jimincalif

Sounds like it is getting worse in Anaheim.

Fear, loathing and hope for homeless on the Santa Ana River Trail ? Orange County Register

DrIsotope

The wife and I rode through on Friday, and it's worse than ever. The Tentville is about double the length, the smell is worse, and there are parts of bikes everywhere. I read all those articles about how the police were clearing up the camps, but I've never seen it this bad.

In other news, the east end of the trail still looks pretty much the same. They closed the section by the water treatment plant in Riverside, again. Only supposed to be closed until April, but we'll see about that. Last time it took almost 18 months.

McBTC

An inconvenient truth (OC Register article above):

TakingMyTime

I think this really says it all...

"Over a seven-week period in the fall, Orange County Sheriff’s deputies reached out to homeless people 1,093 times. Help was refused, a report states, 910 times."

This is a lifestyle. They've found their niche and are able to make it work for them. You can offer most of them all the help in the world... good luck.

jimincalif

Not the SART, but shows there can be real consequences to ignoring the situation and letting it fester, the Skirball fire was apparently caused by a cooking fire in a homeless encampment:

Cooking fire at a homeless encampment sparked Bel-Air blaze that destroyed homes, officials say - LA Times

doubravsky 

Rode this weekend. Seems like every time I go, it's noticeably worse. Three miles of smelling like a toilet, trash everywhere. There was the guy who spread his wooden shack frame across 2/3 of the pathway to work on it, the tarps that blew off in the wind laying across the trail, the dude walking around in circles in the middle of the path talking to the sky, the multiple extension cords strung across the path so that people on both sides of the path could take advantage of the running generators, etc....

joesch

From the OCR article :

"Since a cyclist posted a video on YouTube, tensions between recreationalists and homeless people have intensified. Some homeless people shout at cyclists that they disobey speed limits, that they don’t want videos taken.

“How would you like it if you got up and someone was taking pictures in your home?” asked Sharon Sweat who said she’s been living on the trail for 15 years.

I can attest that this is the truth.
I usually stop for a break at the Honda Center location and send a status IM text. I also like to take a few pictures. When doing so, a camper lady started shouting at me and getting very upset. I thought she was even going to approach me. I tried to tell her I had no bad intentions and the pictures were just for me, private, and I was not going to post them on the net. I shortly left and will not repeat taking pictures again. She made me feel like the invador and not welcome to stop at her home area. Be very careful when going thru this area as its not safe and prone to accidents since you cant count on an open path. Watch out for unexpected campers crossing the path without regard to oncoming cyclist.

McBTC

Sounds like it just wouldn't be as much fun living the counter-cultural lifestyle unless you can get in someone's face, sort of like– careful bud, I'm the one in power here and you don't belong…

Garfield Cat

What new name or acrynym can we come up with to describe what the old acrynym SART has become today?

McBTC

smelly LCF folks home?

CAT7RDR

OCTOT Orange County Trail of Trash

Very sad for what it has become.

jcb3

@jimincalif alerted me to this thread. I rode the SART this morning and thought I'd chime in.

Apparently friday is trash day. Many homes had trash bags by the curb and further down a public works crew was collecting the bags and other items of trash on the trail.

I went through around 7 and it was cold, so not too many folks out and about.

The Encapment is between mile 12 and 14 and can be detoured - I just rode slow and kept my eyes open.

One rider I encountered heard that the trail was going to be closed before 7am between Adams and 17th (miles 3 - 10) - He didn't know why. 10 seconds on Google yielded: LA Times reports closure will displace homeless

County to enforce public hours on Santa Ana River trail, likely displacing homeless - Daily Pilot

Being a vintage bike guy, the thought popped into my head while riding through that maybe this would be a good place to come back and look for some rare parts...........

Happy Trails

Joe

trailangel

Thanks for that report Joe.
So, free trash service when the rest of us have to pay for it....nice.

raceboy

So wait...you complain about the trash and then complain that the trash gets picked up? Humans are funny people.

Jan Feetz

mmmm, lets see: "Smelly Armpits Reside There"? How bout: "Stinky Arse Residential Trail"?? Or maybe change the name from SART to FART since it smells bad.

