trailangel

11,000 sign petition to clear homeless from Santa Ana River Trail; state of emergency considered ? Orange County Register

Garfield Cat

Take that and apply it to the Los Angeles and San Gabriel, Rio Hondo, etc.

Homeless have been at Katella for decades. I don't know how that is going to be enforced. At least this is a first step. Let's hope that the momentum doesn't get stalled out with committee discussions, law suits, city council budget concerns.

ZippyThePinhead

Saw the article, but I doubt much will change. Petitions are usually ineffective, no? Too, from a certain perspective, enabling the homeless to occupy SART is a win-win; it is a relatively small segment of the population that uses the trail regularly, and even if they do complain and get a little bit of attention, there's enough blame to go around that local pols can plausibly claim to be doing all they can, with the limited resources they have, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, the homeless are pretty much out-of-sight, out-of-mind for the vast majority of OC residents, especially the ones who pay taxes.

I could be wrong, but I think a few reasons San Diego Creek Trail is free of homeless is because most of it traverses one jurisdiction (Irvine), where I'm told the police usually aren't as busy as officers in other jurisdictions, and they can send their homeless on a one-way ride to some place which doesn't really resist receiving these homeless (Santa Ana). In contrast, SART covers multiple jurisdictions, so ramping up enforcement in one area just pushes the homeless to a different part of the trail, like whack-a-mole, and significant, coordinated enforcement, on a scale that would clear the trail of homeless, is unlikely to happen all by itself.

In the mean time, there is a lot of enabling behavior going on.

tunavic

Opinion piece in the OC Register

Santa Ana River Trail belongs to the taxpayers ? Orange County Register

Garfield Cat

Seems like that "comment" button on that link sums up what the listeners are thinking. But that DISCUS, is that another thing I need to join-in to get all the comments?

One thing: The "I Pay Taxes, its Mine". There's a point to when that's not exactly correct. One analogy is when one dies and the will and trust transfer all the ownership to the beneficiaries.

TakingMyTime

It's a shame that such a great asset like the SART is basically unusable for what it was designed for. My wife and I rode it last summer and that was the last of us riding it. If it was safe and passable, I'd be riding it all the time. I'd be stopping and buying my lunch and snacks at the local businesses along the way. You'd probably even get more bike commuters off the roads if they weren't in fear of riding it in anything but broad daylight.

TGT1

One of the reasons the SGRT has seen a big reduction is that during the week the LACo Sherriff does regular patrols and rousts anyone trying to take up residence. you never see them on weekends unless there's an incident of some sort, but you will see them out there on weekdays.

Orange Counties situation is completely self inflicted. The only way to fix this will be strict adherence to the Giuliani "broken window" rule. (google New York City and that if you aren't familiar with the term.)

CAT7RDR

I have also witnessed LASD on the SGRT. Deputies will park their patrol cars and walk into the riverbed looking for squatters and I imagine wanted felons. Assertive law enforcement for camping infractions, trespassing, vandalism, littering, public intoxication etc.., might not seem like a wise use of police resources but in New York City and the SGRT that was proven otherwise. By allowing SART to be a refuge for the homeless, a criminal element was tacitly allowed to co-exist.

skidder

The LEOs (city police and county sheriff) along the SART used to patrol it, at least 10 years ago. Usually it would be motorcycle officers cruising along for a few miles. I occasionally get weekdays off and I don't see them anymore if I'm out there riding it on those days. Lots of public works, SCEdison, and wireless phone company workers doing maintenance, but no LEOs.

I'm thinking something will be done after the baseball season ends and the parking lot at Angel Stadium is free of crowds of spectators (and their vehicles).

SClaraPokeman

FWIW, story about the trail in today's Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-health-crisis

TGT1

Made the front page of Drudge last week too! National and now world news.

It's for the course for the Guardian as well as spinning it as all about mean local officials, when in reality it's the unwillingness to enforce the law and enablement by virtue signalers that led to this getting out of control. The "lawyer activists" are the ones that helped create this situation. When the Santa Ana winds start blowing in a few weeks, there's a real potential for a firestorm sweeping thru one of those camps with loss of life and lots of maiming. Have you ever seen polyethylene sheet burn in the wind? Sticks to everything like napalm too. The enablers could end up killing the very people they think they are having compassion for by letting them live in squalor.

