Residents and merchants in the Midway District are alarmed at the growing number of homeless – and problems associated with them – in their community along with a sizable encampment on Sports Arena Boulevard and Rosecrans Street that has them fearing for their safety.
The issue of homelessness was once again vetted at Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group’s January meeting.
“We’ve had homeless people who’ve broken windows into our resident’s apartments, and some residents have had their cars outside broken into with rocks,” said Amy Stark, a Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group member who works at The Orchard Senior Living Apartments at 4040 Hancock St.
Kohta Zaiser from the mayor’s office said a major homeless outreach effort has been launched to address encampments and worsening homelessness in Midway. “We know how dire a situation it is, and how expansive and out of control the issue has gotten,” Zaiser said.
“I’m all for outreach and getting homeless people services,” said Midway-Pacific Highway Community Planning Group chair Cathy Kenton, who requested more accountability from the local government. “But I want to see that there is some progress happening, not just this delay. Our community is frustrated. We don’t see progress.
“We keep being told, ‘We have a new plan, we’re doing things, we’ve got services, etc.’ And the only thing we see is that it’s getting worse. It’s critical for us as a community to have some feedback and some transparency from the various agencies and organizations dealing with the homeless.”
Midway Planner Judy Holiday pointed out there are homeless “pop-ups” emerging daily in Midway outside of the larger higher-profile encampments. “RVs are moving in and just taking over putting out tents and stuff,” she said.
“It’s getting really bad on Hancock Street,” agreed Midway Planner Tod Howarth. “The whole area is just a pigsty. It’s like a homeless yard sale all over the place. Something’s got to be done to address it because it’s bad.”
Another Midway business owner complained of “huge mountains of garbage” accumulating throughout the Midway community.
“I’m happy to be a conduit to transmit information,” said Kenton. “But we need to be proactively told what’s happening. It feels to us like the Get It Done App (reporting infrastructure and homeless problems) is falling on deaf ears. Whatever it is to get this (homeless abatement) done, is what needs to get done.”
After the planning group meeting, Walter Andersen, owner of Walter Andersen Nursery at 3642 Enterprise St., and his daughter, Karen Andersen-Thatcher, complained about a lack of prompt and efficient government response to homelessness in the area.
“We have been emailing and reaching out to the City as well as San Diego Police Department for months regarding the horrendous living conditions of the homeless on Sports Arena Boulevard,” said Andersen-Thatcher. “The City has been complacent to do anything until last week. It was reported that 10 tons of trash was removed from that section of the street. It is extremely disappointing to know the City let it get that out of hand.”
Added Andersen-Thatcher: “The complete lack of enforcement on the street makes it dangerous for both the homeless and the people that work on the street. I sincerely hope the City can get help for the people living on the street as well as the businesses that are affected by the criminal behavior.”
“It started months ago by (the City) ignoring our request to clean up the street,” said Walter Andersen. “It got worse and worse until this camp became almost three-quarters of a mile long. Finally, City workers told everyone on this part of Sports Arena that they were going to clean it up and make them move. OK, they partly did that. They’ve moved them to the other side of the street, then cleaned up what they left. They (homeless) moved right back, most of them.”
Added Andersen: “This is not a solution. It’s all double talk. And apparently, seven homeless opted for shelter. Big fix that was.”
