FLETCHER ADDRESSES HOMELESSNESS, HELPING TRAUMATIZED YOUTHS, AND MORE IN Q&A SESSION WITH EAST COUNTY CHAMBER MEMBERS

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By Miriam Raftery

June 8, 2022 (El Cajon) -- Nathan Fletcher, Chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, fielded questions from East County Chamber of Commerce members during a “Dine and Dialogue” event June 2 at the Chamber’s El Cajon conference room.  Due to redistricting, Fletcher now represents parts of East County including La Mesa, Rancho San Diego and Spring Valley, so for many of his new constituents, this was their first opportunity to meet their new Supervisor.

John Dadian introduced Fletcher, a former veteran who served two combat tours and received a medal for valor under fire. He founded a nonprofit to help veterans overcome PTSD stigma. As an Assemblyman, Fletcher was “one of the most effective legislators,” Dadian noted, authoring bills including the landmark Chelsea’s Law aimed at protecting children from violent predators.  Fletcher teaches public service and political science at the University of California, San Diego and is raising five children with his wife, former Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez.  He’s also an iron  man triathlete who enjoys surfing, mountain climbing and glacier climbing in his spare time.

Fletcher, a Democrat, opened by noting the importance of working together with people of all parties, praising the professionalism of El Cajon Councilman Steve Goble whom he works with on the Metropolitan Transit Service board and Supervisor/former state legislator Joel Anderson, both Republicans.

“I don’t want a world where we all agree,” he said, adding that when agreement can be found, elected officials should respect each other’s integrity and work together.

During the question and answer session, Bonnie Baranoff, consulting program director with the East County Homeless Task Force, thanked Fletcher for county grants approved for emergency housing for homeless people; Fletcher responded with details on the County’s actions to address the region’s homeless crisis, which has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset.

“We’re now building more affordable housing and homeless shelters on county owned land,” Fletcher said. He recalled that when he ran for Supervisor, he criticized the County for sitting on millions of dollars in funds and “not spending enough on mental health and substance abuse,” noting that the rate of these is “incredibly high” among unhoused individuals yet there is still a stigma attached to seeking help. He wants to see mental health issues such as schizophrenia or depression given the same priority for treatment as someone with diabetes, high blood pressure or other serious health conditions.

“We’re ramping up to do our part,” he said, noting that the county under his leadership has launched mobile crisis response teams and crisis stabilization centers to help those with addiction or mental illness on the streets. He notes that the opioid crisis, which struck many middle-class families, has highlighted the need for a “harm reduction” approach to get addicts into treatment. “Most opioid deaths here are in East County and North County,” he noted.

The County is now partnering with local cities; under the arrangement, if a city can provide a location for a shelter, the County will provide services such as mental healthcare and substance abuse treatment.  The County will provide a $10 million grant --- “not a loan,” Fletcher emphasized, to help smaller cities implement things like safe parking and safe camping sites as “bridge shelters” to help homeless people transition into permanent housing later on.  Safe campsites will have showers, bathrooms, and services. He urged cities to apply, adding, “We want to get this money out the door fast.”

Fletcher also noted a dilemma. “Everyone says ‘deal with the homeless problem,” he notes, but adds that too many also say, “not here!” when a shelter or bridge shelter is proposed in their community.  “That’s like saying, `The leak is on your side of the boat,” he observed. 

A representative from Grossmont Center said her loss prevention team says that shoplifters, many of them with substance abuse and/or mental health problems, are all repeat offenders.

Fletcher said the problem is how to get such people into treatment. “We had a huge fight with the Sheriff (former Sheriff Bill Gore) trying to get inmates coming into county jails to get into treatment programs, including medication for addiction to substances such as heroin. Fletcher revealed that as a former college baseball player, he got addicted to snuff and after three major surgeries on his gums, he used nicotine lozenges to beat his addiction to snuff.

The County is now finally moving toward drug treatment for those in the criminal justice system.  “Paying to keep cycling people through jail is not fiscally responsible,” he noted. “We’re also now adding social services and rebuilding our jails to provides these things. Fletcher also supports needle exchange programs which all other major California cities have. Why? “It’s the most successful public health program to get people into treatment and lower the rate of hepatitis.”

Another questioner asked about why the state is spending so much money on a new voting process that includes mailed ballots to all voters and options for early voting, ballot drop-offs and vote centers that spread out the voting process over several weeks, and asked if this could open the door to voting fraud.

Fletcher said he believes democracy functions best when the most people can vote. He added that California has a “rigorous verification” process to match signatures and that any irregularities would be “aggressively investigated.”

A former collegiate athlete and high school coach who has been a leader in youth programs locally voiced concerns over school shootings.  She said she’s been threatened many times but says school staff doesn’t get enough training in how to deal with at-risk kids.  She wants to see more pay for child protective services staffers and more counselors in schools.

“This is why I care,” Fletcher said, then revealed that his biological father was a “monster” who was physically violent; his mother was a teenage Mom.  “When I think about those kids, I was one of them,” Fletcher said, adding that he is “very committed” to helping at-risk kids.  “You pay for trauma care early, or you pay for it later” when traumatized young people wind up incarcerated.  Childhood poverty is also traumatic, he noted.

Fletcher said when he came onto the Board of Supervisors, “our child welfare department was a mess.”  The board adopted all 88 recommendations made to reform the department, hiring on two more supervisors and more social workers, reducing caseloads, and more.  “If we need to remove a child from their home, that’s a damning  indictment of the county,” he said, adding that families need to be able to call and ask for help.

 “We are also rethinking probation.” When he first got elected Supervisor, he recalls, “I made unannounced visit – not just at juvenile hall.” He found the results horrifying.  “I’ve held high level al-Qaeda terrorists in less secure places,” he said. Since his surprise visits early in his tenure on the board, he says, the system has been revamped to include a new center as well as making visitations easier. “We want anyone who loves a kid to come visit often,” he said, citing coaches and pastors as examples of people who can help break the school-to-prison pipeline. 

He also wants to help children and teens access mental health services early if needed. He knows firsthand the importance of this through his own traumatic childhood and also through his mother, who now runs shelters for battered women and children.

The next questioner asked what can be done to prevent sexually violent predators from being placed in East County.

Fletcher said he’s been working with Supervisors Anderson and Jim Desmond on this issue, noting that “94% of our county actions have been bipartisan, adding that Fletcher was reelected chairman unanimously. 

He noted that placement of predators is a decision made by the state and by judges, not the county. But he assured those present, “I get it. I’ve got five kids. I understand we don’t’ want them [predators] in our neighborhoods. We’re working to see what we can do,” he said, noting that State Senator Brian Jones has a bill to address this issue. “In East County, we want to be able to weigh in on the front end. I support that,” he said.

He bristled when asked about a comment he made mentioning neo-Nazis that he said was taken out of context and mischaracterized.  “I’ve said that elements of those groups were tied to the recall effort (targeting Governor Gavin Newsom),” said Fletcher, “and what got reported was I said everyone involved in the recall is a Nazi. That’s not true. We had a city (Santee) vote 4-0 calling on me to resign for something I never said.”

Fletcher closed by emphasizing a need to avoid divisiveness and work together to solve problems. “I’ve been getting death threats at home, at my children’s school, and I woke up at home with an arson fire,” he said, clearly frustrated. “We’ve got to figure out how to passionately agree and disagree without that.”

 


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