01:01:00.740 --> 01:01:04.452
So this was, this actually was the Holiday.

01:01:04.661 --> 01:01:06.329
I remember it because...

01:01:07.830 --> 01:01:08.873
I remember.

01:01:08.873 --> 01:01:09.832
Because you remember.

01:01:10.083 --> 01:01:11.250
Yeah, I just remember.

01:01:11.709 --> 01:01:14.379
There used to be two more motels. The Townhouse

01:01:15.755 --> 01:01:17.382
and then the Fresno Inn.

01:01:21.594 --> 01:01:23.221
I'm proud of your folks.

01:01:25.306 --> 01:01:26.516
I'm proud of them too.

01:01:28.184 --> 01:01:30.436
Now I'm learning
how to play electric guitar.

01:01:30.812 --> 01:01:33.022
Is it different with them than being sober?

01:01:35.358 --> 01:01:36.317
Yeah.

01:01:37.485 --> 01:01:39.487
I mean, I still stay in my room
and play video games.

01:01:39.570 --> 01:01:40.154
Yeah.

01:01:40.488 --> 01:01:41.364
Either way.

01:01:41.531 --> 01:01:43.241
I still do my schooling.

01:01:45.118 --> 01:01:47.412
How many times do you think you slept out?

01:01:48.996 --> 01:01:50.665
I've slept out twice.

01:01:52.041 --> 01:01:55.294
We would just go to the Motel
6 on Blackstone when we couldn’t rent here

01:01:55.336 --> 01:01:57.964
and then when we had check out
or we didn't have enough money,

01:01:58.172 --> 01:02:00.550
we would just sleep outside
until we get the money.

01:02:02.301 --> 01:02:04.637
Other than that, this was the row.

01:02:06.889 --> 01:02:08.307
Memory lane right here.

01:02:27.744 --> 01:02:31.539
Motel Drive in its heyday was something to see,

01:02:32.457 --> 01:02:33.875
somewhere to be.

01:02:34.083 --> 01:02:37.837
After their Fresno concert
ended, the Stones returned to the hotel

01:02:37.837 --> 01:02:40.006
where they had checked in the night
before.

01:02:41.340 --> 01:02:43.217
But now 30 years later,

01:02:43.968 --> 01:02:46.304
they're barely being taken care of.

01:02:53.227 --> 01:02:57.398
Everybody out here was doing real good
until the freeway bypassed us.

01:02:59.567 --> 01:03:01.903
And then things started really going downhill.

01:03:02.737 --> 01:03:06.949
A police standoff in southwest Fresno ends
nearly 2 hours after it starts.

01:03:07.575 --> 01:03:11.621
You have chronic homelessness out here.
Coupled with drug use.

01:03:12.079 --> 01:03:18.044
Child molesters, sex registrants, drug dealers,
prostitutes, gang members, in the same area.

01:03:19.128 --> 01:03:22.256
Fresno's Motel
Drive is known as a location where women

01:03:22.256 --> 01:03:25.968
and young children are forced against
their will into the sex trade.

01:03:26.511 --> 01:03:27.845
I don't know how many times
I've been raped.

01:03:27.845 --> 01:03:29.222
I've lost count.

01:03:29.597 --> 01:03:32.683
But you've got your families out here,
you've got people that work.

01:03:33.351 --> 01:03:36.771
You have a bunch of children growing up
right in the thick of this in this chaos.

01:03:37.980 --> 01:03:40.817
Kids don't even understand the things
that have happened to them.

01:04:19.355 --> 01:04:22.525
My son was born, we were staying at the motel
right next door to this one, the Welcome Inn.

01:04:22.567 --> 01:04:23.860
We were staying there.

01:04:24.652 --> 01:04:27.697
We've been here so long, I met my wife 16 years ago,
I was staying in this motel.

01:04:30.199 --> 01:04:32.493
Jason...plates?

01:04:33.077 --> 01:04:34.787
Justin go get some...

01:04:34.787 --> 01:04:36.497
I'll take mine in a bowl.

01:04:38.457 --> 01:04:39.208
I'll eat out of a bowl.

01:04:41.294 --> 01:04:43.337
I'm eating out of a bowl.

01:04:45.882 --> 01:04:47.800
Living in a motel ain't cheap.

01:04:47.800 --> 01:04:49.969
A lot of people don't realize that, you know,
we pay $1,500 a month out here.

01:04:50.261 --> 01:04:53.514
When we pay by day, we pay by week,
we're paying $1,000.

01:04:55.141 --> 01:04:57.768
It's not for the homeless because you
gotta be able to come up with the money.

01:04:58.936 --> 01:05:00.229
It's stable but it's not stable.

01:05:00.229 --> 01:05:02.106
You know, it's the roof over your head.

01:05:02.106 --> 01:05:03.232
Yeah, true.

01:05:03.482 --> 01:05:07.069
But every 28 days
we're supposed to check out for one day.

01:05:08.029 --> 01:05:09.614
You know,
and you got your room full of stuff.

01:05:09.614 --> 01:05:11.949
We used to take our stuff
the first time we took all our stuff.

01:05:12.909 --> 01:05:15.453
The second time, they all wanted you to put it all in the closet real neat.

01:05:15.536 --> 01:05:17.538
And then the third time,
they just had us clean up our room.

01:05:17.955 --> 01:05:21.208
And then after that they gave up.  You know , they're just like, check out. Go.

01:05:22.209 --> 01:05:24.211
Me and my wife do, we work for the motels.

01:05:27.590 --> 01:05:28.424
We do maintenance.

01:05:28.424 --> 01:05:29.467
Landscaping.

01:05:30.593 --> 01:05:32.136
Recycling bottles and cans.

01:05:37.516 --> 01:05:39.226
Cleaning rooms.

01:05:41.187 --> 01:05:42.355
Did you get bit last night?

01:05:42.438 --> 01:05:43.064
I don't know.

01:05:43.189 --> 01:05:45.191
Let me see, come here. Turn around.

01:05:47.526 --> 01:05:49.862
No, I don't see any new ones. These are almost all gone. Look he got bit...

01:05:49.862 --> 01:05:50.905
...by bed bugs.

01:05:56.827 --> 01:05:58.829
They're going to replace the bed or what are they going to do?

01:05:58.829 --> 01:05:59.622
No.

01:06:02.208 --> 01:06:03.292
No. We sprayed.

01:06:03.542 --> 01:06:05.503
Took it outside so they can leave.

01:06:05.503 --> 01:06:06.879
The bugs can leave.

01:06:07.004 --> 01:06:09.256
And now we're putting it back together

01:06:10.299 --> 01:06:12.134
putting the sheets back on it and getting it ready to rent.

01:06:12.134 --> 01:06:13.552
And it'll be ready today.

01:06:20.977 --> 01:06:22.144
I get $3.50 a room,

01:06:22.144 --> 01:06:23.646
a dollar seventy five for service rooms.

01:06:26.857 --> 01:06:28.651
And I work seven days a week.

01:06:29.485 --> 01:06:32.363
You keep the motels running
while the bosses, just to get rich off of you.

01:06:32.780 --> 01:06:35.116
But you're able to make your money
to pay your rent someplace else.

01:06:37.994 --> 01:06:39.870
They say he's
going to be a statistic, man, because you

01:06:39.870 --> 01:06:42.039
got high
or you're violent or whatever.

01:06:43.082 --> 01:06:46.335
But we don't talk about the kid that gets out
of the ghetto, that makes it, that succeeds.

01:06:46.460 --> 01:06:48.254
Happens all the time, too.

01:06:48.254 --> 01:06:49.880
If you succeed, people pat us on the back.

01:06:49.880 --> 01:06:52.633
If you fail, everybody's
going to say something about it.

01:06:53.217 --> 01:06:55.720
My job is to make sure he succeeds.

01:06:56.220 --> 01:06:58.222
If he succeeds from
my failures, that's good.

01:07:02.059 --> 01:07:06.397
Back in the motels, it was hard not
knowing where I was going to sleep at night.

01:07:10.234 --> 01:07:13.529
It's the hardest part a kid has to worry about.

01:07:24.999 --> 01:07:28.294
Welcome to Live Again Fresno.

01:07:28.586 --> 01:07:33.966
This is a safe place for the 149 kids
living in the motels across the street.

01:07:37.094 --> 01:07:39.430
15 motel properties.

01:07:39.430 --> 01:07:43.142
So if you do the math on two to three
people behind every one of those doors,

01:07:43.601 --> 01:07:46.854
that's a lot of people living in roughly
an eighth mile strip.

01:07:47.188 --> 01:07:49.774
A lot of people
living really, really close together.

