ClydeTim

eja_ bottecchia

WOW, a picture, or pictures, Is indeed worth a thousand words.

My question is: how can the richest, most powerful Nation in the world countenance this situation and not take action to remedy it?

I have been in Third World nations where these shantytowns, like the ones depicted on Tim's photos, are common occurrance.

But in the US of A? Shameful!

snidely

The City Manager's office directed me to contact local law enforcement about the homeless situation. I'm off to email the OC sheriff and local PD's.

ClydeTim

You know, this mess is all right outside of Anaheim stadium's doorstep. I wonder if they complain daily about the situation right outside their facility. I'm guessing they currently don't get many aerial views of their games very often.

ZippyThePinhead

Appreciate the suggestion.

There is clearly a lot of enabler behavior going on here, but there is no reason for city/county/local government authorities to be against it. In fact, it could be argued that tolerating a certain amount of (probably) well-intentioned enabler behavior is in the interest of everyone... except for the cyclists and people who actually want to use SART for the intended purpose.

The county is well aware of how bad it is, but they are taking the path of least resistance. It is very costly to do anything but let the homeless occupy SART, or some equivalent. The vast majority of the taxpaying public never set foot on SART, so from the county's perspective, this is good government in action. The only way the situation will improve is when some external circumstance forces a change of plans: public outcry, the courts, etc.

When I rode last Friday, on the N/B trip there was a guy openly relieving himself right on the fence at the Stadium. My question is, at what point does the waste from these campers become a public health issue? How many people does it take, doing daily offloading along a certain stretch of trail, before action is required? I expect the county will respond with porta-potties before they push these folks out.

llebcaz

I took a break under the big hats at at he stadium 2-3 months ago, within a few minutes a security guard came over and was checking me out. He said the homeless come near the stadium at night and find electrical outlets to charge phones or plug in heaters to sleep. The stadium countered by closing off the small opening in the fence at the SE corner of the parking lot (right across from the fire training tower).

Baseball season starts in a month or so, hopefully the team applies pressure to the county.

DrIsotope

"Homeless guy relieving himself in plain view" is a box I've checked on my SART Bingo card too many times. "Homeless guy with pants around ankles furiously pleasuring self while loudly yelling" is a box I've had to check only once... which is one too many.

One day, the whizzing buy was bare-ass naked.

ZippyThePinhead

Clearly video can be compelling and one can never tell what might go viral these days. If enough cyclists were camera-equipped as they ride through, it might make for a critical mass of compelling, viral video. Certainly it might be worth trying. One doesn't necessarily need to break down and buy a GoPro or a Virb, and it's not quite as passive as taking Batavia.

2seven0

I was born, raised & still live in Anaheim thus have some thoughts & observations on this situation. First off the generic term "homeless" used to describe these people is infuriating to me as most if not all are worthless POS petty criminals, druggies and/or just plain bums. For brevity's sake I'll use it here though.
IMO several factors have caused, perpetuated & compounded this situation several of which are cited by posters in this thread.
1. "Stray Cat Syndrome". Behavior rewarded is behavior encouraged. As long as the homeless are being fed & clothed by well-meaning "volunteers" & represented by bleeding-heart ACLU attorneys they ain't goin nowhere! I wish the people who feed & supply them would concentrate their efforts on VA facilities, Meals on Wheels etc. instead of these people. They are not HELPING them, they are FACILITATING them.
2. Out of sight, out of mind (with a touch of NIMBYism). While the residents & businesses who have to deal with being vandalized, burglarized & harassed by these people (and us trail-users) would beg to differ, this problem is a blip on the radar screen of most County & City residents. They are mostly confined to inconspicuous, low-income, and industrial areas that most people have little regard for. Notice the absence of camps in Yorba Linda, HB, NB and along all the nice trails in South County. Coincidence? I don't think so. Until high-profile crimes (e.g. ****, assault, murder etc.) start to occur on a regular basis most LE agencies are content to have them right where they are instead of scattered all over the county amongst residential neighborhoods.
3. Jurisdiction. My wife & I have several long-time friends in law enforcement so are privvy to things the general public might not be aware of. There is an endless circle-jerk of finger pointing amongst various city & county agencies & politicians as to whose problem is it anyway? I.E. that's not Anaheim- it's Garden Grove! Hey that side of the trail is Santa Ana! Hey I think this is County land etc. A longtime LEO who we know well told us of a department meeting where this subject came up. A senior official opined that hey- the Santa Ana River is a "waterway" and isn't the Coast Guard supposed to be in charge down there? Sadly I'm not kidding.
4. Nothing to lose. While a stint in the rebar hotel would be devastating to law-abiding, productive citizens what is it to these people? 3 hots & a nice warm bed! As alluded to earlier an altercation with one or more of these people probably won't end well for the hapless cyclist or runner. Incapacitate the aggressor quickly then disappear is my advise.
Sorry for the long-winded rant this hits close to home- I know several friends who no longer ride the SART south of Ball Road. My wife & I sometimes ride it north to Green River & back.
This is my first post on the Forum been reading & enjoying it for several months hopefully my future posts will be cycling-related & much more positive!
West

snidely

Received some follow-up emails. Thought I'd share for those interested.


Email 1:


Good afternoon,

The comments you shared below regarding the Santa Ana River trail were provided to me at OC Public Works. Thank you for taking the time to compile those thoughts and share what you have observed along the trail.

We at the County are equally concerned about this growing issue. Several County agencies are collaboratively working to address the status of individuals encamped along the flood control channel that meets the needs of all parties involved. Safety is a top priority in addressing that. Your input is very important and we will be sure to take it into consideration as we move forward in looking into this issue.

