Editor,
There is an elderly Asian woman who sits out on Forest Avenue at night in a wheelchair. She seems clean and warmly dressed. She holds up a cardboard sign that says, “Please help!” People give her a lot of money.
She is dropped off by a well-dressed man in a Prius or Lexus, evidently her son, and left there for hours. We hear they live in Irvine. This has been going on for years.
Lately, we hear the woman is—well—somehow pooping on the sidewalk in front of the stores, or in the street there, and the shopkeepers have to clean it up.
So many things are wrong with this picture! Where does one start? Most importantly, is this elder abuse? It looks like it? Isn’t the city discouraging panhandlers? And I know the homeless treat the great outdoors like their personal restroom, but this lady apparently has a home equipped with indoor plumbing. Isn’t this a public health issue? How do we deal with this? Where do we start?
It seems ironic that the shop owners on Forest Avenue pay thousands and thousands of dollars in rent, yet this person gets a free space, nontaxable profits and an outhouse wherever she wishes, with no questions asked. I am asking the questions.
Chloe Persephone, Laguna Beach
LOL WHAT A SITE AN OLD LADY POOPING IN A WHEELCHAIR, AND THEN SOMEHOW DISCARDING THAT POOP NEXT TO HER AS SHE PANHANDLES. LMFAO
Chloe, I WILL give you some Honest answers
to your questions.
I AGREE with you that something is Very wrong with this situation, if the facts ARE as stated. This is he first I have heard of it, so I am going to base my answers on your words, and MY Ethics and Character.
From what I know of elder abuse( very little), it does seem like such a case, and as such, should be reported to the proper authorities if suspected. I have
seen the HOMELESS Meters for contributions
to discourage pan handling in town, and as
such, should have ordinances in place to discourage this. Again, contact the proper authorities, and voice your complaints to THEM.
I agree on your valid health and safety complaints regarding pooping on public property. I KNOW there are Health and Penal laws regarding this happening in public on public property, and the Store Owners Know who they should complain to; the same people who check the health and safety of their establishments.
So Chloe, YES, this is a public health issue. WE ( YOU, me, other citizens) are supposed to bring attention to the proper authorities for the various violations alleged, and then our Public Servants do their Public DUTY and investigate said allegations.
I hope this answers your questions, and I have stated what I would do. Sadly, all the good you stated was BETRAYED by your one sentence of BIGOTRY towards the HOMELESS, out of Nowhere.
You state early that you ” Hear they live in Irvine”, and she is dropped off by a man driving a Lexus, which again discredits her as being Homeless.
You later state:
” And I know the homeless treat the great outdoors like their personal restroom, but this lady apparently has a home equipped with indoor plumbing”
SOOO, this lady should be categorized as homeless( WHY else include this sentence) because she also poops on public property? Your DOG WHISTLE about”THE Homeless” liking to use the great outdoors as their “personal” restroom speaks volumes about you CHLOE!
Can you stand the truth? I can! Please reply if I have misstated any FACTS, not the fictions you use as facts.
Here’s a YouTube video from an encounter with her and her son in Irvine.
http://youtu.be/NQaB-T4iym8
This old woman has been parked on Forest Avenue for years. Her son drops her off close to sunset and picks her up after 10pm. He usually parks his newer model Prius by the library and wheels over to the area by Scandia and leaves her there to beg all night. In my opinion it IS elder abuse. The woman herself though is no lady. If you ask her why she’s doing it or tell her you won’t give her any money she will let loose some 4 letter words that would make a sailor blush. Do NOT give this woman money. Both mother and son should be banned from town.
WOW Eli,
Very surprised about your reaction to Chloe about a legit complaint.This lady has been parked out side of Heavenly Couture for YEARS> She is collecting money from tourists that don’t know the real situation. Her son drops her off and leaves her there til very late in the evening. Pooping on the sidewalk for the store owners to have to clean up. Maybe we should set her up in front of your house and see how you like it.
The UTUBE video should be enough to get the man arrested for dropping up his elderly mother to loiter and holding a sign which is fraudulent to mislead citizens into thinking she requires HELP. The old woman is not homeless. Her son knows enough about what he can get away with saying to give her a sign that does not ‘directly state’ she is homeless but instead reads “PLEASE HELP ME” but doesn’t say what type of “help” is needed. But she does know enough english to ask for money. He removes her dentures to make his mother appear more in need.
