Even people who are used to seeing things like the homeless encampment behind Home Depot in Grantville on the bank of the San Diego River say they\u2019ve never seen one worse.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been there quite a while, and authorities say it was more than a homeless spot. They say it may have hidden a stolen bicycle ring that ran for a couple of years.<\/p>\n Grant Luna, an attorney who lives just downstream at the Mission Playmor apartments, said he knows it\u2019s been there at least that long.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has been stuff stolen from our complex on an ongoing basis,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve all lost bikes, barbeques, tools. Anything that can be carried away has been.\u201d<\/p>\n Home Depot had tried repeatedly to fence the area off, but fences are pretty much made to be defeated in situations like this one.<\/p>\n In an effort to stymie the homeless and trash problem, volunteers from the San Diego River Park Foundation organized a cleanup of the area. The event got underway early in the morning of April 26, and the people there to start the cleanup were staggered by the amount of cleanup that was needed \u2014 not to mention staggered by the reeking smell of the place.<\/p>\n District 7 Councilmember Scott Sherman was stunned by what he saw.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t realize it was this bad,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know it was this intense.\u201d<\/p>\n Getting it started wasn\u2019t a snap.<\/p>\n Although the 1-acre site is in the city of San Diego, the land is really under the jurisdiction of the California Fish and Wildlife Service. Once that agency was on board, the work could start in earnest.<\/p>\n It proved to be a backbreaking job.<\/p>\n River Park Foundation CEO Rob Hutsel couldn\u2019t believe how much needed to be done.<\/p>\n \u201cOur best estimate is that we\u2019ll take 100,000 pounds \u2014 50 tons<\/em> \u2014 of trash and garbage out of this site before we\u2019re done,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll fill 20 of those large dumpsters \u2014 maybe more.\u201d<\/p>\n The job was so immense that a second cleanup was scheduled for May 17. Around 40 volunteers from the San Diego River Park Foundation\u2019s River Rescue Team, with support from the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Regional Water Quality Board. Their goal was to fill at least four 40-yard dumpsters with an estimated 25,000 pounds or more of trash and begin repairing the area\u2019s riparian habititat.<\/p>\n During the recent floods, Hutsel can only guess at how much damage was done to the water as the rains flooded the encampment. There\u2019s no telling how much dangerous material leaked into, or was thrown into, the San Diego River.<\/p>\n One very interested \u2014 and upset \u2014 person at the cleanup effort was Dave Gibson, executive officer of the Regional Water Quality Control Board.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat people don\u2019t know, but should know, is that encampments like this use the San Diego River as an open-air toilet, and this puts dangerous human pathogens in the river,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can compare it to what happens when there\u2019s flooding in the Tijuana River valley down south. Human waste carries dangerous pathogens that can sicken people all along the river route, all the way down to our beaches. People can die from the effects of those waste products. And we know this is far from the only such problem along the river route. We don\u2019t really know how many such encampments there are, and we need to find out and do whatever is necessary to put a stop to it.\u201d<\/p>\n That will be hard and expensive, to do. Gibson said he has talked to every city in the region that has water flowing through it, and more or less put them on notice. He knows it\u2019s hard to do, because it involves the homeless problem everywhere.<\/p>\n Gibson has an arrow in his quiver he really doesn\u2019t want to use, but it\u2019s there if all else fails \u2014 mandatory abatement orders. He doesn\u2019t want to have to issue them and considers them a weapon of last resort. But the power is there.<\/p>\n As the April 26 cleanup got underway and River Park Foundation volunteers started digging in, San Diego police where there to roust out any people still staying there, and offer help if wanted.<\/p>\n Colin and Dawn, a couple who didn\u2019t want last names used, said they didn\u2019t see any sort of bicycle chop shop there.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been here better than two years, and I would have seen it if it was going on, and I didn\u2019t.\u201d Colin claims. \u201cPeople need places to live \u2014 to survive. This may not be much, but it was all we had.\u201d<\/p>\n Of the 20 or so people believed to have been living in the encampment when the cleanup started, most simply packed up and left for wherever. Two actually went to jail on outstanding warrants.<\/p>\n Colin and Dawn may have been luckier. The Police Department Homeless Outreach Team offered them a trip to a shelter, and storage space for their belongings.<\/p>\n They huddled and talked about it for several minutes, and finally decided to accept the offer.<\/p>\n It makes you wonder how many other such encampments there might be along the path of the San Diego River.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no exact number, but the best guess is \u2026 many.<\/p>\n![\"Homeless](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Trash-front-page-web.jpg\")
![\"Homeless](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Hutsel-Gibson-web.jpg\")
![\"Homeless](\"https:\/\/missiontimescourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Volunteers2-web.jpg\")