01:07:50.441 --> 01:07:54.278
For decades, folks
didn't know that these kids even existed.

01:07:55.529 --> 01:07:57.156
Because no one knew that they were there.

01:07:57.156 --> 01:08:00.910
There were no resources that were directed
to these children and to their families.

01:08:02.745 --> 01:08:06.832
We've been able to identify 149 children
who are living in those motels.

01:08:07.416 --> 01:08:10.044
On average, they live there for three
to five years at a time.

01:08:13.798 --> 01:08:18.177
Within a lot of things, we serve kids
and families living on Motel Drive.

01:08:19.261 --> 01:08:21.305
The best way I would describe
it is we are bridge

01:08:21.847 --> 01:08:24.475
or a stepping stone for children
going through a hard time.

01:08:25.392 --> 01:08:28.604
In that time, I've seen so many different
versions of Justin.

01:08:30.523 --> 01:08:35.111
He started to occupy a closer space to me
than just one of the kids in the program.

01:08:36.362 --> 01:08:38.239
He predated the program.

01:08:40.866 --> 01:08:43.911
I knew right away
that this was going to be

01:08:43.911 --> 01:08:47.414
an especially challenging family
to build relationships.

01:08:47.998 --> 01:08:51.043
It was really obvious to me
that there was some

01:08:52.878 --> 01:08:54.964
challenges going on with addiction.

01:08:54.964 --> 01:08:58.968
Just obvious paraphernalia that was
laying around. Poor condition of the room.

01:08:59.802 --> 01:09:03.097
And so for Justin
the best support in our eye

01:09:03.222 --> 01:09:08.060
was making sure that he had a positive male
consistently around him.

01:09:08.686 --> 01:09:11.689
Whether that was myself
or whether that was Jed to make sure

01:09:11.689 --> 01:09:16.110
that Justin had a safe place to
go whenever he needed that.

01:09:29.248 --> 01:09:33.711
With the meth, there was a few times
I'd find a pipe in the bathroom

01:09:34.336 --> 01:09:36.463
but there was nothing really I could do.

01:09:40.301 --> 01:09:43.846
If you know how to do it...
Justin, you don't need to interrupt people.

01:09:43.846 --> 01:09:44.638
Stop!

01:09:45.806 --> 01:09:47.266
Shut up once in a while, man.

01:09:47.808 --> 01:09:48.893
And learn something.

01:09:51.520 --> 01:09:53.689
For me, it started out with crank a long time ago.

01:09:54.982 --> 01:09:56.483
Then this crystal meth came out.

01:09:57.610 --> 01:09:59.528
Over time, I got addicted to it.

01:10:00.863 --> 01:10:03.866
When I use, I use
basically just to have fun to escape.

01:10:04.617 --> 01:10:06.911
As long as your bills are paid,
your family's fed.

01:10:07.578 --> 01:10:09.205
I don't see the harm in it.

01:10:10.331 --> 01:10:13.500
You don't have to say,
hey son, I'ma go smoke dope or whatever.

01:10:13.500 --> 01:10:15.377
But that's what you do.

01:10:20.090 --> 01:10:23.052
Methamphetamine originated right here in the valley.

01:10:25.179 --> 01:10:27.389
We had a lot of mountainous, rural areas

01:10:27.640 --> 01:10:31.435
where meth labs set up,
and they produce methamphetamine.

01:10:33.270 --> 01:10:36.941
That made it more prevalent,
more affordable.

01:10:37.816 --> 01:10:41.987
And with that, we created a lot
of methamphetamine addicts in Fresno.

01:10:43.280 --> 01:10:47.409
In California, deaths
were up 64% year on year.

01:10:47.618 --> 01:10:53.457
And in Fresno, no other drug comes
even close to the death rate of meth.

01:11:37.209 --> 01:11:40.254
See, to leave that,
even though it's just so small.

01:11:40.629 --> 01:11:44.049
To leave that for our neighbor, he'd be pissed.

01:11:44.049 --> 01:11:45.634
And I don't blame him.

01:11:47.720 --> 01:11:48.762
What is that?

01:11:48.762 --> 01:11:49.471
Blood.

01:11:49.930 --> 01:11:55.477
Someone shot up and they inject themselves
and it was bleeding and that was just blood.

01:11:55.728 --> 01:11:57.730
Blood on a tissue.

01:11:59.398 --> 01:12:03.402
There's a wide range of people
that come here in Motel Drive.

01:12:04.111 --> 01:12:05.863
Some actually live here.

01:12:06.947 --> 01:12:10.242
Most of them are using, using heroin, using meth.

01:12:11.118 --> 01:12:14.538
Our people come here,
they bring in their used syringes,

01:12:15.497 --> 01:12:19.752
and it gets disposed of the same way
hospitals get theirs disposed of.

01:12:21.211 --> 01:12:24.590
You think of people who are addicts,
you know, like you stereotype them.

01:12:25.299 --> 01:12:30.012
We've treated nurses, teachers, people
who are trying to maintain

01:12:30.012 --> 01:12:32.931
their chronic illness
and maintain their lives.

01:12:34.350 --> 01:12:35.726
It's a full range of folks.

01:12:37.603 --> 01:12:40.397
I've worked with Doctor Lasher
for decades, actually

01:12:40.397 --> 01:12:43.650
and I first met him in my role
when I was the program director

01:12:43.650 --> 01:12:48.113
for UCSF Fresno, and he was a resident
at the time when he first started this project.

01:12:51.283 --> 01:12:56.789
I feel some obligation to give back to some degree
and also really to support Dr. Lasher and his work.

01:12:56.789 --> 01:12:58.165
He is so committed and dedicated.

01:12:58.207 --> 01:13:02.086
He's here every week for literally
decades, and he's providing a service

01:13:02.086 --> 01:13:04.963
that would require a whole department
in our county health structure.

01:13:05.506 --> 01:13:06.715
He does it all as a volunteer.

01:13:06.715 --> 01:13:09.885
So, you know, I try and support him as a
physician and as an individual.

01:13:33.075 --> 01:13:35.869
I've been sewing for many years.

01:13:37.329 --> 01:13:39.456
My grandmother
once told me there's two things

01:13:39.456 --> 01:13:42.960
I should learn to do for myself
before I got much older.

01:13:43.252 --> 01:13:46.130
Learn how to cook and learn to sew.

01:13:47.005 --> 01:13:49.967
Oh my, you son of a bitch!

01:13:53.137 --> 01:13:56.140
Now how in the hell did I do that?

01:13:56.640 --> 01:13:58.684
I am a veteran of the United States Navy.

01:13:59.893 --> 01:14:05.816
I enlisted to stay in the Navy for 30 years
and retire when I was 47 on a full pension.

01:14:06.316 --> 01:14:07.860
Didn't work out that way.

01:14:09.653 --> 01:14:11.864
Yes, I've heard about the railroad.

01:14:11.864 --> 01:14:14.074
I haven't talked to anybody
from the railroad.

01:14:15.409 --> 01:14:18.370
I've heard about people who have,
but I've never talked to them.

01:14:20.080 --> 01:14:21.582
High-speed rail is a key component of

01:14:21.582 --> 01:14:23.292
President Obama's domestic policy.

01:14:23.292 --> 01:14:27.171
Imagine whisking through towns
at speeds over 100 miles an hour.

01:14:27.337 --> 01:14:30.799
That makes travel from San Francisco
to Los Angeles possible

01:14:31.049 --> 01:14:32.050
in two and a half hours.

01:14:34.386 --> 01:14:40.100
There is a total of eight motels that we are acquiring.

01:14:40.809 --> 01:14:44.313
We do understand that our project
is creating a lot of heartache.

01:14:44.980 --> 01:14:47.316
We are, in a sense, changing their lives.

01:14:48.400 --> 01:14:52.571
That's the most challenging piece
is relocating the tenants.

01:14:54.656 --> 01:14:56.992
I've seen them buy up buildings
and tear them down.

01:14:58.035 --> 01:15:01.163
I've seen them pay people off
to get 'em to move out of motels

01:15:01.163 --> 01:15:03.415
or out of places
where they're going to tear them down.

01:15:04.166 --> 01:15:06.418
I'll have to find someplace else to live.

01:15:25.020 --> 01:15:27.981
And I told her, they understood the fact
that I can't move without your help.

01:15:28.607 --> 01:15:29.566
I can't do it.

01:15:29.566 --> 01:15:32.778
You know, you shut this place down,
my wife doesn't work, we have no income from here.

01:15:33.570 --> 01:15:35.280
Ready?  Up high.

01:15:36.823 --> 01:15:37.658
You got it?

