EL CAJON (KGTV) — El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells is set to deliver his State of the City address on Tuesday night, with many of the issues ABC 10News viewers have been sounding off about expected to be addressed.
ABC 10News has heard viewer concerns about the city. Nearly every comment we have seen online mentioned the homeless. So, we spoke with some people experiencing homelessness in El Cajon and many of them agreed that more needs to be done to help them get back on their feet so they can stay off the street for good.
When asked about residents not wanting to see homeless people in public spaces, one person experiencing homelessness said, "I don't want to see it either, so do something about it. Create, like, open up a building around here somewhere that's some sort of a rehabilitation center for people who actually want to get off the streets. I would have been there like as soon as I got on the streets. I would have been off the streets a long time ago doing something in society."
Another person noted, "People come from other cities that sell their drugs and stuff like that, and they take the money back with them."
Wells said the city has made huge strides in tackling this issue.
"We spend more on homeless per capita than any other city in the region; we got an award from the San Diego [County] Taxpayers Association for homeless services. We are doing everything we can," Wells said.
It's not the only topic likely to come up during Wells' address. The city also got some heat over the use of its automated license plate reader system.
When asked about records showing the city used license plate video to assist in federal immigration searches, Wells responded, "That's just completely outlandish and silly; everybody has been using these license plate readers for years now, but to just suddenly change the law midstream and say we don't like ICE now and change the law, it just doesn't work that way."
Last year, El Cajon approved a resolution basically setting themselves apart as the only non-sanctuary city in San Diego County. The mayor said he stands by this decision.
"When the federal government does what it does is just by basically enforcing the laws that were already on the books, they get treated as though they're criminals. I think that's wrong. I think that we have to follow the rule of law," Wells said.
The mayor will focus on the city's accomplishments, including a $68 million reserve while most cities are in a budget deficit, a fully staffed police department, and restoring Parkway Plaza to a safer place for families to hang out.
The State of the City address is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday , and I'll be following what the mayor says and how the community responds.