TGT1

Zombieville

McBTC

When it's someone else's trash, and you're paying to pick it up, because it's in your backyard... I've heard funnier things on the web like... homeless in other states are given tickets for a free ride to... California! Sounds demented but possible, like leaving a smelly, mangy kitten you don't want in the redwoods because... wouldn't it be great to live there in the free and open spaces?

joesch

Status of ride Sat 12/23/2017 :

I rode it from Yorba Regional Park Green River Corona to the Honda center area that is where Tent City is located and had no problems. Lots of campers but no close calls on the trail. There was one guy fixing his bike with it upside down on half of the path and at dropoff (approx 25') to river. Fortunately this was before the camper area. I watched closely to make he did not move and totally block the path. Good news is that Tent City was pretty peaceful no problems passing thru there with trash or campers.

DrIsotope

Rode a bit of my Festive kickoff on the north end of the SART, which has rapidly proven to be the best part. Look how crowded! And this is on a holiday Sunday @ 70º.





That part down near the beach sucks more every time we roll through. The north end never changes.

McBTC

Picked up a new term, heard on a Sunday morning news show on KRTH 101.1 FM-- a doctor talking about "despair disease." It is suspected in lowering the longevity curve due to premature death among those in a younger group that brings down the overall average which until now has steadily risen. The SoSec tables are based on something like, 84 for men and 86 for women. However, it apparently can be seen to effect younger groups with higher incidences than statistically expected among white males with no more than a H.S. education. The despair disease also is suspected to be a part of the opioid epidemic.

To the extent that there is some insight to be gained from what may be mere speculation in this area, it might explain why average longevity has for the first time fallen. Additionally, it could be why some of us now see homelessness as a new phenomenon instead of what some might believe is just a temporary lack of residence issue of a greater number of “vagrants” due to high rents, etc.

If someone has fallen into a diaspora of hopelessness, I'm not sure there's anything anyone can do other than putting vitamins in the Mogen David and shelling out relief like putting food out for the cat-- they're always 'gonna do what they're 'gonna do no matter what anyone thinks or wishes they'd do unless something inside clicks...

skidder

I rode up from the beach to the 22 freeway this morning (Started @ 8:30AM), and the south end of the homeless encampment is just north of Memory Lane (the first street passing over the SART south of the 22). A few scattered homeless-looking folks along the trail (but not with a cart full of stuff) between the beach and 22, but no camps. Also seemed to be very few folks using the SART for such a nice day; very few walkers, rollerbladers, runners, bicycle riders of any type. Maybe they're all in church this morning (Christmas Eve) like I wasn't?

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all.

Garfield Cat

Despair, the loss of hope. The three theological virtues: faith, hope, love.

McBTC

True, true, The Bible Tells Me So–

skidder

Just an inquiry, but have any of you who regularly ride the SART between Huntington Beach and Anaheim (the whole distance or just a portion of it) seen any police/private security patrolling it during the day? I've been riding it 1-2 days a week, including some weekdays, since the 'clampdown' started in early November and haven't seen any LEOs or security services anywhere, and no indications at some of the major access gates that any extra security devices have been added. I've been on it three days over the holiday season (so far) and no sign of beefed up security anywhere; no motorcycle or cop cars on it, no private security vehicles, nothing. Anyone seen anything?

Dec 31, 2018 update: I went up it today starting in HB at 6:30AM (1/2 hour before officially open) and made it up to the Garden Grove Frwy/Hwy 22 at about 7:15AM and saw nothing - no locked gates (as I was going by at about 16 mph), no barricades across the asphalt, no security personnel (LEOs or private security) - nothing. Seeing how the County appropriated almost $500,000 for increased security I wonder how its being spent?

TrojanHorse

I rode through there on Sunday (Tustin down to Adams) because I left too late to take my preferred longer route down SGRT... anyway, I came across 3 separate sheriff's vehicles on the trail. This was probably about 10 am on Sunday. They didn't appear to be DOING anything other than driving on the trail. I rode through a few weeks ago and encountered no less than 5 sheriff's

From my limited perspective, the numbers do not appear to have grown but the camp north of the angel stadium bridge is longer, if that makes sense. All of the encampments appear to be building infrastructure, like fences, gates, roof-like structures out of tarps, you name it. I saw a shirtless guy shaving, which I found mildly amusing.