01:15:40.327 --> 01:15:41.787
Where do you think
you guys are going to go?

01:15:42.287 --> 01:15:45.791
I don't know. I'm trying to look into
like, a rent to own house.

01:15:46.583 --> 01:15:49.211
Or they buy mobile homes for people too.

01:15:49.878 --> 01:15:51.838
So, something that I can leave him...

01:15:52.256 --> 01:15:53.465
we can leave him. You know what I mean?

01:15:54.716 --> 01:15:56.218
For his future.

01:15:58.136 --> 01:16:00.264
Let's go in through the life of a kid.

01:16:00.722 --> 01:16:03.100
Justin could spend all night out

01:16:03.100 --> 01:16:06.270
while his parents are hustling, doing
whatever they got to do to get the money.

01:16:07.896 --> 01:16:12.317
When he gets up in the morning to get ready
for school, we're not talking about 8 hours.

01:16:12.609 --> 01:16:14.444
He didn't go to bed on a full belly.

01:16:14.861 --> 01:16:18.448
And he goes to school and he talks different
than the children at school.

01:16:18.865 --> 01:16:25.122
He probably smells like the same old meth and marijuana
that he did, you know, the Friday when he left class

01:16:25.122 --> 01:16:26.665
by the time he shows up Monday.

01:16:27.291 --> 01:16:32.129
These kids are just luggage and get dragged along.

01:16:40.012 --> 01:16:42.055
I grew up in drugs.

01:16:42.055 --> 01:16:44.391
I grew up in the middle of prostitution.

01:16:45.434 --> 01:16:47.894
I figured by 17 years old
I'd probably be murdered.

01:16:48.729 --> 01:16:50.814
So there was no plan.

01:16:53.609 --> 01:16:56.612
I remember being drawn to the Fresno Inn.

01:16:56.862 --> 01:17:01.033
Because when I had came home from prison,
I had lived there for about six weeks.

01:17:02.242 --> 01:17:05.621
This water was running out
from one of the downstairs rooms

01:17:05.621 --> 01:17:07.998
that was obviously like just raw sewage.

01:17:08.290 --> 01:17:11.960
All this stuff is draining out into the parking
lot where these kids play at.

01:17:13.503 --> 01:17:17.466
One of the moms finally explained to me
there were 20

01:17:18.133 --> 01:17:22.387
high-risk sex offenders who lived
in the other side of the property.

01:17:22.638 --> 01:17:25.265
And so for these mothers
and for these families,

01:17:25.515 --> 01:17:29.269
it was far safer for their children
to play where this raw sewage poured out

01:17:29.269 --> 01:17:32.564
versus in front of these rooms
where these known sexual predators

01:17:32.564 --> 01:17:34.274
and sex offenders lived at.

01:17:34.399 --> 01:17:37.903
I've done everything, like, I possibly can.

01:17:37.903 --> 01:17:38.945
We hold church out here.

01:17:38.945 --> 01:17:40.489
We do food out here.

01:17:40.864 --> 01:17:43.533
But these things like this,
I don't know how to fix this stuff.

01:17:45.035 --> 01:17:47.120
It reminded me of my own childhood.

01:17:47.120 --> 01:17:54.628
It reminded me of my mother living in motels and
my mother like being an addict and being a sex worker.

01:17:55.212 --> 01:17:59.383
To see these kids and know that they're
growing up in the middle of that stuff

01:17:59.383 --> 01:18:03.011
and feeling just as lost as I felt,
knowing that they feel that,

01:18:03.887 --> 01:18:05.389
my heart breaks.

01:18:08.600 --> 01:18:10.060
My mom was never there.

01:18:10.519 --> 01:18:14.189
Like, I don't remember
my mom ever being there when I was little.

01:18:14.815 --> 01:18:18.568
I just know she was out on the streets
prostituting and using drugs.

01:18:19.277 --> 01:18:22.989
Every day they see drugs, sex workers,

01:18:23.657 --> 01:18:26.702
their parents
abusing each other, abusing drugs.

01:18:27.703 --> 01:18:30.622
One girl, she pointed out one of
the sex workers one day and she's like

01:18:30.789 --> 01:18:33.417
"Look what  she has on. I see them every day like that."

01:18:33.959 --> 01:18:41.091
And like I got to tell her my background and like
that I grew up in a similar situation like that.

01:18:41.216 --> 01:18:42.759
But look at me now.

01:18:45.011 --> 01:18:49.850
Having to be the provider for everything,
having to make sure the lights are on.

01:18:49.850 --> 01:18:51.977
Make sure we feed our siblings.

01:18:54.730 --> 01:18:56.606
Just not being able to be a kid.

01:18:56.606 --> 01:19:01.528
And I think that was the hardest thing
for me as a kid and I knew like, I'm not being a kid.

01:19:01.528 --> 01:19:05.741
I was like very aware
that I was being a mother to my siblings

01:19:05.741 --> 01:19:08.952
and I was making sure that they paid
the bills and everything. So...

01:19:10.454 --> 01:19:13.999
I think that's the hardest thing,
for them as a kid as well.

01:19:17.919 --> 01:19:23.341
The motels that line Motel Drive along Highway 99,
both north and south of downtown Fresno,

01:19:23.341 --> 01:19:26.136
have become havens
for prostitution and drug dealing.

01:19:26.636 --> 01:19:30.098
All these other women out there that don't know
what prostitution is, don't do it!

01:19:30.640 --> 01:19:32.225
It's very dangerous.

01:19:32.225 --> 01:19:33.727
You gotta know what you're doing.

01:19:34.311 --> 01:19:37.439
You have to be trained to be out here to do this.

01:19:44.738 --> 01:19:47.240
They used to call me Ms. Motel Drive. Motel Drive Peaches.

01:19:48.158 --> 01:19:50.619
Now the cops
promoted me to Miss Golden State.

01:20:00.128 --> 01:20:03.423
I was at The Storyland and
The Paradise most. And the Sands.

01:20:03.423 --> 01:20:05.509
Them was the only three motels I really stayed in.

01:20:06.092 --> 01:20:07.969
But, um, I was in all of them.

01:20:09.429 --> 01:20:11.932
There was twelve of us called the lady of pleasures.

01:20:12.641 --> 01:20:16.186
We took care of each other, all twelve of us made
sure we had our rents paid.

01:20:18.814 --> 01:20:21.608
Whoever didn't have their rent paid, we made sure we'd get it paid.

01:20:21.608 --> 01:20:22.651
That day.

01:20:24.027 --> 01:20:25.403
I'm a counselor.

01:20:25.403 --> 01:20:26.446
I'm a doctor.

01:20:26.446 --> 01:20:27.989
I've taken out bullets.

01:20:27.989 --> 01:20:29.574
I've fucking sewn people up.

01:20:30.325 --> 01:20:31.910
I've kept them from OD'ing.

01:20:33.078 --> 01:20:34.037
I more or less...

01:20:34.788 --> 01:20:37.415
have the authority of all these girls on Motel Drive...

01:20:37.415 --> 01:20:38.291
on Golden State.

01:20:42.546 --> 01:20:44.965
When I'm out there I tell them hey,
don’t be doing any of that shit.

01:20:45.131 --> 01:20:47.551
You bring the heat down on you,
you bring it on everybody out here.

01:20:49.010 --> 01:20:52.180
Because a lot of these girls out here got kids.
They need to make that rent money or food money.

01:20:54.516 --> 01:20:57.894
If that guy wants to date you, he's gonna
circle back around, he's gonna pick you up.

01:20:58.520 --> 01:21:00.522
Right now, he's just window shopping.

01:21:05.902 --> 01:21:06.820
Come here!

01:21:09.990 --> 01:21:12.492
Sometimes there was like eight,
nine, ten girls there.

01:21:12.492 --> 01:21:14.870
They'd all get dates around the same time.

01:21:14.870 --> 01:21:16.454
It was busy,

01:21:17.497 --> 01:21:18.874
like a drive-thru.

01:21:58.663 --> 01:22:01.166
I’ve worked pretty much like all my life.

01:22:02.292 --> 01:22:04.502
I'm a hard worker just like anybody else.

01:22:06.046 --> 01:22:13.511
My kid is...she knows that if I'm not home,
that I'm either at work or I'm at school.

01:22:14.346 --> 01:22:16.097
And this is my work.

01:22:17.390 --> 01:22:18.808
I clock in and I clock out.

01:22:18.808 --> 01:22:20.185
And that's it.

01:22:21.269 --> 01:22:24.731
To me personally it's the same
as any regular life.

01:22:25.398 --> 01:22:26.691
It's business.