What about just enforcing trespassing and illegal camping laws?

LA county doesn't seem to have a problem with doing that.

Jon T

I don't wish ill will on anyone but if it takes an inferno to clear out the squatters, so be it.
Jon

Garfield Cat

Some articles from Los Angeles Times. "Anaheim Considers Declaring Local Emergency As Homeless Population Continues to Grow Along Santa Ana River Trail"

Anaheim considers declaring local emergency as homeless population continues to grow along Santa Ana River trail - LA Times

telawrence

The only ones I have sympathy for are the mentally ill, and they need to be put into some form of treatment. Otherwise bring in the police and garbage crews and clean them all out. This situation has been tolerated for far too long.

Garfield Cat

O.C. Register on SART recent:

Anaheim to consider declaring state of emergency for homeless who are living on riverbed trail ? Orange County Register

trailangel

CBS channel 2 showed an RV parked on the bike trail. 'RV homeless support and info' I guess.
Bike trail blocked.
Police patrols? How many of the homeless have cell phones?

DrIsotope

If y'all ever tire of the sea breeze and the vast homeless encampments, you should check out the north end of the SART, inland from Hidden Valley. So empty. So quiet. And summer is winding down, so it's no longer hot enough to melt your bicycle. I'm not saying there isn't a homeless population out here-- I'm just saying you're more likely to get into a tussle with a herd of rabbits, or maybe slow down for a guy on a horse.

Jon T

I was on the 57 fwy this afternoon and saw the rv and my immediate thought was WTF???
Jon

furiousferret

There was an encampment off La Vernon on Sunday, and there has always been the village under the 210 at E St. If they ever come this way, I doubt we'll get the support the OC is getting.

A few years ago they had an encampment off the trail in Riverside with about 30 people or so....they cut down about 2 acres of trees and wrecked the place. That's my biggest issue with them up here, they destroy the environment.

DrIsotope

They purged them out from under the 215/10 interchange a few weeks ago, only a few have filtered back in. The biggest encampment was just west of the Riverside County line, and when I rode by Monday the county was out there demoing and hauling the whole thing away-- they even had a Bobcat with a berserk saw/claw attachment on the front just mauling through everything.

The effects are definitely noticeable-- I closed my loop by heading back east on the PET, and there were clusters of homeless all along the trail on the last few miles leading up to Cactus. Once you force the homeless out of one area, they just migrate to another.

Related to the west end of the SART, apparently someone ran a census on the trail population-- and the number is supposedly around 13,000.

skidder

FWIW. Not a fix, but its a start:

https://voiceofoc.org/2017/09/a-view...tarts-patrols/

The OC Sheriff's training facility is just east of the SART on Katella Avenue.

trailangel

Hepatitis A linked to homeless population.
Hepatitis A outbreak declared in LA County as San Diego washes down streets | Fox News
San Diego begins 'sanitary street washing' of downtown after pooping homeless people cause deadly hepatitis outbreak | Fox News
We have these homeless camps along the Rio Hondo and SGRT, but you don't see so much as they are in the brush.
They seem to have a lot of Frankenbikes.

doubravsky 

Rode SART yesterday... the population has definitely grown since last there a few months back... particular on the south side of the river just east of Angels stadium. Heard several generators running, smelled lots of pot. On the way back just about got clocked when a dude on a banged up cruiser decided to make a 90 degree turn and stopped blocking the entire trail. Skidded to a stop and just missed him....

Garfield Cat

If left unchecked, the population will increase geometrically. The dog population will also grow, without leashes.

furiousferret

The big issue now is that area is creating homeless people. For certain groups (tweakers, parolees, disgruntled teens) leaving a residence where its uncomfortable and acquiring a tent and some space there literally rent free is very appealing. This is in addition to homeless from other regions migrating there.

I don't think the average person can grasp or understand that, but that trail is creating more homeless people.