Marge Cafarelli is nothing if not outspoken. But for a few moments this Tuesday morning, words would fail her.
In recent months, Cafarelli — a successful entrepreneur, developer and owner of the Public Market in downtown Santa Barbara — has been greeting the dawn by visiting homeless encampments (as they are invariably called) along the railroad paths and the city’s waterfront. Tuesday, it was Pershing Park, where Babe Ruth famously hit a home run while barnstorming his way through Santa Barbara back in 1927. There would be no Sultan of Swat, however, this morning — no echoes of his booming bat or his cheering crowds — as the sun’s warmth started to battle the early chill.
Along Pershing’s parking lot wall stretched a long line of tents, plastic tarps, brightly colored beach umbrellas, folding chairs, sleeping bags, and shopping carts, all crammed tightly and disjointedly together amid a cluster of old bicycles. Residents were beginning to stir, emerging from their tents. A woman with hair a color hovering between red and purple got out of the car where she’d been sleeping and began punching the air and swaying.