01:22:42.457 --> 01:22:45.502
When CPS came, I went to a foster home.

01:22:46.419 --> 01:22:49.255
It was better than being on the streets,
that's for sure.

01:22:50.674 --> 01:22:52.926
...and he went up there, my wife was holding a sign,

01:22:52.926 --> 01:22:55.303
said homeless with child,
somebody got offended by it.

01:22:55.303 --> 01:22:57.973
Called the police. Child wasn't around,
child was in school.

01:22:58.264 --> 01:23:00.350
Like he's supposed to be.
Went back to the room.

01:23:00.350 --> 01:23:03.645
Cops came in, searched our stuff,
tossed it and looked under the bed.

01:23:03.645 --> 01:23:06.523
There was some pornographic magazines under there that weren't ours.
We didn't know nothing about.

01:23:06.982 --> 01:23:09.401
He was in school. I got on the bus
to pick him up from school.

01:23:09.401 --> 01:23:12.487
And they met me over there,
took him out of school,

01:23:13.113 --> 01:23:16.324
without a social worker, took him and placed him with CPS.
Because we were living in motels.

01:23:17.701 --> 01:23:20.745
They said it's not where you were living,
but how you were living.

01:23:21.371 --> 01:23:23.415
You weren't stable, there was a weed pipe.

01:23:23.665 --> 01:23:25.125
There was a little bit of weed.

01:23:26.793 --> 01:23:29.129
13 months total, we had him back with us.

01:23:55.321 --> 01:23:59.325
One of the biggest projects in state history
is now underway in Central Fresno.

01:24:00.493 --> 01:24:02.620
Today, crews with the High-Speed
Rail Authority

01:24:02.871 --> 01:24:05.290
began demolishing the old Hollywood bar.

01:24:06.791 --> 01:24:14.507
With high-speed rail coming in, it will place Fresno
on the map in terms of being a major player.

01:24:16.301 --> 01:24:19.846
When the Interstate 5 was built many,
many years ago,

01:24:19.846 --> 01:24:24.059
it went from Southern California to Northern California,
but it did not go through the valley.

01:24:24.893 --> 01:24:26.603
So we got left out

01:24:27.228 --> 01:24:30.065
and with that, poverty soon followed.

01:24:32.108 --> 01:24:36.029
This is our opportunity to be reconnected
to California through high-speed rail

01:24:37.906 --> 01:24:40.200
that goes right through downtown Fresno.

01:26:02.198 --> 01:26:05.535
Basically in the sixties,
we were fortunate that Fresno

01:26:05.535 --> 01:26:10.456
was a destination place.  Located midway
between San Francisco and Los Angeles,

01:26:10.790 --> 01:26:13.751
it is a trading center for the fertile
San Joaquin Valley.

01:26:16.337 --> 01:26:17.839
A lot of people came to this area

01:26:17.839 --> 01:26:21.050
because it was more economically feasible
for them to bring their family here

01:26:21.718 --> 01:26:25.555
than say, go to Disneyland or go to
Southern California or Northern California.

01:26:26.556 --> 01:26:32.437
This is the old Fresno Motel sign that is probably
one of the more popular signs in our collection.

01:26:34.063 --> 01:26:35.940
This is the Hacienda sign.

01:26:36.232 --> 01:26:41.237
It's the most iconic, the most popular
sign in the history of Fresno County.

01:26:42.363 --> 01:26:45.617
The biggest name in entertainment
was always at the Hacienda,

01:26:45.617 --> 01:26:49.370
whether it be Elvis Presley,
Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole.

01:26:49.412 --> 01:26:51.956
If I had to choose

01:26:53.833 --> 01:26:56.169
one moment.

01:26:57.086 --> 01:27:00.965
I can remember as a six year old boy
my mother and her girlfriends coming up

01:27:01.049 --> 01:27:03.092
and spending weekends at the Hacienda.

01:27:04.844 --> 01:27:06.888
The backdrop of the bar was the pool.

01:27:07.305 --> 01:27:09.307
They had mermaids swimming in the pool

01:27:09.307 --> 01:27:15.063
and as a six year old boy, my eyes were just as big as
golf balls and I still remember that to today.

01:27:30.662 --> 01:27:32.705
Get your food Justin!

01:27:47.887 --> 01:27:50.473
I told my wife,
one shot, one chance.

01:27:50.473 --> 01:27:52.767
You know, we're not going to get any more
money like this to buy a house.

01:27:53.268 --> 01:27:54.227
You can use charcoal in it too.

01:27:54.227 --> 01:27:57.689
You can use charcoal
or propane.  Satellite dishes and stuff.

01:27:58.815 --> 01:28:00.149
Washer/dryer hook up.

01:28:00.149 --> 01:28:01.776
My wife's very happy about that.

01:28:03.736 --> 01:28:05.488
It all fell apart, if you will.

01:28:05.989 --> 01:28:07.573
But it all falls back into place.

01:28:09.742 --> 01:28:11.744
She's working, I'm working. School's good.

01:28:12.245 --> 01:28:13.830
But we had to ride that out.

01:28:14.080 --> 01:28:16.624
That's what made us tougher,
I think, it made us stronger as a family.

01:28:18.626 --> 01:28:20.795
We had to go through three years of hell
in the motels.

01:28:21.713 --> 01:28:24.674
Our compensation was $20,000
and a mobile home.

01:28:25.550 --> 01:28:27.593
Like I said,  was it worth it? Yeah, it was worth it. Now.

01:28:28.136 --> 01:28:29.429
Because our outcome is this.

01:28:30.680 --> 01:28:32.682
It may not be the best, but it's ours.

01:28:33.474 --> 01:28:35.560
You know, it's home.

01:28:36.269 --> 01:28:40.231
What'd you say mom?  Huh?

01:28:41.065 --> 01:28:44.610
You didn't wash them or anything you just like quit.

01:28:50.783 --> 01:28:56.080
Kind of hard to describe after not having a place
for almost nine years coming home and finding

01:28:56.080 --> 01:28:59.042
I have an apartment that's actually
bigger than a motel room.

01:28:59.834 --> 01:29:02.920
Hell, the living room alone is twice the size of the room.

01:29:03.171 --> 01:29:07.300
It's a big step up and a big difference
from living in a damn motel room.

01:29:18.061 --> 01:29:20.104
But now I got to unpack all this crap.

01:29:32.408 --> 01:29:37.622
I think I'm going to have me some ice cream,
and then I'm going to scream.

01:29:58.226 --> 01:30:00.103
Oh, I see him.

01:30:03.731 --> 01:30:06.109
I've always wanted to be
a professional football player.

01:30:06.776 --> 01:30:08.194
Since I was six years old.

01:30:09.570 --> 01:30:11.406
Stop, man!

01:30:11.406 --> 01:30:13.783
We've moved to an area
where schools are better.

01:30:14.075 --> 01:30:18.329
More players go to the NFL out of these schools around here
than a lot of the other Fresno area schools.

01:30:21.666 --> 01:30:23.376
It's a reachable goal.

01:30:23.501 --> 01:30:25.586
I’m not saying it's going to happen but it's a reachable goal.

01:30:25.753 --> 01:30:29.215
I just want to hurry up and go to college
and then hurry up, go to the pros,

01:30:29.215 --> 01:30:32.677
and then my life, I don't have to worry
about nothing.

01:30:33.428 --> 01:30:35.096
I already know what my dream is.

01:30:37.682 --> 01:30:40.101
You take all the barriers
to getting him in the classroom.

01:30:40.309 --> 01:30:41.644
He's got to choose to focus.

01:30:41.644 --> 01:30:45.231
He's got to choose to try in his schoolwork,

01:30:45.398 --> 01:30:48.734
he's the one that has to care
ultimately for anything to come of it.

01:30:48.734 --> 01:30:52.572
So, it was that, finding a hook and that was

01:30:52.613 --> 01:30:55.741
I mean, that was where I say
Justin and I are very similar.

01:30:55.741 --> 01:30:57.660
I knew, get him on the football team.

01:30:57.660 --> 01:30:59.704
In Richard's words, get him to one practice.

01:31:00.913 --> 01:31:02.665
He latched on to one of his coaches
and that was it.

01:31:20.141 --> 01:31:22.351
This project was already underway.

01:31:22.351 --> 01:31:23.644
Money was already spent.

01:31:23.644 --> 01:31:25.980
How much are taxpayers on the hook for?

01:31:25.980 --> 01:31:26.606
All of it.

01:31:26.606 --> 01:31:29.233
Could this really end up
being a train to nowhere?

