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FOUNTAIN VALLEY — Under the watchful eye of 12 Orange County Sheriff’s Dept. deputies and a handful of police officers from other agencies, dozens of homeless people still living in encampments along the Santa Ana River near Centennial Regional Park spent Friday, Nov. 10, packing up in last-minute efforts to comply with county orders to vacate the area.
There had been no citations issued for trespassing or arrests in the early part of the day, said Capt. Dave Sawyer, the sheriff’s commander overseeing the disbursement of what has been estimated at 100 to 200 homeless people residing in tents and makeshift dwellings between Edinger Avenue and Harbor Boulevard on the river’s west levee.
Around 2 p.m. Friday, police arrested a man down in the river bed for trespassing.
A clean-up crew from Orange County Public Works and an officer from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department monitor a homeless person as he moves out of the Fountain Valley encampment. Friday was the departure deadline the county gave for homeless people living along the Santa Ana River Trail near Centennial Regional Park in Fountain Valley, CA on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A clean-up crew with Orange County Public Works and law enforcement officers are present as homeless people depart the Santa Ana River Trail in Fountain Valley on Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Morgan Gallerito wears her sparkly mermaid dress as she cleans out her encampment along the Santa Ana River Trail in Fountain Valley on Friday. A sheriff’s vehicle is behind her. “If I have to move, I might as well look good,” she said. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Larry Ford dismantles his tent along the Santa Ana River Trail in Fountain Valley on Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Mike Prindle wipes his brow as he loads his possessions onto a three-wheel bike. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Larry Prindle peddles this three-wheel bike away from the Santa Ana River Trail on Friday. He said he had nowhere to go. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Santa Claus, a mannequin discarded by a homeless person, says goodbye to the Santa Ana Riverbed. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
An Orange County Public Works clean-up crew picks up trash from the homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River Trail in Fountain Valley, Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department walks by a No Trespassing sign along the Santa Ana River Trail in Fountain Valley, Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Local law enforcement officers are on hand to make sure the departure of homeless people goes smoothly, Friday. There was one arrest. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Bridget Powers observes the move out. She shouted “Attica! Attica!” as the evacuation of the homeless began, Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A homeless woman, right, watches as a sheriff’s deputy walks past. A homeless rights advocate makes a video of the process. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Homeless advocate Wes Jones observes Friday’s evacuation. He’s with an organization called “Housing is a Human Right.” (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A man who chose not to be identified delivers a pizza to a friend who was moving from the Santa Ana River Trail. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
David Ramirez pauses during his move out of the riverbed encampment, Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Morgan Gallerito rides past a sheriff’s deputy as she evacuates the Santa Ana River Trail, Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Morgan Gallerito struggles as she moves out of the Santa Ana River Trail in Fountain Valley on Friday, Nov. 10, when the county enforced an eviction of about 200 homeless people from the area. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
An Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputy walks by the homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River Trail Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Law enforcement officers check on the progress of Friday’s evacuation. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A homeless man struggles to get his bicycle through an area blocked by rubbish. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A message is written on the side of one of the tents in the homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River Trail in Fountain Valley. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Sergio Guerra Camargo has lived on the river trail for about a year. He planned his move Friday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Ruth Campos holds her son James as she looks at the Santa Ana River Trail in Fountain Valley. Her apartment overlooks the river trail. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Ruth Campos describes the smell of the homeless encampment. She lives next door. She’s holding her son James. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A bottle of used syringes are collected as contracted crews clean up what was left behind from the homeless encampments along the Santa Ana River south of Edinger Ave in Fountain Valley, CA on Friday, November 17, 2017. (Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Contracted crews clean up what was left behind from the homeless encampments along the Santa Ana River south of Edinger Ave in Fountain Valley, CA on Friday, November 17, 2017. (Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Contracted crews clean up what was left behind from the homeless encampments along the Santa Ana River south of Edinger Ave in Fountain Valley, CA on Friday, November 17, 2017. (Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Contracted crews clean up what was left behind from the homeless encampments along the Santa Ana River south of Edinger Ave in Fountain Valley, CA on Friday, November 17, 2017. (Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The presence of law enforcement officers prompted one homeless woman to shout the famous words used by actor Al Pacino in the movie “Dog Day Afternoon” when he was surrounded by police after robbing a bank.
