Growing up in affluent Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula, Greg Tarola seemed to have it all: good looks, fast cars and lots of friends.
鈥淕reg was a total jock, standout athlete, the whole nine yards,鈥� said Debby Beck, who says she dated Tarola in the late 1970s, a few years after they graduated from Pacific Grove High School.
On the surface, life was good. Tarola was charismatic, kind, loved to laugh, was proud of his Italian heritage and became a skilled dental lab technician, according to interviews with friends and family.
But by his early 20s, life for Tarola got more difficult. That鈥檚 when the seizures started. He was diagnosed with epilepsy, a neurological disorder that causes uncontrollable tremors and can lead to periods of unusual behavior and loss of awareness.
As new struggles mounted, the seizure disorder stayed with him through his last days on the streets of Sacramento. On Nov. 20, Tarola was found dead, wrapped in blankets wet from the previous night鈥檚 rain, according to a from Loaves & Fishes, a nearby homeless service center.
The gregarious man from Pacific Grove was 63.
Though it wasn鈥檛 easy, Tarola managed his epilepsy successfully for decades. During that time, he got married, had two sons, worked in the software industry and even played in fast-pitch baseball leagues well into his 40s.
Still, the seizures remained a constant cloud, robbing Tarola of normalcy and pride, Beck said. Surgery and treatment failed to stop the disease, which when combined with Tarola鈥檚 financial and marital struggles later in life, quite possibly 鈥渃onsumed him,鈥� she added.
Tarola spoke about his failing health with CapRadio last month near Loaves & Fishes on a chilly Sacramento morning, for a story about warming centers. The conversation took place just three days before he passed.
鈥淚鈥檓 an older epileptic, obviously,鈥� Tarola said, seated on a curb, hours before a rainstorm, his hands covered in dirt, and his hair long and grey.
鈥淚 lived it. I faced it,鈥� Tarola continued, sharing that he was also diabetic and that 鈥渕edication doesn鈥檛 work.鈥�
Tarola鈥檚 photograph and his comments were featured in a CapRadio on Nov. 17. He said he had recently become unhoused.
He wasn鈥檛 alone.
Like most of California, Sacramento has struggled to solve its homelessness crisis, despite years of frustration and big-money solutions. Encampments line sidewalks and freeway overpasses, shelters are crowded and the problem shows little to no visible improvement.
But new plans in the city to build permanent housing and open warming centers during the winter for the thousands of unhoused residents in Sacramento could help to prevent deaths like Tarola鈥檚.
Many of Tarola鈥檚 high school classmates, friends and family members have since contacted CapRadio to express both sadness and a desire to tell a fuller story about the charming and ultimately troubled man they knew decades ago.
鈥淭o my dear friend Greg I鈥檓 sorry you passed this way,鈥� Patricia Dempsey, who went to high school with Tarola, wrote in an email. 鈥淵ou were worth more to life than to die cold on a sidewalk.鈥�
Though hundreds of Californians die each year while experiencing homelessness, most do so with little notice after living largely an invisible life on the streets.
Greg Tarola鈥檚 case was an exception.
Advocates call Tarola's death avoidable
Loaves & Fishes described Tarola as 鈥渢he first cold weather casualty鈥� of the fall, with advocates saying he likely froze to death.
It was 37 degrees on the morning he was found.
As of early December, the Sacramento County Coroner鈥檚 Office listed Tarola鈥檚 cause of death as 鈥渦ndetermined.鈥� A representative for the office said a full report won鈥檛 be available for several months.
Just days before his death, Tarola told CapRadio that he didn鈥檛 know warming centers existed.
That could be because Sacramento hasn鈥檛 opened one in four years.
Cities in the region usually open the sparse facilities after three consecutive nights of freezing temperatures (32 degrees or colder), based on from Sacramento County. The centers offer water, snacks and a place to escape the cold for a few hours, but are by no means full-service shelters.
Open beds at traditional shelters are nearly nonexistent, according to those who work with people who are unhoused in Sacramento. Some of the already limited supply of beds disappeared when some shelters closed at the start of the pandemic due to a lack of staffing and health concerns. Those that stayed open had to reduce capacity to comply with physical distancing rules.
