‘They Just Took Everything’: Caltrans Crews Clean Out Sacramento Homeless Camp Near X Street Bridge

3 years ago 393

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The stateless debate, playing retired connected metropolis streets successful Midtown Sacramento.

Safe crushed camping sites and stateless shelters are astatine capacity.

Now, the stateless camps are spreading into adjacent neighborhoods. this week, Caltrans moved successful – telling immoderate of the city’s stateless to get out.

Neighbors filed ceremonial complaints of uncovering needles, quality discarded and trash disconnected W and 9th conscionable beneath the X Street bridge.

Caltrans calls it a nationalist information issue, but present the stateless are taking their worldly and moving it close crossed the street.

“They conscionable took everything,” said Michelle arsenic she looked done what’s near of belongings from the campsite connected W Street that housed dozens of her friends.

“Not each stateless litter, not each stateless steal,” she said.

Caltrans bulldozers moved in, wiping retired everything and moving everyone connected site.

“It’s horrible, adjacent an eviction you get 30-60-90 days,” said Andrew, who stays nearby.

City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela says her bureau ne'er got notified the expanse was happening.

“Caltrans had nary strategy for wherever those camps would go,” she said.

Valenzuela says, with the adjacent harmless crushed camping sites and shelters are astatine afloat capacity, radical moved close crossed the thoroughfare successful beforehand of residential homes.

“Just moving folks without having a spot for them to spell isn’t a solution,” said Valenzuela.

The instrumentality says agencies can’t determination stateless camps unless the metropolis provides alternate housing. So wherefore is this an exception?

Caltrans cites an infrastructure instrumentality that states if the tract poses an contiguous menace to nationalist wellness and information Caltrans tin clasp a clean-up.

Neighbors person watched W Street alteration drastically implicit the past twelvemonth – seeing trash, needles and waste. Some residents accidental they person adjacent gotten their h2o stolen.

“We person radical travel up connected our structure each erstwhile successful a portion and I can’t support an ashtray retired determination without it being stolen,” said neighbour Tarren.

“There are immoderate similar egregious extracurricular activities that spell on,” said Joshua, different neighbor.

In a statement, Caltrans says they assessed the tract aft ceremonial complaints were sent successful and recovered it to beryllium a nationalist information risk.

Protocol is to station announcement astir the expanse wrong 72 hours. Though immoderate accidental they were surprised, CBS13 recovered A motion from past Friday that informing radical to vacate by Wednesday.

Caltrans besides says they reached retired to the metropolis to inquire for assistance for resources for the stateless community, but yet they are not liable for providing those resources – the metropolis is.

Sweeps started connected W Street connected Wednesday. Another expanse for a campy on W and 29th Street is planned connected Monday.

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In a statement, a CalTrans Representative said, “Caltrans identified the encampment nether U.S. Highway 50 on the W/X betwixt 6^th and 10^th Streets successful Sacramento as a precedence for a Sept. 29 removal owed to the safety hazard created by the excessive magnitude of trash and debris astatine the tract that includes quality discarded and utilized needles. The section needs to wide the full encampment for the information of each successful the country to behaviour the cleanup. Caltrans provided the encampment occupants a 72-hour announcement connected September 24, and has been moving with the City of Sacramento since August to connection those surviving astatine the encampment with resources and services for amended surviving situations.”

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