01:31:29.233 --> 01:31:31.569
You know, this foundational segment
really is

01:31:31.569 --> 01:31:34.322
basically going to run
from Fresno to Bakersfield.

01:31:34.780 --> 01:31:37.700
So now they did this
in order to get the cost down.

01:31:37.700 --> 01:31:41.787
It keeps getting, pretty soon
it'll be like a mile long. OK.

01:31:55.343 --> 01:31:59.222
New toilet, new shower, new walls, new tile.

01:32:00.389 --> 01:32:01.891
I enjoy this work.

01:32:02.266 --> 01:32:03.351
This is all the demo.

01:32:03.351 --> 01:32:05.686
This is all that came out of the bathroom,
the kitchen.

01:32:06.812 --> 01:32:08.523
It's $10 under the table.

01:32:08.523 --> 01:32:10.900
40 hours a week, give me $400 a week.

01:32:10.900 --> 01:32:12.693
I've been making $1,600 a month.

01:32:12.693 --> 01:32:15.071
That's pretty good from before, living out there in the motels.

01:32:15.196 --> 01:32:17.281
$1,600.  Tax free, of course.

01:32:17.281 --> 01:32:18.407
No child support, you know.

01:32:22.411 --> 01:32:24.288
How long have you been clean?

01:32:25.081 --> 01:32:26.916
About three weeks now.

01:32:26.916 --> 01:32:27.792
This time.

01:32:28.459 --> 01:32:31.712
You know, there's no urge, no urge to do nothing, man.

01:32:32.713 --> 01:32:33.548
No urge, man.

01:32:33.548 --> 01:32:35.633
No alcohol. No weed, no nothing man.

01:32:35.716 --> 01:32:38.010
No nothin’.  I'm addicted to that money.

01:32:39.387 --> 01:32:41.764
You're rude man, why you always gotta touch people?

01:32:41.806 --> 01:32:43.599
Look at him.

01:32:44.100 --> 01:32:46.519
I was supposed to go to seventh grade
on the West Side,

01:32:46.519 --> 01:32:50.106
and my parents didn't want me to go there
because they were afraid I was going to get bullied.

01:32:50.106 --> 01:32:52.358
So they kept me out that year.

01:32:52.650 --> 01:32:54.902
I was on home school
until the WiFi was gone.

01:32:55.486 --> 01:32:59.115
And then once the WiFi was gone, I just
missed that year and did seventh grade the year after.

01:33:01.200 --> 01:33:02.285
We got homework.

01:33:05.162 --> 01:33:05.913
From computer class.

01:33:06.872 --> 01:33:08.583
You ate it all?

01:33:10.751 --> 01:33:12.461
I'll get you another one when I go back.

01:33:16.048 --> 01:33:18.634
I had to fight with his parents
to get him back in school.

01:33:19.010 --> 01:33:21.512
It was 2016.  That whole summer

01:33:21.512 --> 01:33:23.889
he kept telling me about how excited
he was for high school.

01:33:24.682 --> 01:33:26.767
We talked more about the school
and it would get vague,

01:33:27.643 --> 01:33:30.104
and the more I pull, the more I pull,
finally he just drops it.

01:33:30.104 --> 01:33:32.148
He's like,
I didn't really go to the eighth grade.

01:33:32.148 --> 01:33:34.358
How does it feel to be back?

01:33:34.442 --> 01:33:36.652
It's hard. I'm getting F's.

01:33:36.652 --> 01:33:38.070
You're not doing so good.

01:33:38.362 --> 01:33:39.614
No I'm not.

01:33:41.532 --> 01:33:44.243
Take it more serious, man.

01:33:44.952 --> 01:33:47.872
I'm not used to middle school.  Not yet.

01:33:49.707 --> 01:33:51.667
I'm supposed to be in eighth grade. That's why.

01:34:03.346 --> 01:34:06.098
There's always a little bit of a lull right after lunch.

01:34:14.482 --> 01:34:16.275
I've got to make $68

01:34:16.275 --> 01:34:19.695
or $70 if you will, to pay for my motel room tonight.

01:34:21.781 --> 01:34:23.407
Thank you very much.

01:34:23.783 --> 01:34:25.618
You guys have a good day.  God bless.

01:34:44.095 --> 01:34:45.304
I have $17

01:34:45.304 --> 01:34:48.307
left to my name
and I've tried to use that money

01:34:48.307 --> 01:34:53.854
so sparingly and so wisely.
I made it last me basically a week.

01:34:55.147 --> 01:34:57.191
Miss Marley.

01:34:59.151 --> 01:35:00.236
You tell him Marley,

01:35:00.236 --> 01:35:01.904
slap him harder!

01:35:05.491 --> 01:35:08.244
Guilty conscience, huh?

01:35:10.705 --> 01:35:13.624
A motel room is not home.

01:35:14.750 --> 01:35:17.586
It is a place for you to lay down at night

01:35:17.586 --> 01:35:20.047
and be reasonably safe.

01:35:20.047 --> 01:35:22.383
That's all it is.

01:35:23.592 --> 01:35:25.261
But I'm not gonna give up.

01:35:31.434 --> 01:35:32.059
Hi baby.

01:35:32.059 --> 01:35:33.269
What's wrong mommy?

01:35:37.022 --> 01:35:38.733
You hungry? You got food over there!

01:35:38.733 --> 01:35:41.193
You want people food all the time.

01:35:42.486 --> 01:35:44.363
They never gave us a rental agreement.

01:35:44.363 --> 01:35:47.366
They tried to evict us off the property,
but they couldn't

01:35:47.366 --> 01:35:48.492
evict us from the trailer.

01:35:48.492 --> 01:35:51.078
But we had to remove our trailer,
so I end up selling it.

01:35:51.245 --> 01:35:51.996
Fifteen grand.

01:35:54.248 --> 01:35:56.876
The motel got tore down.  My trailer got sold.

01:35:57.168 --> 01:35:58.919
So, like, a part of me is missing.

01:35:58.919 --> 01:36:01.088
Now I'm in a motel again.

01:36:01.380 --> 01:36:04.300
You know, and I don't think
they'll pay us a second time.

01:36:04.300 --> 01:36:05.468
I know they won't as a matter of fact.

01:36:05.468 --> 01:36:08.345
So...we're here now.

01:36:09.680 --> 01:36:12.224
Justin, how do you feel about the move?

01:36:12.975 --> 01:36:14.643
I mean, it's pretty all right.

01:36:14.643 --> 01:36:16.020
I'm used to it.

01:36:16.479 --> 01:36:19.148
Moving a lot.  Moving schools.

01:36:20.274 --> 01:36:21.317
It's all good.

01:36:21.901 --> 01:36:24.945
I moved from...
I was at Hamilton for kindergarten,

01:36:24.945 --> 01:36:26.822
which is where I'm at right now.

01:36:26.822 --> 01:36:31.076
And I went to Wilson for first grade,
Keaton for second and Powell for third.

01:36:32.703 --> 01:36:34.830
Adams for fourth, fifth and sixth.

01:36:34.830 --> 01:36:38.542
And then when I graduated Adams,
I was in home school.

01:36:38.751 --> 01:36:42.213
And then last year
I was in Kastner, this year I'm at Hamilton.

01:36:42.254 --> 01:36:43.839
Next year
I'm going to be at Bullard.

01:36:43.964 --> 01:36:45.549
Hopefully.

01:36:45.966 --> 01:36:48.302
Probably
the most common thing that we hear

01:36:48.302 --> 01:36:52.223
is this alienation or this separation
from their peers.

01:36:53.891 --> 01:36:56.185
Most often they are happy

01:36:56.185 --> 01:36:59.146
and get to experience
life on one level at school.

01:36:59.688 --> 01:37:02.900
Being a child
and being filled with joy and laughter.

01:37:02.900 --> 01:37:04.151
And then when their friends are asking

01:37:04.151 --> 01:37:06.278
like,
hey, can I go to your house after school?

01:37:06.278 --> 01:37:08.697
It's almost this like very real shut off.

01:37:12.243 --> 01:37:14.620
I never really had friends growing up.

01:37:14.787 --> 01:37:17.081
My friends were video games.

01:37:18.249 --> 01:37:20.876
My parents were always hustling,
trying to get the room money.

01:37:21.418 --> 01:37:23.128
She says I'm not paying you.

01:37:23.128 --> 01:37:25.756
Now we've gone to October and I haven't seen none of my money.

01:37:26.507 --> 01:37:29.718
So I got closer to myself
than I got with anyone else.

01:37:41.272 --> 01:37:43.148
...and let's just get the water to drain out.

