No Site Security

Urban Alchemy marks when I go in and out. No visitors rule heavily enforced, even when there is a short list of son, daughter, and a single friend who can come in.

But on Sunday morning @ 2 am of 11.12.23 there were arrested made for two carloads of people inside the site. This is me asking about it as soon as the office opens Monday morning. Listen to how my case manager and the director make it sound like it’s something I need not worry my little head about.

However, alarmed by what I was told the previous day, I had emailed the local police (Bayview) and asked for witnesses to be interviewed. No response.

I was told (by neighbors) it was two carloads of kids with guns looking for somebody and a resident called 911, not the gate man.

There is no posted number of who to call to inform in event of an emergency.

No one from Urban Alchemy wears name tags.

***

Couple months earlier, Sept 4, 2023 to be exact, I saw a man suddenly park up next to where I park my car. He was in an elongated SUV and openly cleaning his stuff out and reorganizing. There is a section in back area, specifically for people who live in their cars (below).

I knew he was a friend of the staff, i.e. Urban Alchemy, because the manager at the time, Andrew, kept bringing him special food and toiletries, staying to chat. I could hear them discuss their career path at the company. It was unnerving, given that Urban Alchemy famously hires people coming from long stents in prison for serious crimes. This incident would be a natural consequence of that work environment.

He stayed three days, then was gone.

I would like to point out it’s been published in the newspaper (https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/homeless-women-survival-18303826.php) that no background checks are necessary for people coming into shelter.

So really, it didn’t matter to anyone but me who was this guy suddenly sleeping here then gone. An insider, obviously. Never more than two staff at night, sometimes only one, like 11.12.23 out here in the middle of nowhere, isolated, remote and with very little lighting, due to no electricity 🔌

8.31.22 The San Jose Police entered chasing someone who holes up in a trailer two doors down. No one cared about how these were our homes being shot at.