I project the deficit will triple as in previous times before July because Cali will do the same thing they did last year.

Next, you will see droves of people fighting for recycling materials and stealing from houses. If its not nailed down it will be gone.

I’m lucky enough to have gone from the streets to working at a large banking company. I was a “trash picker” of recyclables while on unemployment, I have 3 kids to support and drove my loud messed up Jeep all over the neighborhood and walked on garbage days. funny everyone left me alone, maybe because I had my kids and my husband was helping. I don’t live in Wilshire Square, but to feed my kids and be attacked by Republicans for my husband being out of work as well. We cannot afford $2000 a month for daycare, something that budget cuts have made possible. While we are now looking into business opportunities I’m worried my options are running out and we will again be homeless like we were in 2008 at the start of recession in Illinois. We were the last home on a block of 22 houses. OUR HOUSE WAS THE ONLY OCCUPIED ONE. We heard screams and saw squatters and homeless druggies everywhere. Now I’m starting to see it more here just in the past year alone. Trash pickers everywhere, I don’t have to do that anymore but if I lose Medi-Cal I will need to find a second job or start trash picking to survive. My food stamps are $250 for a family of 5. Try living on $50 a week for food and taking a 15% paycutt and you will know hardship.

Wrong. The city uses the proceeds from the sale of the recycled goods to offset the cost of the program. Aluminum is one of the most profitable items.

These people are stealing. Would you like it if someone took your old propane tank so you always had to buy a new one instead of the much cheaper swap program.

It’s stealing.

Why is it when a Mexican commits a crime, any action to prosecute the crime is called “racist”. It’s getting old. Try something new.

