Scorpio

Scorpio, 53, hails from the Pacific Northwest where he spent his winters skiing on snow and summers skiing on the waters of Lake Samamish. He loved the outdoors then and prefers being outdoors still.

At age 14, “me and my dad divorced my mom and my sister,” is how he describes the family splitting up. But before the split, his sister introduced him to acid at age 11, and several other drugs. It was just what bored teenagers did, he said. And he never quite quit the habit.

His father worked with cement. Scorpio learned that trade and got pretty good at it, he said. He also learned carpentry, building houses and roofing. It was a lucrative business. He was also a football fan, and thought the 2003 Super Bowl between his two favorite teams the Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, being played at Qualcomm Stadium, was a good year and a good reason to move to San Diego.

He figured he’d find some carpentry work here since the economy was doing well and Petco Park was under construction. The plans were for several residential high rise buildings in the East Village area so he thought there would be plenty of work to go around. It didn’t quite work out that way.

Crystal meth was cheap, so was beer. He could live out of his car for a while, here and in downtown LA. He had several stints in jail on drug charges, but gave up the drinking. And he lost the car when he couldn’t afford to repair it.

He naps during the day, walks through downtown at night collecting bottles and cans to sell. He and his girlfriend and their dog never sleep in the same place two nights in a row. That way, Scorpio said, they avoid anyone scoping out their belongings one night and coming back for it the next night. “You lose stuff really quick out here. And it’s usually someone who doesn’t even need anything. It’s some tweeker just doing it for a thrill. But it ends up being something you really need, like medical papers or a blanket.”

Scorpio thinks there are too many fat homeless people in San Diego. About all the rumors that the homeless are going to be rounded up and taken to concentration camps in Otay Mesa or Ocotillo, he thinks it’s a great idea. “You got to get them away from the same old environment if you don’t want them doing the same old thing every time they get out of a program. Take them somewhere and force them to get counseling,” he said. “They’ve got no reason to get off the street because they’re getting fed and get new clothes all the time.”

He’s disgusted by the way homeless leave needles and feces around city parks, especially along Harbor Avenue near the New Children’s Museum. His girlfriend shoots heroin but keeps her needles so she can use them again. They both feel the city is making money off the federal program dollars being sent to cities to address homelessness, but not putting in showers or bathrooms. “That’s our money, meant for us, and it’s just going in some politician’s pocket,” he said. “They’re using us.”