01:37:45.693 --> 01:37:47.736
Around here in this area,

01:37:47.736 --> 01:37:50.281
a lot of them smoke meth.

01:37:50.281 --> 01:37:52.741
(Groans).

01:37:52.741 --> 01:37:55.202
But a lot of them also inject meth as well.

01:37:57.329 --> 01:37:58.914
We'll see infections

01:37:58.914 --> 01:38:00.791
and we'll treat this all day long.

01:38:03.752 --> 01:38:05.212
And what has to happen,

01:38:05.212 --> 01:38:07.172
it needs to be released.

01:38:07.172 --> 01:38:08.883
It needs to be drained.

01:38:08.883 --> 01:38:10.092
Now, it happens three ways.

01:38:10.092 --> 01:38:14.430
One spontaneously on its own,
it bursts and you know, like it drains.

01:38:14.555 --> 01:38:17.641
The other is that they come here
and they get it incised

01:38:17.641 --> 01:38:20.519
and drained and irrigated out.

01:38:20.644 --> 01:38:26.191
The third way is that it bursts,
but it bursts inside the body.

01:38:26.859 --> 01:38:28.861
That kills people.

01:38:31.155 --> 01:38:33.657
Is that too tight?
No, that's fine.

01:38:35.034 --> 01:38:37.119
The good medicine would be

01:38:37.369 --> 01:38:40.289
get this into the lobby
of the local health department.

01:38:41.624 --> 01:38:43.626
We're all involved in this together.

01:38:44.919 --> 01:38:46.712
We care about everyone in our community

01:38:46.712 --> 01:38:50.549
and not just have a caste system of people
we write off.

01:38:50.799 --> 01:38:53.719
No, we don't write off our brothers,
our sisters, our sons,

01:38:53.719 --> 01:38:57.264
our daughters,
you know, our uncles, our aunts.

01:38:57.264 --> 01:38:58.599
We don't write them off.

01:38:58.599 --> 01:38:59.433
It's our problem.

01:38:59.433 --> 01:39:01.101
We need to treat them.

01:39:17.493 --> 01:39:20.329
When we were staying on Parkway,
it was hard not knowing

01:39:20.329 --> 01:39:22.081
where we were going to stay at night.

01:39:23.248 --> 01:39:25.960
How I look at it is,
if something's hard, never give up.

01:39:26.669 --> 01:39:27.836
Keep going.

01:39:32.675 --> 01:39:34.593
You see her? She opened the door.

01:39:34.843 --> 01:39:36.679
She did it all by herself.

01:39:39.181 --> 01:39:41.433
Little speaker. I found it last night.

01:39:41.725 --> 01:39:44.979
You know that's what I tell my wife.  We need to save money. Build 401k's.

01:39:45.938 --> 01:39:49.191
We need to save money. Tell this guy, he doesn't understand that. I know he wants to.

01:39:49.233 --> 01:39:49.858
He's young,

01:39:51.276 --> 01:39:53.112
but we got to save money.

01:39:53.153 --> 01:39:54.321
What are you talking about?
You!

01:39:54.488 --> 01:39:57.116
Do something around here. Help us keep the house clean and picked up and shit, man.

01:39:57.157 --> 01:39:58.534
So I don't have to do that shit.

01:39:58.534 --> 01:39:59.994
And your mom don't have to do that, and I can go make money.

01:39:59.994 --> 01:40:01.870
I'd be out making money with your mom right now.

01:40:01.912 --> 01:40:02.830
As I'm doing here.

01:40:02.830 --> 01:40:04.206
You're too busy talking.

01:40:06.208 --> 01:40:06.750
Man.

01:40:06.792 --> 01:40:08.002
Do you ever understand?

01:40:10.129 --> 01:40:12.131
We don't starve, but there's days
we're hungry.

01:40:12.131 --> 01:40:13.048
There's days we're hungry.

01:40:13.048 --> 01:40:15.467
But even when you got food stamps
and everybody in America knows this -

01:40:16.260 --> 01:40:18.429
at the end of the month, everybody's hungry.

01:40:26.645 --> 01:40:30.065
I do not need your help.

01:40:33.736 --> 01:40:36.864
Starting when my wife passed away and the city towed my RV.

01:40:37.823 --> 01:40:39.908
It's been interesting.

01:40:42.244 --> 01:40:45.122
Well, so can I ask again
why that is and what happened?

01:40:48.792 --> 01:40:51.920
They sent me to prison for ten years for child molestation.

01:40:54.214 --> 01:40:59.762
Megan’s Law come into effect.  I have to register every year
on my birthday.

01:41:00.846 --> 01:41:03.223
Every time I move

01:41:03.390 --> 01:41:05.476
and if I become homeless,

01:41:06.226 --> 01:41:08.312
I have to register every 30 days.

01:41:09.271 --> 01:41:12.191
Just so they know where the hell I'm at.

01:41:14.943 --> 01:41:18.906
The gift that keeps on giving,
whether you want it to or not.

01:41:40.552 --> 01:41:44.848
We hear of people dying of abscesses all the time, young people.

01:41:46.683 --> 01:41:48.769
And if it does get to that point,
how does it kill them?

01:41:49.812 --> 01:41:51.188
They get septic.

01:41:51.188 --> 01:41:53.023
They go into septic shock.

01:42:17.589 --> 01:42:20.342
You know, I was fighting my addiction,
and when I woke up that day,

01:42:20.342 --> 01:42:24.179
I thought I was just dope sick,
basically.  I was drained.

01:42:24.179 --> 01:42:24.972
I just didn't feel good.

01:42:24.972 --> 01:42:27.099
I wasn't feeling myself.

01:42:27.307 --> 01:42:28.559
I just wanted to sleep all day.

01:42:29.935 --> 01:42:32.312
I remember they opened the door
and the stretcher coming out

01:42:32.646 --> 01:42:35.149
and the wheels coming down
and all these people in white suits

01:42:35.149 --> 01:42:37.359
and blue, you know, blue gowns
and stuff were all around me.

01:42:37.359 --> 01:42:38.694
And they just rushed me into

01:42:38.694 --> 01:42:41.071
an emergency room and I didn't have a clue
what was going on.

01:42:42.906 --> 01:42:43.949
They didn't think he'd make it.

01:42:43.949 --> 01:42:45.993
They had us go get his mom and our son.

01:42:47.619 --> 01:42:51.331
After that, I just sat down there with him
until he came to.

01:42:52.124 --> 01:42:53.876
I didn't understand that I was close to death at that time.

01:42:53.876 --> 01:42:55.836
I didn't understand what was happening.

01:42:57.212 --> 01:42:59.590
The abscesses and cellulitis,

01:42:59.590 --> 01:43:02.676
at first I thought
it was only because of the dirty needles.

01:43:03.218 --> 01:43:06.471
But I've come to the conclusion
the majority is from the cutter.

01:43:07.264 --> 01:43:09.349
When they buy from their connection,

01:43:09.474 --> 01:43:11.935
their connection cuts their drug.

01:43:12.519 --> 01:43:17.107
When their connection buys
from their distributor, they cut the drug.

01:43:17.274 --> 01:43:20.903
So everyone in that distribution
system cuts the drug.

01:43:21.069 --> 01:43:24.448
And I don't think any of them
have been to pharmacology school.

01:43:24.948 --> 01:43:26.992
As far as they know,
because they did a toxicology on me

01:43:26.992 --> 01:43:29.745
and there was, they found radiator fluid,
Black Flag, Drano.

01:43:29.745 --> 01:43:33.916
They found all this stuff in my blood, but
not so much meth, you know what I mean?

01:43:33.916 --> 01:43:35.626
It was the chemicals they were using to make the dope.

01:43:35.918 --> 01:43:39.421
And so I spent 30 days at one hospital
and transferred over to the other hospital

01:43:40.088 --> 01:43:43.717
where they did my surgeries
and I had six surgeries in three weeks.

01:43:44.760 --> 01:43:46.094
I went back to Parkway,

01:43:46.136 --> 01:43:48.680
back to the motels when I was released
from the hospital, scared

01:43:48.805 --> 01:43:52.476
because I had no hands and feet
and I'm back where I came from.

01:43:53.477 --> 01:43:56.355
It's like they pick me up off Parkway
took me here took my hands and feet

01:43:56.355 --> 01:43:58.774
and then put me back on Parkway
to fend for myself.

01:43:59.650 --> 01:44:00.859
No handyman work.

01:44:00.859 --> 01:44:03.111
My wife couldn't do the motels
because she has to take care of me.

01:44:03.111 --> 01:44:06.615
And, you know, basically in my mind
I'm thinking this is it.