When something like [Tarola's death] happens, it鈥檚 so frustrating because, to me, this is not a natural end to a person鈥檚 life. This was an avoidable end.鈥� Joe Smith, advocacy director at Loaves & Fishes
Advocates say the criteria for opening warming centers is far too strict. For years, they鈥檝e called for government leaders to ease the rules, pointing out that cities have the authority to open the facilities when they see fit.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unacceptable that the city and county have not opened up warming centers yet. Absolutely unacceptable,鈥� said Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness. 鈥淎nd Mr. Tarola鈥檚 death underscores that.鈥�
An annual by the regional coalition showed that 138 homeless people died in 2019 in Sacramento County, or one person approximately every two and a half days. That figure was up from 132 deaths in 2018.
The report says four individuals died of hypothermia in 2019, up from one person the year before.
Joe Smith, advocacy director at Loaves & Fishes, said those deaths are much more than just a statistic, and each one is 鈥渟omeone鈥檚 brother or sister, someone鈥檚 child.鈥�
鈥淲hen something like [Tarola鈥檚 death] happens, it鈥檚 so frustrating because, to me, this is not a natural end to a person鈥檚 life,鈥� added Smith, who spent five and a half years unhoused. 鈥淭his was an avoidable end. Who knows what he could have done? Who knows whose life he could have impacted?鈥�
Last week, change seemed to be on the way.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg during the City Council meeting. He said it was 鈥渢he humane thing to do,鈥� regardless of whether the criteria was met.
Warming centers cost $1,900 to operate for 12 hours and are typically located inside city-owned facilities, such as community centers.
Local officials say few people take advantage of them, though advocates argue that鈥檚 because it鈥檚 difficult for unhoused people to get to them. Advocates also say more needs to be done to inform people on the streets out about the centers.
鈥淲e have to do this,鈥� added Steinberg, who co-chairs Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 statewide homelessness task force. 鈥淲e ought to do it, and we will do it, I hope, in collaboration with our county partners.鈥�
But despite the mayor鈥檚 call, the centers stayed shut.
Instead, City Manager Howard Chan said he would continue conversations with the county about how to safely open the facilities amid the worsening COVID-19 crisis.
鈥淲e cannot open small centers, for example, because of the spacing and distancing requirements,鈥� the mayor explained last week on . 鈥淲e have to look at facilities like our libraries and see if that is a fit.鈥�
There鈥檚 no mention of further discussions about the centers on this week鈥檚 meeting agendas for City Council or Board of Supervisors.
One part of a larger strategy
Warming centers are just one small piece of Sacramento鈥檚 strategy to fight homelessness.
Steinberg to create a master plan to find locations to build homeless shelters. The plan would bypass the neighborhood opposition that often kills the construction of homeless shelters and camping sites.
Earlier this year, the city and county helped move approximately 1,100 unhoused people into hotel and motel rooms through the state鈥檚 Project Roomkey, according to Mary Lynne Vellinga, the mayor鈥檚 spokesperson. That program used federal money to ensure shelter for Sacramento鈥檚 most vulnerable during the pandemic.
With the federal money set to expire at the end of December, Sacramento is now taking part in the state鈥檚 next initiative, Project Homekey, to buy motels and create permanent homeless housing.
But advocates fear the permanent space might not be ready in time.
鈥淭hose hotels are beginning to close,鈥� Erlenbusch said of the rooms being funded through Project Roomkey. 鈥淲e will put out hundreds of homeless people at the height of the holiday season.鈥�
It鈥檚 not clear how many people have been, or will be, displaced when the project ends.
There were nearly 5,600 people experiencing homelessness in Sacramento County in 2019, according to the . Statewide, there were more than , the most in the nation, according to a recent federal report.
It is just so inhumane. We can so easily fix it.鈥� Sacramento City Councilmember-elect Katie Valenzuela
Nearly 72% of California鈥檚 homeless population was unsheltered, living on the streets, in a vehicle or an abandoned building.
Sacramento City Councilmember-elect Katie Valenzuela said the city鈥檚 homelessness crisis 鈥� including the debate over warming centers 鈥� is one of the reasons she decided to run for public office.
鈥淚t is just so inhumane,鈥� Valenzuela said of keeping the centers closed, adding that the city can afford to pay the $1,900 cost to open them for a night. 鈥淲e can so easily fix it.鈥�
鈥淲e can figure out a way to finance stadiums, to finance convention centers. Anytime we want to do something, we find a way to pay for it,鈥� she continued. 鈥淏ut for some reason, saving a life, or multiple lives as we鈥檙e likely to see this winter, just doesn鈥檛 raise to that level of priority.鈥�
'The good parts of Greg were really good.'
