Modesto Bee article on Peoples' Bailout

Modesto group gives free aid in tough times
About one hundred plus people attended The People's Bailout assembly at Graceada Park, Saturday afternoon. Various attendees sort through donated clothes items.
By Tim Moran
tmoran [at] modbee.com

About 100 people lined up at noon Saturday in Graceada Park for free food, clothes and advice on home foreclosures.

The event was sponsored by Modesto Anarcho, a group that publishes a quarterly newsletter promoting "a stateless and classless society."

"We want a community space for people to get the things they need," said Doug Anderson of Modesto Anarcho. "Local charities and aid organizations are stretched to the max."

The group also wanted a forum where people could talk about issues such as home foreclosures, Anderson said. "We want community-bred solutions to the crises the valley finds itself in."

The event drew a minor skirmish with Modesto Parks, Recreation and Neighborhoods code enforcement officers, who asked the organizers to take down banners put up on Mancini Bowl, and threatened to shut the event down because the group did not have a license.

Rafael Rodriguez, a supervisor for Parks, Recreation and Neighborhoods' Neighborhood Preservation Unit, said the city didn't have a problem with the group passing out free food. But because the event was promoted with flyers tacked to phone poles, and advertised that a real estate agent would talk about foreclosures, it became "a community event" that needed to rent the park facilities, Rodriguez said.

Anderson argued that the foreclosure talk was protected under the state constitution as a political event.

After a brief debate over whether the foreclosure situation is a political issue, Rodriguez said that as long as the real estate agent, Ricardo Gil, was not trying to sell people anything, it was probably permissible without a city license.

"We aren't here to sell stuff. The signs everywhere say 'free,' " Anderson said.

Rodriguez commented that the group was cooperative in taking down the banners, and did have a nonprofit license.

Meanwhile, the people going through boxes of clothes, canned food and fresh fruit seemed pleased.

"I just moved into an apartment, and I ran out of everything," said Linda Davis of Modesto, who came with her daughter and granddaughter. "It helps out when you are single and on a fixed income. They even have dog food."

Helen Moody of Modesto said she was surprised by the low turnout.

"If they held it in the airport district, they would get a bigger turnout," she said.

Moody said she brought a lot of clothes to the event to donate, and was tempted to go home and bring more.

Pauline Black, a Modesto Junior College student, was involved in setting up the event.

"This is a perfect example of the need in the community," she said of the line of people waiting for food. "We are getting together as a community to help each other out. This is the largest foreclosure area in the nation, and people have nowhere else to go."

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran [at] modbee.com or 578-2349.