Say Goodbye to Home Sweet Home and Hello to Pepper Spray
Imagine that you’re jarringly startled from a deep sleep by a brutish sounding noise that instantly invokes a sense of imminent danger; a bizarre noise resembling a small bear thrashing about in a dumpster, with bottles and cans serving as a loud clanking bell and clattering gong, beginning around 5 a.m. and lasting off and on until about 8:30 a.m. nearly every morning including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Most would grab their hunting rifle and run to secure their doors and ensure that their family is inside and safe before calling the Forest Ranger.
Surprisingly, the setting of this reality, experienced daily by many upstanding residents of Southern California, is not deep in the untamed wilderness at some campground far from civilization: it is within some of the nicest neighborhoods in So-Cal. Moreover, it’s not a bear making all the ruckus. Yet, likened to an unwanted and potentially dangerous prowling bear that travels miles to one’s location to scavenge as you sleep, the creature stalking your resting place is human and as allusive as any crafty big game predator; slipping quickly away before being caught, trapped or shot for trespassing, just to return the following morning to torment your peace of mind and restful sleep. Imagine this scenario repeating itself day after day, and week after week with no end in sight.
BRE Properties in Rancho Santa Margarita, like other apartment management companies in some of the highest rent districts in So-Cal, fail to inform would-be tenants prior to lease-signing that their property is infested with “dumpster divers.” Further, it is the tendency of upper management to refuse to take on the cost of properly policing their properties from trespassing passerby; unstopped passerby who are clearly seen to have travelled from the shadiest and untamed low rent districts of surrounding cities; unchecked passerby who without doubt threaten the safety, quality of life, and peace of mind of BRE ‘s high-rent tenants.
Rancho Santa Margarita – Criminal Trespassing – No Longer a Crime?
This popular syndrome, the disturbing choice by leading business men and women and city officials in the community to entirely shirk responsibility and instead look the other way when it comes to the trespassing scavengers of unknown origin, sends a clear message to squatting transients, criminals, illegal aliens and/or derelicts of the lowest end of neighboring cities. It appears that Rancho Santa Margarita is an open hunting ground for any who wish to criminally trespass for any reason, not just dumpster diving.
Working for the last ten years as a writer and award winning documentary filmmaker, I have followed this popular and ever increasing social phenomena of dumpster diving for quite some time. Spurred on by my own experience as a victim of trespassing dumpster divers, I have taken the time to research, study and acquire the inside scoop on this bizarrely accepted-by-authorities criminal activity in today’s So-Cal culture. I even have convenient opportunity daily to take HD video of just such activity right outside my patio. The only reason that I can think of as to why early morning dog-walkers shyly look away, stare at the ground and quietly disappear without confronting these people when bumping into such obvious trespassers from the shady part of some other town is that they are naïve to the potential dangers of allowing this at their place of residence, or they are frightened of the real potential danger, and/or they’ve learned that they have no recourse to stop it short of putting themselves at risk in becoming a dumpster security guard from 4:30 to 8:30 a.m. seven days a week.
Today’s unsolved and escalating dumpster diving social issue, while largely ignored by the powers that be, is certainly not going to go away on its own, quite the contrary. When will this serious third world issue that’s come home to roost in the US be addressed? After some famous person’s wife or daughter is raped or abducted, or perhaps after their husband is shot and robbed while walking out their front door to the grocery store, to school, or while heading off to the office? Identity theft is also a serious concern surrounding the dumpster diving issue. Perhaps it’s an issue that’s too embarrassing and one that if seriously addressed by those powerhouse leaders in So-Cal would perhaps open up a can of worms with devastating consequences for political careers and/or revenues of multi-billion-dollar corporations.
Slum Delivery – Who are These People Anyway?
These dumpster divers I’m speaking of are not the college educated green movement folk partying in front of God and everybody at Trader Joes’ dumpsters seeking out perfectly good food that is neatly sealed while chanting, ‘Save the environment! Stop needless waste!’ Nor am I speaking of a dumpster in some out of the way public place, tucked back behind some commercial building. I’m speaking of a dumpster at your higher-end lovely private apartment homes with all the amenities including a panoramic view, right under your balcony and just feet from your front door, in front of which your children, wife and husband must pass each morning in order to get to their car.
These are derelicts, also known as hood-rats, who drive from slum neighborhoods, trespass a 100 yard private drive (even slipping through gated properties) and sneak up to your front door, slither around casing the entire property, and taking anything that is available under the indifferent noses of property maintenance employees then disappearing before 9 a.m. when the leasing office personnel arrive. These brazen criminals are now invading even the more affluent neighborhoods of homeowners, again with little to no consequences for trespassing.
Most would agree that people live outside of the city and willingly pay additional fees for toll, gas, time and higher rents because they desire to live and raise their family in neighborhoods and housing communities that are pleasant, safe and far from the seedy elements of the city and it’s questionable outlining areas.
