Sheriff’s deputy Damon Hancock posts a notice to vacate in an illegal… (Dan Coyro/Sentinel)
SANTA CRUZ — After a Santa Cruz police project to clear out trash and illegal campsites this summer, sheriff’s deputies have started similar work along Highway 9 and other county areas.
In the past four weeks, deputies have focused on an area next to Highway 9 that includes private property and the edge of the Pogonip. More than a dozen campsites have been identified off its dirt trails. Deputies have worked with Santa Cruz police and park rangers because Pogonip is within Santa Cruz city limits.
After deputies posted notices to vacate the camps and pack their trash, nearly all the campers left. Friday, deputies posted notices at a few remaining active campsites and talked about the problem.
“This is encouraging. These are all people that have been warned and (their sites) are empty. But they’ve abandoned all their stuff,” said Sgt. Mitch Medina.
Some of the transients cleaned up their own mess by piling more than 25 trash bags under a train trestle at Highway 9, deputies said.
At perhaps a dozen other sites, there were strewn fast-food wrappers, dirty clothes, shoes and all kinds of other garbage.
Authorities said they wanted the property owner to pay for some of the trash removal. Deputies also were hammering out an agreement with Roaring Camp Railroads to haul some of it out by train. Train tracks run next to some of the sites near Highway 9.
As did Santa Cruz police, deputies who encountered the homeless have handed out business cards with information about shelters and other services. Also similar to police, deputies acknowledged that dismantling the camps was not a long-term solution to homeless problems in the county. Many of the campers they encountered had been kicked out of Santa Cruz, deputies said.
Still, they said the project was valuable because it protected residents’ property, reduced fire risks and cleaned up the environment.
“If we did nothing, the problem would just grow,” said deputy Daren Kerr, who has been working on the project.
The risk of wildfires is real, added Heather Reiter, chief ranger for the Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department.
About a month ago, a transient camped along the train tracks near Highway 9 told authorities that he accidentally started a fire. The blaze destroyed his camp but was contained quickly by firefighters.
“He said it originated in his cooking area,” Reiter said.
A separate fire that started at the base of a tree in the Pogonip in May was traced to a transient, Santa Cruz firefighters reported.
Deputies said they planned to continue the project for at least the next few months.
“We’re hoping with the help of the press, we’ll identify more sites,” said deputy April Skalland.
She asked residents who spot illegal campsites call 454-2440 and leave a message describing the location.
Earlier in the summer, deputies said they cleaned out a creek bed behind Emeline Street and Emeline Avenue. Working with County Jail inmates, authorities collected two Dumpsters worth of garbage, Kerr said.
One man also was arrested for two outstanding warrants and on suspicion of drug paraphernalia possession after he was caught with 30 uncapped syringes, said Kerr.
Friday, deputies did not cite or arrest anyone at the site near Highway 9. But they warned a 42-year-old woman to clear out her campsite near the trestle.
She had a tent pitched and a pit bull tied to a tree. Deputies told her she had 72 hours to leave or she would be ticketed for illegal lodging without the property owner’s permission.
The woman said she probably would stay with her mother, but she could not go to a shelter because she was taking care of the dog — which is not allowed in the Homeless Services Center in Santa Cruz.
Like some of the other transients that deputies encountered, she said she did not want to stay at a shelter.
“You gotta be in by 7, you can’t watch TV. I might as well be out here where I’m free,” she said.
She said she was particularly vulnerable as a homeless woman, and asked not to be named because she feared an ex-boyfriend. Once, while she slept, another man tried to stab her with a heroin-loaded syringe. She now carries a knife for protection.
“I wish I had some money and some food,” she said. “I’m stuck here.”
