked the workers for a pen, so that was why the one guy was holding it. He was really agitated (they said it was drugs). So once the cop came in, I tried to talk to one of the staffers and tell him what he had done wrong in handling this guy (the way he was holding the pen would be seen as threatening, they shouldn't have raised their voices, etc) I was of course met with hostility, and the guy I was talking to was like, "him- you should tell this stuff to him!" I went back to the women's gym and filled out a comment slip with the demand that they give conflict resolution training and/or mental health crisis training to all of their staff, or at least always have someone on duty who is trained to deal with these crises.
I hope they will get those trainings, or call me to find out where to get them.
It upset me extra bad because the day before I had attended a memorial event for someone who had been having a crisis and was killed by the cop who arrived at their house to deal with the situation. This is not uncommon- people in mental health or drug crises are killed all the time by police!
SIGH! I was so glad to come back to the Bay Area after my vacation, and now I am wondering why I wanted to come back here.
email me at haydees@gmail.com
On the way home from work this afternoon, I saw a stream of white liquid heading towards a drain on the street. I quickly realized that this was paint- someone was rinsing out a container that had held paint. The sidewalk above the drain reads something to the effect: "Do not dump/Drains to Bay." I just didn't have the energy to stop, with all of my work equipment, and confront this guy and try to convince him to stop dumping toxic chemicals into the Bay, where wildlife and water quality will suffer as a result of his actions.
Last night at the gym, I was heading down from the weight room to the locker room, near the entryway. I could hear loud voices, so I stopped to listen, and eventually went to a place where I could see what was going on. I saw two agitated staff workers and one man who was crying. One of the staff people was gesturing with a pen that was in his hand. I guess I had arrived fairly late in the confrontation, cuz a cop came in and immediately handcuffed the guy. What I have been able to piece together from their reports is that this guy came in and wouldn't leave- he said he was afraid to go back outside. He asked the workers for a pen, so that was why the one guy was holding it. He was really agitated (they said it was drugs). So once the cop came in, I tried to talk to one of the staffers and tell him what he had done wrong in handling this guy (the way he was holding the pen would be seen as threatening, they shouldn't have raised their voices, etc) I was of course met with hostility, and the guy I was talking to was like, "him- you should tell this stuff to him!" I went back to the women's gym and filled out a comment slip with the demand that they give conflict resolution training and/or mental health crisis training to all of their staff, or at least always have someone on duty who is trained to deal with these crises.
I hope they will get those trainings, or call me to find out where to get them.
It upset me extra bad because the day before I had attended a memorial event for someone who had been having a crisis and was killed by the cop who arrived at their house to deal with the situation. This is not uncommon- people in mental health or drug crises are killed all the time by police!
SIGH! I was so glad to come back to the Bay Area after my vacation, and now I am wondering why I wanted to come back here.
email me at haydees@gmail.com
