Edhat Staff
Photos: John Palminteri / KEYT
By edhat staff
Santa Barbara City Public Works organized a homeless camp cleanup near Highway 101 along the railroad tracks this week, reports John Palminteri of KEYT News.
A team of contracted workers, police, Union Pacific, and environmental health personnel all assisted in the cleanup of hundreds of pounds of removed items and trash where Santa Barbara meets Montecito. Hazardous materials included drug-related items and human waste including a makeshift bathroom, reports Palminteri.
People who were living in the camps received advanced notice of the cleanup.
Local business owners and residents have urged public officials to take action against the growing number of encampments along the railroad tracks, highways, and creekbeds. A growing number of small brush fires have been attributed to these camps.
Edhat – Can you specifically identify the location of this camp? Near 101 and the tracks means anywhere between Oxnard and Gaviota. Thanks
They get displaced but will be back within a week.
As long as they don’t camp in my bushes. Yes, I do not want them living in my bushes and creating a camp.
Homeless are not good “guests” they shit & piss anywhere, leave trash, litter the ocean, leave out drug paraphernalia, are usually mentally unstable either because of mental health and/or drugs and alcohol.
If you hate on me, tell me how many homeless you have living in your house or yard and what part of town you live in.
A City Council candidate, Mr Campbell, had a plan to house and get them medical help. His plan would have gotten them off the streets and saved the City money every year.
Not one of the other candidates addressed the homeless issue, none had a plan, except Mr C.
VAGRANTS- “Homeless” are those who are locals and are temporarily without a home due to circumstances, but have jobs and uphold responsibilities…
COASTWATCH – No. “Homeless” are those who do not have permanent homes, regardless of whether they have jobs or not. Who are you to alter and make up classifications of your fellow human beings?
TRIAGE THIS POPULATION: (1) The have nots; (2) the can nots; (3) the will nots. The will nots cause 80% of the problems. The will nots can no longer game the system. Clean up their camps and move them out. Get back to dealing only with the (1) have nots and the (2) can nots. Social safety net already generously provides for the have nots – $45,000 in welfare goods and services each. State sanitariums funded with current MHSA tax dollars provide for their public guardian- supervised care.
He is the President…Some of the people in these groups are homeless, better to sleep in a group then alone where some d.b. can and will attack you…
The Casa De La Raza building would make a great day center for homeless people..room for showers and laundry facilities..lots of office space for social workers..plenty of room for cots and sleeping area. I
The building is not in a residential area. I think it also has kitchen facilities. They are bankrupt right now and I think the city should take it over and do something really useful with it. We all need the homeless people here in town to have somewhere to go.!
Why was there “advanced notice?” Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of sending the message that illegal camping isn’t allowed? I agree with earlier comment re: free maid service. City officials and law enforcement need to crack down, let it be known such campsites won’t be tolerated and NOT be engaged in the business of providing free clean up of these disgusting campsites.
You are so wrong FACTOTUM Where do you get that B.S.?
So now they will vacate and move a few blocks away. Happens each time. So what now?
That nice they go in and clean up the garbage from time to time (maid service) but what happens to the people? Are they just pushed back into Goleta until Goleta cleans up the tracks and go back to SB? Kinda like ping pong
Clearing out vagrants and their tents, drug needles, feces, urine and stolen bikes should be done daily, relentlessly and with no let up.
advanced notice also allows people to know they should have all their essentials on them at all times following the notice- as weather gets colder, people who live outside, even in our mild climate, can and do die from exposure. warning people to allow them to keep their sleeping gear could be the difference between life and death.
Wow, this is a huge issue, and becoming bigger every year. I have now seen homeless off Laguna street, and many places they were not last year. So yes the cost of living is ridiculous, no matter what city. After cleaning up and removing everything they will be right back there. This is done is LA all the time, and by night fall they are all back there. And yes I’m sure they are glad it was cleaned up. So now what? The not in my neighborhood is not the answer. Yes most are mentally ill or on drugs. And if our state wasn’t such a welfare state, maybe there wouldn’t be so much of this. But if you can get free money and an EBT card. Hey why not take it and live on the street, right. This is not the answer either, but made problems worse. Yes everyone needs to be in a home, but where? I do agree that making homes available to the very underfunded people needs to be available, but not in the areas of high rent homes or in the high Santa Barbara tourist areas, our town depends on those areas. And the people who live in nice neighborhoods and are hard working shouldn’t have to have their neighborhoods look like trash or worry about who’s breaking into their homes or cars. They can’t be placed in the woods, they’ll just be fires, so a place far enough but not close enough to turn our Santa Barbara into a homeless camp. This is not an easy thing to do. So maybe all Santa Barbara people who like to give advice can, give some areas in which to do this. Please stop with all the sarcasm and pass the buck crap. Be productive, I often find only a lot of sarcasm here. This is a real issue and has become a large issue. More section eight housing and housing for the mentally ill, and housing for homeless that maybe can work for their housing. And yes of course these places have to be manned.
Of course they’ll move and set up elsewhere. What else can they do? They have to live somewhere. If there aren’t services to support people, they are going to improvise. And I can understand wanting to be independent, not rely on shelters or public charity. Even if there were a designated campground for homeless folks, even beautiful Refugio or El Capitan State Parks, with shuttle service to town, I’m sure a lot of people would prefer to be on their own. Can’t control people, mostly just have to deal with the consequences of their behavior. That goes for everyone, not just homeless people!
Laws must be enforced and people must go to jail. Allowing people to do drugs and on public streets and not arrest them in the end is only sending them to their death. At least if they are locked up they have a chance to become sober and recuperate their lives when they get out. A large portion of the problem becomes from this county and state not enforcing laws which in the end is the worst thing for those suffering addiction.
advanced notice because they are fellow human beings and should be treated with at least a little respect? crazy notion eh? or maybe it’s because everything they own is in that camp. the officials aren’t there to steal what little they have left. they are there to clean up the mess, trash, waste, etc.