Couple evicted from treehouse in San Mateo County.

September 5, 2002 3:54 PM

Couple evicted from treehouse in San Mateo County. Despite the new law signed by California's Gov. Davis requiring a 60-day notice for evictions, Thelma and Besh are being given the old heave-ho. Actually, San Mateo County has had an eye on them for quite a while, but didn't make a move until they were sure that the couple's treehouse fell within county parks jurisdiction, rather than state jurisdiction.
posted by Lynsey (14 comments total)

Well I hope they at least get their security deposit back.
posted by Samsonov14 at 4:45 PM on September 5, 2002

You're evicted. We need to cut this tree down to prevent it from catching on fire.
posted by benjh at 5:10 PM on September 5, 2002

Despite the new law signed by California's Gov. Davis requiring a 60-day notice for evictions

Uhh... am I the only one that knows the difference between evicting renters, and kicking squatters off public land?

It was called a eviction notice, but really, it was a notice of inhabitability. Big difference.
posted by dirt at 5:18 PM on September 5, 2002

I dunno, did you look at the pictures? It looks like a mighty fine treehouse.
posted by animoller at 5:23 PM on September 5, 2002

From the photos, it doesn't look like a treehouse. It looks like a shelter next to a tree. I was expecting Swiss Family Robinson.

It is a very nice shelther/treehouse, though.
posted by jennak at 5:48 PM on September 5, 2002

I could've sworn I've seen this house somewhere on Dagobah. "My home, this is. Evict me, you will not!" He he he...

Seriously though, does this thing have an address? Is this thing actually considered as a building on paper? If not, how does that justify an eviction notice!? No no, these guys aren't residents. These guys are long-term loiterers who've adapted to their environment.
posted by freakystyley at 5:58 PM on September 5, 2002

am I the only one that knows the difference between evicting renters, and kicking squatters off public land?

Apparently they are be very liberal with all kinds of words:

On the ground are two Persian carpets, also rescued from a Dumpster.

Hmm... we call that garbage picking around these parts....
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 6:22 PM on September 5, 2002

I'm not sure what to think about this story.

Part of me says, yeah, they were squatting on public land, and need to go back to the homeless shelter.

The other part of me says, you're sending these two people back to the homeless shelter. They've been there for 12 years. And basing it solely on the article, it doesn't seem like they were bothering anyone, and it seems they were reasonably happy. Seems like one of those cases where the authorities could have "looked the other way" like they have for the last 12 years.
posted by Stan Chin at 6:31 PM on September 5, 2002

...she ran away and hid when her old friend Schooley stopped by to look in on her and drop off a carton of orange juice.

"I am so anxious," she said, after being coaxed from her hiding place. "I'm afraid to go to town. I'm afraid to talk. I'm afraid of everything." [EM]

Between this quote and the fact that she lives in a tree, i have to assume that this woman is actually a cat.
posted by quin at 6:46 PM on September 5, 2002

We just keep shitting on the homeless in this country...which makes sense since we are a materialistic culture in awe over the accumulation of the mighty dollar. We worship the cretins (Donald Trump) who amass the stuff no matter their character and despise the people who live their lives without.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:54 PM on September 5, 2002

wow, Mr. Rubenstein's a fair and honest reporter who loves his government and the police, a good conservative I'd bet.

This isn't a story, it's a soap box for Rubenstein to rant about the evils 'inherent in the system'. Nicely done, but you didn't convince me, I doubt that story about Besh and her husband is as peachy as you make it sound. There has to be a reason they are wanted off, maybe they piss in the park which is also wrong, since they don't have any running water....
posted by Slash_fan at 8:03 PM on September 5, 2002

I can't believe the granola quotes. Besh and Thelma have always been good stewards. Because of their efforts, Owl Canyon has no invasion broom, fennel or hemlock. So, I can't kick you out of the living room, because you picked it up? The kids learn an "important life lesson," that not everyone in the world pays rent... Right. And the end result of that is? Which lesson is more useful for the kids to learn?

When you get down to it, the lady's clearly some kind of agoraphobic. This story may be more about deinstitutionalization than homelessness.
posted by dhartung at 8:10 PM on September 5, 2002

Which lesson is more useful for the kids to learn?

You tell me. Everyone here seems to assume that:

1. They now who these people are.

and

2. They know the reason(s) they were kicked off the land.

They seem to be the two most important questions surrounding the issue and yet they are hardly represented in Mr. Rubenstein's piece. At best it is a half-assed attempt to show that the crazy homeless are useless and, more subtly, don't be one of them. Tragic . . . truly. Regardless of the socially accepted response to people squatting I would assume that anyone living on the land would be far more respectful to it than you or I would know how.
posted by velacroix at 10:54 PM on September 5, 2002

Ah, but it is the system. Here's the guidelines for San Francisco. This gives the history of squatting in England from the Middle Ages to WWII -- given that our conception of property is based in great part on British common law, it's worth considering. It's also worth remembering that squatters' rights is a concept that does not oppose the idea of private property -- in fact it is based on the dictum that 'possession is nine tenths of the law'. In these cases, what is disputed is what the nature of possession is and how is it established legally. And key in the development of this was medieval English legal concept of 'novel disseisin'. These medieval ideas of what constitutes held property and the holder's rights to it are really at the center of how we look at these kinds of issue, where two forms of possession are in conflict with each other
posted by jann at 8:24 AM on September 6, 2002