01:44:06.615 --> 01:44:08.075
I don't know what's going to happen.

01:44:08.408 --> 01:44:14.248
35 years I've been a drug addict, you know, and for the last, off
and on for the last ten years

01:44:14.248 --> 01:44:18.377
of my son's life, I was paying
for motel rooms and paying for addiction

01:44:18.377 --> 01:44:19.920
and trying to get food.

01:44:19.920 --> 01:44:22.506
And now, like I said, you
put me back out here with no money

01:44:22.506 --> 01:44:24.383
and say, OK, take care of your family.

01:44:24.841 --> 01:44:27.302
We held the sign on the corner
just to make sure we had money.

01:44:27.302 --> 01:44:30.055
We would be able to
pay like two weeks in advance

01:44:31.265 --> 01:44:32.099
for the motel room.

01:44:32.099 --> 01:44:35.644
So we didn't have to worry
about that no more until we got paid.

01:44:35.644 --> 01:44:39.898
And then when we started getting paid then
we knew we were going to be OK.

01:44:40.440 --> 01:44:43.986
And I got our apartment with the back pay
that I got from In Home Supportive Services.

01:44:44.528 --> 01:44:47.364
I'm proud of where
I've come in a short time.

01:44:48.365 --> 01:44:50.701
You know, of course I had to lose my limbs.

01:44:52.202 --> 01:44:55.080
But would I change it for anything?  No.

01:44:56.039 --> 01:44:58.292
I co-band forks or spoons.

01:44:58.292 --> 01:45:00.711
Whatever he needs on his arm
so he could eat himself.

01:45:01.586 --> 01:45:04.589
If she wasn't there,
I would be probably in a nursing facility.

01:45:05.048 --> 01:45:06.758
I looked at her, I says, you know,

01:45:06.758 --> 01:45:09.303
if I didn't love you before,
I really love you now.

01:45:10.178 --> 01:45:11.346
I'm saying that from the heart.

01:45:11.346 --> 01:45:14.558
I sincerely mean that
because she took care of me.

01:45:15.726 --> 01:45:16.935
I love our life now.

01:45:19.187 --> 01:45:20.981
I don't have to worry about money anymore.

01:45:20.981 --> 01:45:23.025
I don't have to worry about a place
to live anymore.

01:45:23.025 --> 01:45:25.235
Because I pay my rent
every month on the first.

01:45:26.320 --> 01:45:28.822
When you live in a certain place
for so long,

01:45:28.822 --> 01:45:32.701
you live in darkness and violence
and all that stuff that comes with it.

01:45:34.369 --> 01:45:35.662
We don't fight like we used to.

01:45:35.662 --> 01:45:36.496
Nothing.

01:45:37.748 --> 01:45:39.666
And why do you think that is, there's less conflict?

01:45:39.666 --> 01:45:40.584
Drugs.

01:45:40.834 --> 01:45:42.794
I have more than one domestic violence.

01:45:42.794 --> 01:45:43.962
I'm not proud of it.

01:45:43.962 --> 01:45:44.546
It's facts.

01:45:44.546 --> 01:45:46.673
I've got like six or seven of them things.

01:45:47.090 --> 01:45:48.592
I was a drug addict before I was a parent.

01:45:48.592 --> 01:45:52.137
I got a daughter, who's 33
and I don't see her.

01:45:52.596 --> 01:45:54.056
I haven't seen her since she was five.

01:45:55.057 --> 01:45:57.476
I just you know, my shame and regret is that

01:45:58.185 --> 01:46:01.313
I wasn't the 100?d I should have been or could have been.

01:46:02.647 --> 01:46:04.941
When I was in my addiction I was there.

01:46:04.941 --> 01:46:06.485
But I wasn't there.

01:46:06.485 --> 01:46:08.820
That emotional connection
that needed to be there, that was missing.

01:46:09.738 --> 01:46:12.157
You know, I regret
that you can't get that stuff back.

01:46:12.908 --> 01:46:14.701
It was probably really emotional
because he didn't

01:46:14.701 --> 01:46:16.953
have either one of his parents there
for two months.

01:46:17.621 --> 01:46:20.082
At one point in time with the church,
he had a gathering

01:46:20.082 --> 01:46:22.834
and he told someone he felt like
wanted to kill himself

01:46:23.251 --> 01:46:28.840
because he was just under so much stress
and hurt and didn't know,

01:46:29.841 --> 01:46:32.844
you know,
if his dad was going to make it or not.

01:46:33.136 --> 01:46:36.223
At that time when you went to the hospital
what was going through your mind?

01:46:36.598 --> 01:46:38.475
I really didn't know what was going on.

01:46:38.934 --> 01:46:40.310
I was just a kid.

01:46:40.310 --> 01:46:41.353
I didn't know what was going on.

01:46:42.396 --> 01:46:43.980
I was afraid that I was going to lose my dad.

01:46:43.980 --> 01:46:46.108
But here he is now,

01:46:47.859 --> 01:46:50.153
almost three years later.

01:46:53.323 --> 01:46:54.574
Were you scared?

01:46:55.575 --> 01:46:57.619
Mmmmm. Not really.

01:46:59.871 --> 01:47:01.164
I was, but I wasn't.

01:47:02.499 --> 01:47:04.126
I was scared that my dad was going to die.

01:47:04.126 --> 01:47:07.170
But then I was like, my dad's not
going to go out without a fight, either way.

01:47:09.047 --> 01:47:11.383
Whether he comes out fighting

01:47:11.383 --> 01:47:16.346
or if he just goes...goes out fighting.  He's going to fight

01:47:17.764 --> 01:47:20.016
for his life either way...

01:47:20.517 --> 01:47:21.935
And that's what happened.

01:47:25.147 --> 01:47:26.898
Please don't ask me anymore questions,

01:47:26.898 --> 01:47:28.024
about that.

01:47:28.233 --> 01:47:31.987
It kind of just makes me upset.

01:47:33.697 --> 01:47:34.322
Please.

01:47:36.032 --> 01:47:36.950
Of course.

01:48:06.146 --> 01:48:08.940
My colleagues and I have heard you loud and clear.

01:48:11.026 --> 01:48:12.903
You want a city that is safe,

01:48:14.112 --> 01:48:15.238
that is beautiful,

01:48:17.032 --> 01:48:20.577
that has quality streets, sidewalks, trails and parks.

01:48:22.871 --> 01:48:24.998
You want a city that has zero homeless.

01:48:28.502 --> 01:48:30.545
Working with local nonprofits,

01:48:30.545 --> 01:48:34.299
we are well on our way
to ending homelessness in our city.

01:48:36.635 --> 01:48:39.095
The question tonight is can Fresno be that city?

01:48:41.223 --> 01:48:44.100
And the answer is unequivocally yes.

01:48:44.643 --> 01:48:46.728
But only and only

01:48:46.937 --> 01:48:50.690
if we work together as One Fresno
can we make that happen.

01:49:01.076 --> 01:49:03.370
When I went into the office,

01:49:03.787 --> 01:49:06.748
I wanted to make sure that I was not

01:49:06.748 --> 01:49:09.459
a police chief trying to be the mayor.

01:49:10.126 --> 01:49:13.588
But that I was a mayor
who happened to have been a police chief.

01:49:14.256 --> 01:49:18.176
And when talking with people around
the city, was common to

01:49:18.176 --> 01:49:21.721
everyone was the homeless crisis
that we had in our city.

01:49:22.889 --> 01:49:26.977
23.5% of the people who live here are in poverty.

01:49:29.479 --> 01:49:32.607
We have one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.

01:49:32.607 --> 01:49:34.609
Generally within the top five.

01:49:34.859 --> 01:49:36.695
We're not proud of that fact.

01:49:36.695 --> 01:49:38.863
We've inherited
that over a period of years.

01:49:39.573 --> 01:49:42.075
But the fallout of that is children.

01:49:43.118 --> 01:49:46.621
Children who suffer because their parents
don't make enough money

01:49:46.621 --> 01:49:49.374
to be able to provide them
with the necessities that they need.

01:49:50.166 --> 01:49:52.460
They end up growing up with poor health,

01:49:52.836 --> 01:49:55.171
not having a sufficient education.

01:49:55.505 --> 01:49:59.551
And we have this cycle of poverty
that has occurred in Fresno.

01:50:00.594 --> 01:50:03.805
The long term goal for Motel
Drive is to take those motels

01:50:04.055 --> 01:50:07.350
and to convert them into long
term housing.

01:50:08.727 --> 01:50:10.895
We have developed
what's called our heart team.

