Description
Homeless encampment has existed since late November 2022. County/City notified, each claims it is the other's jurisdiction. It is located on the other side of the chain link fence which surrounds the Habitat for Humanity construction area. When looking at the zoning map, it would be more on County land, however, it is on BOTH the City and the County land. While both the City and the County continue to point fingers at each other, the garbage has continued to collect, the area continues to be used as a public toilet and as this is allowed to remain, more will come. The entrances to both the Avalon apartments as well as the soon-to-open Hanover Walnut Creek "Luxury" Apartments are both only a few feet away and people are walking dogs and small children a few yards away.
When this has been posted to the City of Walnut Creek, it has been removed by their responsible person on the SeeClickFix app who has stated that the app isn't for this sort of thing (I thought it was for debris), but if you go to the City's website, you won't even find an option to submit a report about a homeless encampment, but you will find options for everything else. In other words, nothing can or will be done about it.
If using this area to access the trail or Bart, please be aware of your surroundings. A WC police officer who was informed of the situation indicated the homeless individual has mental issues. He was given information regarding assistance but not willing to accept any assistance nor move out of this area.
Understandably, he needs to exist somewhere, and the plight of the homeless is a sad situation, but when assistance is available and they don't want it, rather, want to continue to use the property as a garbage dump and sewer, it has a negative impact on the residents of the area and it creates a bio hazard. It will likely take someone or someone's pet getting sick before something is done ... if even then.
4 Comments
Trazz (Registered User)
Resident (Registered User)
Trazz (Registered User)
Yes, the WCPD officer stated that someone reached out to the individual in early January, however, he added that there is little that can be done unless the person is willing to receive assistance. So that is where we are at.
Here's the irony of the situation, during the summer the Dept of Health will do random checks on my condo's swimming pool and test the water. I remember one time they closed the pool because the alkaline level of the water was too high and the pool remained closed until they came back to retest the water. So we have that level of concern over the water in a swimming pool, yet someone can pitch a tent across the street, for as long as they want, and use the area around the tent as a toilet and dumpster and that's less of a concern that elevated alkaline in a swimming pool?
A couple months ago we had another homeless person living next to the Iron Horse Trail near Coggins and when you approached their tent, the smell of raw sewage was in the air. Same area as people were walking dogs and kids would be running around. She either accepted assistance or moved on, but this person has been living in his tent for the same amount of time.
Closed Trazz (Registered User)