chevrolegs

The needle exchange program was the problem with the needles. Yes, if they're going to be using dope they should have clean needles... BUT the program would take one needle from the homeless and hand them 21. 20 + whatever was given to them.

McBTC

For an old-looking, skinny white bearded dude down the street from the Costco, home seems to be a folding chair on the sidewalk in front of a lube and tune-- he appears to have the shady spots at various times of the day across all the seasons pretty well scoped out...

work4bike

It's been about a month since they moved out the homeless into motels, wondering how many remain in the motels? I imagine most are going to other areas to set up 'camp'.

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/02/2...raining-order/

Garfield Cat

Has the SART reached national media attention status?

I wonder how many You Tube visits the SART has accumulated.

jimincalif

Actually the county now has the bright idea to set up camps for them. They voted on Monday to set up camps (literally) in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel. Irvine had an emergency council meeting last night and voted to sue the county. This area is in the old USMCAS El Toro, aka the Great Park, where Five Points is building thousands of million dollar homes. This is going to work out well.

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/1...laguna-niguel/

TakingMyTime

The other evening I was listening to the radio as I fell asleep. Before I succumbed to the sandman I heard a report about this situation and there was a homeless advocate stating that the hotel vouchers were about to expire and that the majority of the people who were being offered temporary residence at local shelters did not want to go to those shelters when their vouchers ran out.

I understand, or at least acknowledge their hesitation to move into a shelter due to a variety of reasons. The complaints I hear the most are that they cannot take their pets and/or there is no accommodations for their possessions. What I don't understand is... if given the choice between a shelter or living outdoors, they appear favor the outdoors. I'm sorry but this does not make any sense to me. If you are truly trying to improve your life, wouldn't it make sense to be somewhere that showers and meals are provided?

This only goes to reinforce my belief that a large majority of these people do not want help. They have chosen this lifestyle and have no intention in changing no matter what help is offered. These encampments and the crime they shield will always be with us. The only sensible solution is to keep breaking up the encampments and let the residents know they are not welcome.

trailangel

Well, there goes the May strawberry crop in Irvine.
What ever drug are they taking to make them not care about bathing or living inside,....could it cure some of my OCD about being too clean?
And where will they get their drugs now... will their dealers deliver?

jimincalif

Yeah the OC Register article quotes someone from the county saying that they have enough beds but the homeless don't want them. Isn't that special? What every happened to "beggars can't be choosers"?

If we are going to spend tax money on what they "want" for housing, then sign me up for a county-funded home on the bay in Newport Beach with a 60' dock!

TrojanHorse

So let's get back to basics - is SART open again or not? I need to go through there on Sunday but if it's not open, I'll take the longer SGRT/PCH route to get from my house to granny's house.

2seven0

Rode it from Hamilton to GG Blvd last Sun (3/25) still CLOSED between Ball/Taft & GG Blvd/Memory Lane.
West

TrojanHorse

Thanks.

ZippyThePinhead

Rode down to Ball/Taft on Friday 3/23 and it is indeed closed there. No police, but they have a makeshift barrier and signs that warn the trail is closed.

What I would be interested to know is what they are actually doing while it is closed. I know what they said they would do, but often there is a difference between what is said and what is done.

Heading south, you could exit the trail at Ball/Taft and take Main down to Santa Clara, but I have not ridden that stretch personally. I've only used Santa Clara on both sides of Main and it's rideable with not a lot of cars.

popeye

We took a chance and rode it today. It's pretty quiet, there is not even a dozen workers for the whole distance. Most of the exits were open but not near the pond where you cross over. We
had to climb over the bridge and lift the bikes about 5 feet. They had all the bad areas fenced off with a way around them so it is beyond me why they continue this charade.

JMH714

I live in Edgewood street area - Santa Clara is not on both sides of Main St. Just Edgewood and Santa Clara that connected to Main Street.

I wouldn't recommend riding bike south of Main St. from Ball - too many crazy drivers near Main Place and freeway. You could take Batavia till La Veta then turn left and right on Parker St. that will lead you to Santiago Creek MUP (or continue riding to Main St. on Memory Lane) and get out at Main Street (turn left) and across the freeway to Santa Clara St..

TrojanHorse

It is pretty annoying how few bike-able roads there are in that particular area and it's also annoying that nobody appears to have considered a detour when closing off such a large swath of SART.

popeye

The Sheriff caught us again today after climbing over the bridge. He said he heard that the trail would open on the April 6. We pleaded our case and I promised that I could wait until then and he let us ride on. I would always wave to those guys and give them a thumbs up. I felt a lot safer when they were actively patrolling.

ZippyThePinhead

The route I have used:

Mitzey

Is it still closed at Taft? I wanna take this route to work again

Chukbacca

I'm sure most of you saw this article from months ago...
A half-loaded gun, a well-built bunker and 1,000 hidden bikes found along Santa Ana River
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/11/1...homeless-camp/

I'm a little curious, what happened to all the bikes? Has anyone who had a bike stolen heard about their bike being found? I'm rather curious what auction outlet they'll be using to unload that many bikes, or if they'll all just end up in the landfill.

TrojanHorse

I heard a rumor that it's supposed to reopen tomorrow. I don't really know for sure though. I assume you're going south from Ball, it's open to the north.

Mitzey

Yeah I usually get on by the Angel Stadium and take it up to N Tustin Ave where I work

ZippyThePinhead

Open for riding again.

TakingMyTime

Well, I think I know where my Sunday ride is going to be now.

2seven0

Wife & I rode it Sunday morning from Lincoln to PCH. It's open now but several areas are still fenced off & you are diverted to the adjacent service/walking roads which are paved. Not a hassle at all. Don't know when it will fully open to the original paths but for those who want to ride that section it's back open. So nice to see a nice clean trail again.

West

Mitzey

Yeah I rode it to work today from Orangewood(Angel Stadium) up to N Tustin Ave. The first gate seems to always be closed though, so have to hop over the wall and cross the road to the second entrance unfortunately. Bit sketchy since the Police are training down there. But it says it's meant to be open at 7am, but it was 7:25am and was still locked.