Natalie Lane met Greg Tarola in the early 1990s through coworkers who played softball with him in the Bay Area. The two hit it off, were married in 1995 and had a son, Christopher, who is now 23. They lived in Pleasanton, a suburb in Alameda County.
Lane described Tarola as charismatic, good with computers and a huge sports fan. 鈥淭he good parts of Greg were really good,鈥� she said.
That included his lifelong passion for baseball, which led to coaching stints at his high school alma mater.
鈥淕reg coached baseball off and on at Pacific Grove and was a terrific help to me as a head coach, and as a player before that,鈥� Jeff Gray, the high school鈥檚 football coach and former baseball coach, wrote in a about Tarola.
鈥淗e always had something positive to say,鈥� Gray added.
Tarola also played in a 40-and-over fastpitch baseball league and would travel to Arizona each year with Lane and his team to take part in a World Series tournament.
Lane said Tarola took medication to keep his epilepsy under control throughout their five-year marriage. The disorder was present but didn鈥檛 dominate his life.
The bigger challenge, she said, was the pressure he felt to be the perfect 鈥渃ookie-cutter family.鈥�
鈥淗e wanted to be a family really, really bad,鈥� Lane added.
But ultimately, Tarola鈥檚 struggles with responsibility, drinking and his 鈥渄emons,鈥� were too much, she continued.
鈥淗e just couldn鈥檛 do it,鈥� she said.
After Tarola lost his job, Lane said the couple experienced financial troubles, then stress and heated arguments.
鈥淭here was lot of marital challenges because of the finances,鈥� Lane explained. 鈥淥ur marriage just couldn鈥檛 鈥� I couldn鈥檛 sustain it.鈥�
The couple divorced. Tarola found temporary jobs and relationships, moving to several cities including Lodi and eventually Sacramento.
鈥淗e just couldn鈥檛 find anything solid for himself,鈥� Lane said. 鈥淗e bounced around in jobs, he bounced around girlfriends, he bounced around residences. He kept trying but he couldn鈥檛 get that leg up.鈥�
Tarola also kept trying to beat the neurological disorder that dogged much of his life: epilepsy. Less than a decade ago, he underwent surgery and treatment to fight it. The effort largely failed, according to family and friends.
鈥淚鈥檝e had the surgery in 2012 at Stanford,鈥� Tarola offered in the short interview with CapRadio in November. 鈥淧eople get to know me and then find out who I am. They don鈥檛 like being close to an epileptic, that鈥檚 for sure.鈥�
Tarola also shared that he had tested positive for COVID-19 a few days before speaking with CapRadio. Because of the positive test and his medical history, Tarola would have been at the top of the list for emergency homeless housing under state guidelines.
It鈥檚 unknown whether he was offered such shelter, and if he was, whether he rejected it.
Sacramento County health officials conduct monthly COVID-19 testing near Loaves & Fishes. Kim Nava, a county spokesperson, said she could not confirm a person鈥檚 health information citing privacy laws. She said, however, that all who test positive are offered and encouraged to accept shelter services at medical isolation units for people experiencing homelessness.
Nava added that COVID-19 tests are also conducted on all bodies brought to the coroner鈥檚 office, and that no one suspected of being unhoused had tested positive in November.
Despite Tarola鈥檚 misfortunes, Lane said her ex-husband wasn鈥檛 blameless 鈥� family and friends reached out and repeatedly offered help.
Had Greg been given a shower and a warm place to sleep, I don鈥檛 think he would have died.鈥� Natalie Lane, Greg Tarola's ex-wife
Lane said she has thought a lot about homelessness; her father was a police officer who ended up on the streets late in his life, as well. At one point, Lane said she purchased her father a car so he鈥檇 have shelter, then eventually helped him gain admission to a nursing home through a veteran鈥檚 program.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 save them,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 fix all their problems.鈥�
Still, she said she believes communities can take some basic steps such as providing shelter at night. 鈥淚 definitely think that there is an opportunity for just a little more human compassion,鈥� Lane added.
鈥淗ad Greg been given a shower and a warm place to sleep, I don鈥檛 think he would have died,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think he died in the elements and I鈥檓 still waiting to find out if that鈥檚 true, but I think he died of hypothermia.鈥�
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 just not right,鈥� Lane said, as she wept. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not right.鈥�
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