Once upon a time these responsible, family-oriented people at least had somewhat of a secure thought that their neighbors were thoroughly screened, that their city officials and local business owners found it mutually advantageous to be concerned for their reputable tax paying citizens’ wellbeing and the community, and that having pepper spray and/or a gun at the ready was not necessary. After all, the proper housing authorities have all the pertinent information concerning the residents of any given community, a great deterrent should someone actually consider committing a crime on their own street.
This is a moot point, however, because those committing today’s most popular crime of criminal trespassing, and potential crimes of convenience, are from other neighborhoods, coming and going as they please on private housing property. It remains unclear who these people are or where they’re from specifically, but it is clear enough that they’re not your garden-variety upright neighbor from down the block. People are still paying a higher price to live in good neighborhoods only to find that the troubling elements of bad neighborhoods are coming to them, literally just feet from their door. Meanwhile, the appropriate city officials and big corporations do nothing and often state publicly that it’s not a serious problem, not a real crime and not worth the cost of enforcing and/or thoroughly addressing. Interestingly enough, it seems that criminal trespassing has unofficially been deemed something other than a real crime in Rancho Santa Margarita and BRE Properties, and in many other affluent neighborhoods in Southern California as well.
Video Doesn’t Lie
My research shows that 90% of these criminal trespassers in Rancho Santa Margarita are Latino, non-English speaking, and only scurry off when the word policia is shouted in a loud firm voice, only to return several days later. Caucasians and African-Americans make up the other 10%. This is not a small group consisting of the same people, but a variety arriving in different vehicles (some noticeably without license plates) transporting gangs of people most everyday of the week. Many look like they just crawled out from under a rock and by the looks of them they are definitely downtrodden ruffians that a sane individual would not want their beloved young child, wife or husband to run into alone first thing in the wee early morning hours. This holds true unless your family members have experience traversing ghettos, and exude a street-tough physical presence suggesting that they carry lethal protection and are more than willing to use it if necessary. Since this seldom describes well educated, cultured people raised in good neighborhoods, whose only familiarity with the dangerous and gross realities of a ghetto-like neighborhood is via the nightly news, these families are sitting ducks and potential easy prey for these seemingly harmless and nameless scavenging dumpster bears crossing the tracks for easy pickings and lawlessness.
Who is Stalking Your Neighborhood?
Since these seemingly untouchable ghost unknowns stalk lawlessly as they please in some of So-Cal’s nicest communities upon private housing and residential property with absolutely no response from police or property management companies, it’s surely not a question of if but when will our vulnerable citizens next be attacked. After all, why climb into a dumpster for chump change when simply standing at the dumpster waiting for a victim who has real cash, credit cards and a set of keys belonging to a really cool set of wheels is so convenient. Make no mistake, these so-called dumpster divers are not just good people who have fallen on hard times but criminals that have absolutely no qualms with criminal trespassing on private property or invading the very boundaries of your home or your right to privacy. These are clearly criminal activities going unabated and their continued allowance goes against the very essence of what America claims as one of its most outstanding virtues.
Recently, I completed a documentary film on the homeless and found that most were good people who had fallen upon circumstances beyond their control. They were not criminals, nor would they contemplate criminal trespassing; they refused to make themselves a nuisance to the rest of society in any way, most refusing to even ask others on the street for change. They were socially acceptable in appearance, clean-shaven folk that behaved and addressed their unusual challenge in the same manner that they lived prior to their circumstances: with integrity, honesty, hard work and endurance.
The dumpster divers addressed in this article are not subscribing to these values by any stretch of the imagination; they are emboldened criminals whose risk to you is only heightened by their knowledge that you have, to date, little meaningful recourse in any attempt to circumvent their activities. Criminals well aware that they have slim to no risk of being caught are extremely dangerous. Some may only continue to fish for bottles and cans, destroying your quality of life and peace of mind at your hard earned expense and at their convenience, but only a fool would be willing to risk the wellbeing, if not life, of their child, wife or husband on this presumption.
There are sound reasons individuals must pass a screening process prior to being accepted into a community and before being legally allowed to be amongst others in that commune. Respectively, these same reasons are why insightful individuals seek out a housing community that indeed requires a thorough background check and screening process of all would-be tenants.
What Are the Issues?
This social-political issue entails a solid underlying platform. Like a political campaign, said issues are often misconstrued and convoluted via fierce wrangling of involved parties attempting to sway and capture constituents for support in order to win. Though the right to endeavor towards acquiring a quality of life that nurtures safety and peace is a topic of special concern today, more times than not, when push-comes-to-shove, political platforms sadly boil down to the people verses big corporations’ and/or public officials’ profit margins, not real and specific issues confronting society and our culture. Documentaries serve as a tool to unravel hidden agendas, facts, popular views and the real issues that get buried in highly public campaigns. Some say the issue of criminal trespassing, and “dumpster diving” as it were, is one of morality, while others feel it is an issue of criminality and still others proclaim it’s all political.
