This is paradise?

UPDATE: ‘Homeless on loose ground after city evictions’  ran in the Nov. 9 edition of Vida en el Valle. View Vida’s photo gallery of the eviction’s here.

‘This is paradise, I’m tellin’ ya,’ read a framed movie poster, propped up on a chair outside of a tent on H Street, under the Highway 41 overpass. But when Mondo, a 26-year-old homeless man, emerged from the tent, his emotions betrayed the sentiment of the famous line from the 1983 movie ‘Scarface.’

“Apparently we are not allowed to live right here,” said Mondo, who wore a Fresno State Bulldogs hat and slippers. “They are kicking us all out – I don’t know why.”

As he spoke, the McLane High School graduate loaded up a shopping cart with his few possessions: clothes that are still in good shape, underwear, some hats, a couple blankets, and the recyclable copper he sells for spare change.

One hundred-some people – including Mondo – are being  forced out of their only homes this week as part of a City of Fresno effort to clear the downtown homeless encampments. City officials said the homeless would be connected with social services, but so far, Mondo had heard nothing.

“No housing, no nothing, no direction – nothing,” he said.

As we spoke a California Highway Patrol officer approached us, and informed Mondo he could store his valuables for up to 90 days. The officer offered Mondo a clear plastic bag for his possessions.

But Mondo said he was taking his important possessions with him to breakfast at the Poverello House, which began at 8:30 a.m.

 “I want to go make it for breakfast – I’m hungry,” Mondo said. “Come on Hudini, let’s go,” he said to a small, tan-colored dog that had taken up refuge in his tent. “Come on, loco.”

He began pushing his cart – piled high with his possessions, with the ‘Scarface’ poster teetering on top – down H Street. Then the poster fell off his cart, the glass shattering across the street.

Read more about the city’s efforts to clear out the homeless encampments in next week’s edition of Vida en el Valle. Photos by Daniel Cásarez.