“Attica! Attica!” Bridget Powers, 51, yelled into the air.
Still, Powers had taken steps to leave, scraping together about $80 with six other homeless people to rent a U-Haul truck and remove their belongings. She planned to head north along the Santa Ana River to pitch her tent near Angel Stadium in Anaheim, an area exempted from the recently enacted enforcement of public access hours on the trail: “That’s where the resources are.”
Powers said she had been living on the trail in Fountain Valley since July, after being kicked out of a room for nonpayment of her rent. She said she found a community among the homeless people along the trail.
“No matter if we pissed off each other, it’s about community,” she said. “Nobody goes hungry.”
But residents living near the area – some within a few yards of homeless encampments on the other side of a chain link fence – had complained for months about safety concerns, noise, drug use, trash and other nuisances.
Ruth Campos, mother to two small children, stood on her apartment balcony to catch a look at the movement Friday on the trail, which she said she and her husband are too afraid to stroll anymore.
“We stopped because it’s not safe,” Campos said, holding her children, 5 and 3, in her arms. “And the smell is not good.”
Campos said she has never called police to complain, but was glad the homeless people were being dispersed.
“I hope they go today,” she said.
About half of the homeless population already had left, heeding an announcement from the county more than a week ago that the west side of the flood control channel from 17th Street in Santa Ana to Adams Avenue in Huntington Beach would be permanently closed to the public. Deferred maintenance work in that area needed to be done, according to the county’s Public Works Department.
Many of the homeless people who remained on Friday said they did not know where they would go next, while others checked on openings at The Courtyard shelter in the Santa Ana Civic Center, considered spending the night at the Santa Ana Armory winter shelter, or intended to find a park or sidewalk to pitch their tents. One recent jail inmate considered violating the law to get a bed.
“I think I’m going to fight it out and then I’ll have a place to stay – jail, you know?” said Sergio Guerra Camargo, who was released after a year in jail on an assault charge and has lived on the river trail for about a year. “I’m not kidding.”
Camargo, who said he moved four months ago from another spot up the trail near McFadden Avenue, slowly packed as he waited for a friend to come by and take some things. He planned to put other belongings in storage – $25 down and $1 rent for the first month.
“I have a lot more stuff now,” he said, looking over his shoulder at a huge pile of bicycle parts.
Legal advocates visited with the homeless people on Friday and planned a return Saturday to continue monitoring the actions of law enforcement and clean-up crews with OC Public Works for any violation of Constitutional rights.
“If there is maintenance work to be done, the county certainly can do that,” said Brooke Weitzman, an attorney with Elder Law and Disability Rights Center in Santa Ana. “So long as they’re respecting people’s rights.”
Earlier this year, in response to legal action brought by the Elder Law center on behalf of homeless people whose property had been seized, a judge issued an injunction that remains in place along the trail from Chapman Avenue in Orange to Ball Road in Anaheim.
Under the enforcement, the bike trail from Adams to Imperial Highway will be closed to public access, going forward, from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. Nov. 1 to Feb. 28, and from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. March 1 to Oct. 31.
Homeless outreach workers with the county’s Health Care Agency and from the sheriff’s department have been in the area to refer people to resources. But emergency shelter is pretty much limited to The Courtyard or a night at the armory. For someone like David Ramirez and his partner, who has mental health issues, a shelter atmosphere won’t work.
“I was actually surprised there’s an option for certain people,” said Ramirez, 33, an unemployed medical assistant. “My partner is disabled. It would be hard for him to be in a crowd.”
Sawyer said that although the deadline given for homeless people to leave was Friday, the sheriff’s department would exercise some patience in providing whomever remained into Saturday time to move their belongings.
“We’d rather not have them spend the night, but we’re kind of slow-playing it to make sure we don’t have to arrest anyone,” said Sawyer, adding that sheriff’s deputies planned to patrol the area during the night and be back with a team on hand Saturday.
But, he warned, if people refuse to leave, “then we’ll have to arrest folks for trespassing.”
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