Are we our brother’s keeper? Within a civilized and humane culture, this is certainly a valid point. Even in Christ’s day the unfortunate were allowed to harvest the corners of the fields, or trash crop, of private landowners but at least it was monitored with allotted timeframes with an accounting for who was lining up to harvest for free that day. There were clearly rules. Tenants have a right to know if they are to become forced participants in a shelter outreach program, after signing a lease, serving the destitute and lower society at their home everyday without proper monitoring or the protection of security guards, which they would certainly have at any volunteer program outside their place of residence.
Police departments across Southern California have gone on record stating that dumpster diving is not a real crime but merely a nuisance complaint that officers cannot respond to because they are too stretched in manpower protecting our cities from “serious” crimes. When did criminal trespassing become something other than a real crime, especially being that one must trespass deep into private property, even gated communities, to get access to residential dumpsters? Perhaps the real reason for the lack of concern for the protection of innocent people and their property in upscale neighborhoods is based upon basic economics. Since there is little chance of securing revenue by fining poor and/or lawless criminals (with little to no property worth putting liens against, should they fail to pay), it is apparently a service with no financial return. The only deterrent would be substantial jail time, which there again is all cost and no payoff to the police department’s city budget.
Perhaps it’s political. Are city officials afraid that the world will think that California retains slave-like labor via illegal aliens should they begin arresting people for trespassing? Are they concerned that should they open up a debate for rightly enforcing trespassing laws, their political careers might be in jeopardy? After all, to date, governing officials have given their stamp of approval of trespassing via their obvious indifference. Thus, the destitute and lawless, like a pack of wild dogs running amuck in our communities, have free reign to frighten and terrorize local tax paying citizens. Are officials concerned that a freeze will be put on their salaries this year should more funds be put towards protecting the citizens in what good neighborhoods So-Cal still retains? Are politicians pointedly ignoring trespassing laws, hoping that citizens will beg for tougher laws in this arena? In turn, would this trigger the enacting of martial-type law upon law-abiding citizens within their own communities, limiting their ability to travel freely? For whatever reason, local politicians aren’t talking. They continue to avoid one of today’s hottest and most highly debated topics, dumpster diving trespassers.
Community Leaders – While Being Paid – Refuse to Act
Concerned individuals who contact the property management companies are informed that it’s a criminal matter and are instructed to call the police, only to discover that the police refer the caller back to the management companies, or arrive hours after the fact, simply stating it’s a nuisance complaint and there’s little they can do about it. This is the norm.
The community leaders of Rancho Santa Margarita and the VIPs of BRE Properties are by no means the only guilty parties in So-Cal’s near criminal activities against their faithful citizens and/or tenants. However, they are certainly a perfect example of being supremely delinquent in their responsibilities resulting in the support of the rampant criminal trespassing taking place here in Southern California. This sad state of affairs shamefully puts So-Cal’s core – upstanding honest, hard working and law-abiding citizens who make a vital contribution to their communities – in harms way each and every day.
Astute citizens pay property management companies and elect city officials who they feel are diligent and qualified to help support and ensure their safety and quality of life. However, regarding the current status quo of the City of Rancho Santa Margarita and BRE Properties, until Election Day and/or until your lease is up for renewal, as of July 2009 to all appearances you’re on your own, so hand out the pepper spray and stun guns to your women and children and have the video camera ready. The slums are coming to a neighborhood near you.

What makes you think I am pro-illegal immigration?

My point is that you are barking up the wrong tree. Your fixation on the receiving end is indicative of your bigotry.

You are just ignorant about trash diving. In the case of Santa Ana the issue is the Homeless. The residents in the neighborhoods say so and the city’s code enforcement says so.

You just have a ignorant opinion on this issue- nothing to back it up with. Your opinion based on ignorance has been noted.

Google “dumpster diving” you will find that it is a culture with membership of white-whites, professionals, students, freegans, green groups and some of these members are IRISH.

Apparently it revolves around you then, since you seem to think you can ask the questions but not answer them.

So here goes: Do you illegally dig through other people’s trash?

You know as well as i do, that the marjority of the people going through the trash in this case are illegal immigrants!!

Tmare, honestly if you were an Irvine teacher I would be embarrassed!! But alas your a SANTA ANA TEACHER big difference!

The “trash divers” are not poor Mexicans. You like people to think so because it fits your agenda.

Funding programs is not a decision made by illegal immigrants. You anger is misdirected. Rant on those that make law not those that receive it’s benefits.

I believe we all know Mexican is not a race. Just as Asians, Blacks and Hispanics born in The USA or naturalized are American.It is nice to know you also know it.