Again, thank you very much. Your information and photos provided are being shared with key team members here. If you have additional questions or concerns in the future, please feel free to contact me or the County’s Public Information Manager, __________, at ________________

Thank you,

______________
Strategic Communications Officer
OCPublic Works
300 N. Flower Street, Santa Ana, CA 92703
714-667-9759 office
________________________

snidely

Email 2 (from Southern CA Association of Governments):


Hi, Mr. __________:

Thank you for your e-mail about the Santa Ana River Trail. I have read about the situation you raised in the Register and have seen the encampments as I’ve driven by the 57. This is a serious issue, as you well know.

To my knowledge, the river trail is maintained by the County of Orange’s parks department. In addition to your letter to the elected officials in Anaheim and Santa Ana, you might consider contacting your representative on the county Board of Supervisors. The supervisors established a homelessness taskforce and are in the works to open a second, full-time homeless shelter that will provide services to people living in these encampments who want help. The first shelter was opened in Santa Ana just last year.

The five members of the Board of Supervisors are listed at this webpage: https://www.ocgov.com/gov/bos. There, it shows the contact information as well as the cities they represent.

I am confident that they would have more information on this issue for you.

All my best,

Kevin

snidely

I redacted contact info out of respect. If you'd like it, send me a PM.

ClydeTim

As mentioned, the responsibilities appear to be bounced around like a handball form one agency to another.

Thanks for your effort Snidely!

TrojanHorse

Slight side track but all the homeless underneath the 60 on the SGRT were gone last night when I went through. No disco ball, no generator, no shopping carts all over the place. Weird.

skidder

It's probably just lack of knowledge on your part, but there are quite a few homeless in Huntington Beach; the city even formed a 'task force' to try and deal with it. besides living under the underpasses along the SART (into Fonutain Valley, too), they live in HB Central PArk (camping and illegal campfires at night), they live at the beach (known to harass the wintertime beach RV park campers), at the south end of Magnolia St between Banning and Hamilton (an RV park along Magnolia St and in the bushes next to the old oil tank property - they even trespass on to that property), and Golden West College also has problems with them roaming using the campus at night; and if there is one building or classroom door left open at night they'll find it, get in, and vandalize the place. They also jump the fence (and 8 ft fence) and use the pool for bathing. This doesn't include the 'solo' homeless who sleep anywhere they can find a cubbyhole to squeeze in at night. So IT IS everywhere in OC, you're just not seeing whats in the other locals outside of where you normally live/ride/recreate.

ZippyThePinhead

A video from a BF member who is now banned, taken last fall.

ZippyThePinhead

Drone footage of the camp, 1/2017:

2seven0

Yes you're correct I'm not aware of the situations you mentioned. I was generalizing the fact that most of the problem is in the Ana GG SA areas of the trail. Up nearer where I live last summer the stretch of Orangethorpe in Buena Park between Knott & Magnolia had a surge of homeless pretty much taking over every bus-stop bench area. I commented to my wife about it & not a week later it seems read an article in the OC Register about Buena Park city officials' concern over the growing population of homeless in that area.
I have a State Park Pass & surf mostly between River Jetties & north end of Bolsa at PCH/Warner trust me I've seen plenty homeless at dawn patrols.
West

ClydeTim

SO in the video, some homeless dude comes out of a tent and throws a rock at the drone?

When I was taking my pictures, I snapped one going through the newly tented stretch where they are all up against the trail edge. One lady saw me take a pic and said, "HEY, HE'S TAKING PICTURES!!!".

I was thinking, you homeless crack head looking skank, you're trashing the trail, blocking the trail, doing drugs on the trail, letting your dogs run loose on the trail, pizzing on the trail, polluting the trail, and you're worried about me taking a picture?

Garfield Cat

Here is what I found that makes local government think twice about taking action:

Rights for People With Mental Illness

1slomofo

I joined this forum just to be in the loop with this topic. I wanted to add that this stretch between the 22 and the Stadium has been getting worse in just the past week or so. So many new occupants moving in. Yesterday I legitimately felt unsafe traveling through the area on my way home. (I commute from Corona > Santa Ana and back everyday) Between SO MANY people loitering, trash, and stuff parked on the path its becoming physically impassable. Now I am being hooted and hollered at, nothing has been thrown at me, but people are literally standing in my way so I have to leave the path to go around them.

snidely

They are getting the mob mentality because there are so many now. They used to be polite and nice when it was just a few. But it's become their "turf" now.


I'm actually avoiding that path this weekend, and riding elsewhere. Which means the local businesses near SART won't be getting my dining, drinking, or any other $. And the cities won't get my tax revenue. And this will probably be the norm for me unless the situation gets cleaned up.

Wulf

The OC Great Park is little used and most of it is off-limits to the public. Perhaps opening some of this area to an encampment. There are abandoned buildings and barracks that might be used instead of cardboard and plastic.

1slomofo

You hit the nail on the head. They are getting the mob mentality. And that is NOT GOOD.

Avoiding the path for myself is unfortunately more than an inconvenience since my place of business is literally touching the path (its one of the buildings that shared a wall with the SART).

This is tough because these are people...I am looking for how I can help... but I am not going to go drop off sleeping bags for these people. We need to do something else.

ClydeTim

+1 I had no problem with them a year ago or two. Maybe one run in with one guy harassing the female at a restroom. There were maybe 3 or 4 at the Katella park.

Now they are all over, very inconsiderate, very rude, and even challenging. I used to feel for some but now I am developing a total dislike for these people. Again, hardly dignified people at all!