They live together in a nice home. Officer Jason Farris, 497-0366 of Laguna Police Department knows where they live, but LBPD does nothing to stop this continued loitering & fraud. Farris has said the mother claims she is doing this on her own free will and is not being forced.
When I pass the old woman I always tell her she is a FRAUD and should be ashamed of taking from those who are truly in need. I have stopped people from giving her money. Her son leaves her sitting in a wheelchair, loitering on the street. Did you see how violent her son becomes when asked questions in a calm manner. The son is exploiting his elderly mother.
After all, LOITERING is against the law and should be enforced in this case.
Thank You Chloe for opening up this conversation.
I’ve witnessed this lady for years sitting in front of
the Forest Ave. shops asking for money for her
bucket from passersby. At 1st I took pity on her.
I witnessed her well dressed son drop her off & get
her set up for the day. I have also witnessed her son
picking her up in his nice car….sometimes as late as
12 midnight or 1am when she was the only one on
the street & it was cold & windy out.
I thought she was crippled & wondered if she ate &
how she got to the bathroom or just used depends.
I felt she was being taken advantage of.
Concerned about elder abuse I called the police &
was told (summarizing) “seeing is not believing”.
They said they have intervened many times, have
questioned her & her son separately & she says she
is not being abused & wants to do this.
The police said they cannot do anything about it
because they never see her asking for money.
I am sure the shop keepers are witnesses.
They told me she & her son do not live here locally.
(I also believe it is Irvine).
That tells me it must be “worth his drive” to set her
up in Laguna Beach for the day.
One day I passed by & she asked me for money.
I refused & tried to talk to her about the situation.
She became very angry & as Skip H. said hurled some
4 letter words at me.
That was really nice to hear on the streets of Laguna
especially when there were family / children around.
I guess now I have my answer as to where she goes to
the bathroom. We have to clean up after our dogs,
bag it & put it in the trash.
This lady needs to do the same or be cited.
I had no idea she was also pandering in Irvine too.
Kudos to you Ryan H. for having the guts to stand up
to the son & video tape it.
His utterances make him sound like he is mentally ill…
being persecuted by Wells Fargo.
True this lady is not homeless but she is representing
herself as such.
And yes, Eli Grossman, the homeless DO use public
(& personal) property for their toilet.
My husband & I stood there 1 day while a homeless
man peed on the wheels of our car…no remorse.
Something is really going wrong here in Laguna.
I hear the concerns all the time from out of towners.
– this lady pandering…
– homeless scaring tourists & would be shoppers away.
– sleeping on the bench in front of the library…
– sleeping in the bushes & beach
There is a homeless lady pulling all the seat covers
off the wall & stuffing them down the public toilets
by the bus depot. I reported it to the city workers
who were there cleaning the restrooms & they just
shrugged their shoulders.
Who’s paying for loss of customers when this lady
poops in front of their stores?
Who’s paying for a car wash for their car?
Who’s paying for wasted seat covers?
Who’s paying for plumbers to unplug the toilets?
We know the answer to that.
Just shrugging your shoulders does not cut it.
The climate of Laguna has really changed & it is not
for the good……What can we do?
Her loving son passed me on El Toro in the Prius with professional beggar Mom in tow. I would say he was going about 80 mph. I got in front of him at a traffic light and he let loose a tirade how he was connected to a DA, proceeding to film me. Major crazy guy not to mention extremely nasty guy. Why doesn’t anyone stop this fraud?! Was personally somewhat shocked that I encountered him delivering his cash cow to downtown Laguna!
I, too, was upset when I saw the son dropping his mother off the other day. In fact, I gave him a lecture about how I thought what he was doing was elder abuse, and that it was sad to leave her out in the cold. Then my husband and I walked away, but we saw him again by the library, and we talked again. My husband was much less confrontational that I was, and he actually had a decent conversation with the son. Turns out he believes his mother lost her house to foreclosure and now they live with someone who lets them stay for free. Not sure how true the whole story was, but I realized after talking to him that the situation isn’t black and white. There’s culture, possible bad luck, possible parent/child roles that we don’t understand, possible mental problems, etc etc. So now I am on the fence about the whole thing.
Susan, don’t be fooled. This man should be followed by NEWS to his home and filmed.
All citizens should write to City Council and the New Police Chief~ Isn’t loitering illegal?