About Lodi – FRIDAY, 1/17/25
“I can’t sleep. I’m exhausted. Tears without sound roll down to the tip of my nose,” says Phil Abrams, who lost everything in the Southern California wildfires. “Our home and everything in it, gone. Our little town, gone,” he says. He needs help, according to his sister, Lodi’s Jamie Howen. The most urgent need is housing, especially for his 28-year-old son Elijah, who is autistic and hyper-sensitive to change. “He wondered all day how he will continue without an anchor of a job (the market he worked at burnt to the ground), without a home filled with his precious items, without a way to cope with this new reality,” says Abrams. Jamie’s brother says he’s overwhelmed and scared. “I’m ashamed to admit that but I don’t know what else to do.” Normally there would be a support system of neighbors to help, but everyone’s in the same boat, he says. Abrams is looking to lease a house or apartment while things get sorted out. His major concern is brining stability to his son. But it won’t be easy. “Many other folks have been displaced so bidding wars are starting,” says Abrams. Jamie says her hometown of Altadena was also on fire, and that her sister-in-law in La Cresenta probably lost her home, too. A GoFundMe page was set up for Abrams (gofund.me/6d8ef9c5) and it has raised almost $40k so far.
CONSTRUCTION ZONE: The clock is ticking. Construction on the new homeless access center may begin as soon as next week, according to city PIO Nancy Sarieh. She says the contractor has been issued a permit to proceed, and they have 365 days to finish it. Bids were opened about a month ago and, to the relief of city officials, the winning bid was slightly under $10 million. The city was prepared to spend as much as $13 million. The new center will include offices, classrooms, a medical clinic, kitchen, and space enough to accommodate about 105 overnight guests at a time, which can be increased if needed. Even though all the construction money came from federal and state grants, there’s still concern about having enough money to operate it without dipping into the city’s general fund. No groundbreaking ceremony has yet been planned.
GOING UP: Water rates will be going
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