01:50:11.771 --> 01:50:14.691
Eighteen outreach workers,
our police department,

01:50:14.691 --> 01:50:17.944
our code enforcement,
making contact, offering services

01:50:18.903 --> 01:50:22.741
and we're going to continue to do that
until, quite frankly,

01:50:22.741 --> 01:50:26.536
we eliminate the homeless population
in Fresno which is very doable.

01:51:01.655 --> 01:51:05.033
My main concern is to see him do the
things that me and Jason didn't do

01:51:06.618 --> 01:51:07.952
because we chose the wrong path.

01:51:07.952 --> 01:51:08.703
You know?

01:51:09.829 --> 01:51:11.581
I'm just grateful
my son is going to have the,

01:51:11.581 --> 01:51:14.876
probably the best
Christmas he's ever had this year.

01:51:17.253 --> 01:51:20.382
I really just want to see him succeed
more than anything.

01:51:20.548 --> 01:51:23.885
And that's my goal is to make sure
my son does what I didn't do.

01:51:31.518 --> 01:51:34.270
The sun came up on my darkness.

01:51:34.270 --> 01:51:35.438
The day that this happened to me,

01:51:35.438 --> 01:51:37.148
the sun came up on my darkness.

01:51:37.148 --> 01:51:39.609
And when this is all said and done, I'm like,
I'm happy.

01:51:39.859 --> 01:51:43.405
My life is bright. The sun's shining.
I've got a house now.

01:51:44.280 --> 01:51:45.699
My next goal is to buy a house.

01:51:47.117 --> 01:51:52.080
It might be a two bedroom house, it might be a one
bedroom house, but I'm buying my own spot

01:51:52.330 --> 01:51:54.624
so that I can get old
and pass away in my own spot.

01:51:55.709 --> 01:51:57.210
That's my ultimate goal.

01:51:57.210 --> 01:51:57.877
I mean,

01:51:58.837 --> 01:52:01.965
you know, some people go for that career,
which would better themselves.

01:52:01.965 --> 01:52:03.133
I can't get the career.

01:52:03.133 --> 01:52:05.051
I'll just go for the house.

01:52:05.343 --> 01:52:07.095
I got the car, I got the family.

01:52:07.303 --> 01:52:09.222
I got the money a little bit, you know?

01:52:09.222 --> 01:52:12.517
And so my goal, like I said, my goal
now is just to buy a house

01:52:12.517 --> 01:52:14.519
and then, my life will be complete.

01:52:15.478 --> 01:52:16.271
You know.

01:52:17.522 --> 01:52:19.941
I'm at that point in my life
now, I just turned 50.

01:52:21.568 --> 01:52:23.653
There's goals I have set.

01:52:25.488 --> 01:52:28.742
They're reachable, they're obtainable.
But they weren't before, you know?

01:52:28.742 --> 01:52:29.659
So you got to run with it.

01:52:29.659 --> 01:52:33.413
You got to like I say, you got to run
to that light. I'm running with it.

01:52:48.219 --> 01:52:50.221
You spent a lot of time over here
at The Holiday, though, right?

01:52:50.221 --> 01:52:53.224
I lived there for about five years.

01:52:53.224 --> 01:52:53.933
Four years.

01:52:53.933 --> 01:52:56.227
Did it come all the way from Golden State
over to the street?

01:52:56.603 --> 01:53:01.107
I tell kids, go get an education
and not take the wrong path,

01:53:01.107 --> 01:53:04.152
go with the wrong crowd
and do the drugs and drop out and all that.

01:53:04.319 --> 01:53:06.362
I tell kids that.

01:53:06.529 --> 01:53:10.784
Because, really, I don't want to see anyone, them,
to end up like all the homeless people.

01:53:11.868 --> 01:53:15.538
Is it easier now that you're in the house
than it was when you were in the motels?

01:53:16.456 --> 01:53:17.290
I like my house.

01:53:17.290 --> 01:53:19.375
I like it better than motels, to be honest.

01:53:20.543 --> 01:53:22.045
But I mean, it's all the same.

01:53:22.045 --> 01:53:23.379
It's still a roof over my head.

01:53:24.297 --> 01:53:27.175
If you had to describe Parkway to a kid
who was about to come live out here,

01:53:27.509 --> 01:53:29.093
what would you tell them?
Don't.

01:53:29.093 --> 01:53:30.220
So why not?

01:53:30.220 --> 01:53:32.514
Too many drugs, too many prostitutes.

01:53:32.889 --> 01:53:35.517
And it's just not the right lifestyle for a kid.

01:53:41.815 --> 01:53:44.234
To dedicate
time to our youth is one thing.

01:53:44.400 --> 01:53:47.278
But to show up
consistently and demonstrate to kids

01:53:47.278 --> 01:53:50.281
that you care is what a true
youth leader does.

01:53:50.615 --> 01:53:53.034
Through his organization,
Live Again Fresno,

01:53:53.368 --> 01:53:56.496
Richard has made it his mission
to provide an environment

01:53:56.496 --> 01:54:00.542
where kids can be kids
without worrying about their surroundings.

01:54:00.875 --> 01:54:03.253
We appreciate you, Richard.

01:54:05.213 --> 01:54:08.341
Live Again Fresno is the only escape for these kids.

01:54:09.509 --> 01:54:13.096
So what he provides to them is
meaningful, is lasting,

01:54:14.013 --> 01:54:16.140
is transformational.

01:54:16.140 --> 01:54:20.019
And so we're going to continue
to do more and more for Live Again Fresno.

01:54:23.857 --> 01:54:27.026
I believe that we all have this very core
thing about us that we want to know

01:54:27.026 --> 01:54:28.570
and that we want to be known.

01:54:28.570 --> 01:54:31.656
The culture in this community
does not oftentimes

01:54:31.656 --> 01:54:34.200
allow for that, especially
for the young men who live here.

01:54:34.951 --> 01:54:37.328
We are cut off from outside influences.

01:54:37.328 --> 01:54:40.623
We are cut off
from intimacy and vulnerability.

01:54:40.832 --> 01:54:44.627
We are cut off from the things
that most often make us healthy

01:54:44.627 --> 01:54:47.297
and vibrant, joyful human beings.

01:54:49.173 --> 01:54:50.884
Richard’s a cool dude.

01:54:51.509 --> 01:54:55.013
If I was to have someone mentor me,
it’d be him.

01:54:56.389 --> 01:54:59.726
The lack of fathers,
the lack of emotionally available men

01:55:00.184 --> 01:55:04.230
is what creates pathways
for many of the young people who live

01:55:04.230 --> 01:55:08.443
in this neighborhood to get caught up
in sex-work, drugs and gang stuff.

01:55:15.158 --> 01:55:19.037
Yeah!

01:55:24.542 --> 01:55:26.586
Get an education, get a career.

01:55:27.295 --> 01:55:29.380
And so that's all I got to thank Richard for.

01:55:30.715 --> 01:55:32.300
For reminding me every day.

01:55:42.226 --> 01:55:44.312
I just kept that thought in the back of my head.

01:55:46.230 --> 01:55:48.733
Drilled inside my head to remember it.

01:55:57.533 --> 01:56:03.498
Graduates, it's my honor to introduce
ASB President, Justin Shaw.

01:56:09.712 --> 01:56:10.713
Good morning everyone.

01:56:10.713 --> 01:56:12.966
Wow, it feels great to be here.

01:56:12.966 --> 01:56:17.428
My name is Justin Shaw and I am the ASB
President at JE Young Academic Center.

01:56:17.971 --> 01:56:19.597
Like many of my classmates,

01:56:19.597 --> 01:56:22.558
I have faced great obstacles
to get to where I am today.

01:56:23.184 --> 01:56:27.689
There were times when I wanted to give up
on school, myself and graduating.

01:56:28.439 --> 01:56:32.151
When I came to JE Young,
that's when life changed for the better.

01:56:33.027 --> 01:56:37.240
I have enjoyed helping people and intend
to pursue a career in the medical field.

01:56:37.532 --> 01:56:41.119
However, it was the doctors
who saved my father's life,

01:56:42.453 --> 01:56:45.415
who provided the driving force
for me to pursue my dream.

01:56:46.207 --> 01:56:48.209
Finally, I would like to thank my parents.

01:56:48.835 --> 01:56:52.505
You have made me who I am today
and I will continue to make you proud.

01:56:52.588 --> 01:56:53.881
That is my promise to you.

01:56:54.173 --> 01:56:57.677
Congratulations to the class of 2021, we did it!

01:57:00.054 --> 01:57:06.352
I pronounce you, graduates of
JE Young High School Class of 2021!

01:57:10.606 --> 01:57:14.986
Please join me in switching your tassels.