Homeless to get the boot from Grover Beach camp

January 19, 2016

tent pb parks 12.12.15

Grover Beach city officials plan to clear out a homeless camp next week and evict the individuals living there. A prominent member of the local homeless services industry says she is trying to find them housing. [Tribune]

The camp is located along Highway 1 south of the Grover Beach train station. A stabbing occurred at the encampment earlier this month, and other criminal activity is suspected at the camp.

Grover Beach Police Chief John Peters said the encampment poses a huge health risk, and it is not a safe place for anyone to live, especially due to the proximity of the train tracks. Police officers have recently been writing trespassing citations to homeless individuals living in the camp.

The homeless were also warned they could be arrested if they did not leave. City staffers say they have reached out to the residents of the camp to help connect them with services and possible housing.Tom Two

City plans to clear out the camp do not relate exclusively to public health concerns. Grover Beach is planing a $2 million expansion of the train station, and city officials plan to fence off the encampment prior to breaking ground on the project.

The expansion is expected to include a bus drop-off area, more parking and a new entrance to the train station.

After city workers clean out the camp, the police department will store valuables that are left behind. Individuals will have 90 days to claim their belongings.

Members of local homeless services agencies have distributed pamphlets about housing options. One nonprofit worker who is courting residents of the encampment is former CAPSLO homeless service director Dee Torres-Hill.

Torres-Hill, who now runs SLO Housing Connection, says she is working closely with the residents of the camp to secure temporary housing for them. Torres-Hill said she is trying to recruit people who live at the camp to go to the Grover Beach council meeting Tuesday night and request the city give them more time to find housing.


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These people would be happy to just sleep in their tents on some city or county owned land with porta potties. Do any drugs or cause trouble and you get a supervised bus ride out of town. Return and you get major jail time in Wasco or some other for breaking your probation. Not here.


The only problem is, law enforcement agencies create policies to protect people’s rights which allow these behaviors to continue so they qualify for State grants. Nothing will ever get done. 125 police units are in service in Fresno at any given time, including noisy helicopters keeping an eye on half a million people from a distance on infrared.


Adam Hill and Jan Marx’s agenda to increase growth will ultimately lead to this scenario for the Central Coast. More people, more crime. Nevermind if they’re all affluent, gangs salivate over the thought of the opportunities and always have the gas to make the trip over.


Crime is good business.


End of discussion.


Here I’ll get up on my soapbox again,put these people in a concentration camp, if they have a job they come and go for that,a job is not panhandling on the street corner, take away all drugs and booze,attend to their medical needs and then ship them back to the states they have come from,if they have come from our area they need to be put in a facility such as Duval has put together,not some money grubbing facility that crapslo and or torres attempt to run,those facilitys do nothing to get these people back on track, the ones that cannot be repaired get shipped to someplace that can handle them.

Now before all you do gooders jump my backside about this, I do have some compassion, BUT I did not put these people in the creek,or on the side walk panhandling, I did not put them on dope and booze, but living in the creek and doorways isn’t going to get it, the central coast has the best weather around so these bums migrate here, the more you pander to them the more will come, this is unacceptable therefore the concentration camp,instead of the waste of money for crapslo’s 200 bed build it and they will come hotel, with the camp in place word will spread and we will see a decrease in bum traffic.


The solution to the housing crisis is a tiny house village for those who actually want housing. They are just about the only affordable solution available on the central coast.


Like others have said, there are some people who do not want the responsibilities of a home and bills. Then you need a 9 to 5 job, maybe two jobs. If you enjoy the Peter Pan lifestyle, it would suck.


I sincerely hope none of you ever find yourself homeless.


It’s the government way, don’t think about dredging a lake when it’s dried up, wait until it rains and begins to fill back up and then spend several time more taxpayer money to do it. A list like this can go on for pages and pages.


How a bean counter thinks: “Oh, it’s raining pretty good right now… time to deal with the homeless camp which has been there for a while”.