Condo owners grow weary as homeless incidents rise
Downtown San Diego residents say that as population has surged, so have the problems.
SAN DIEGO — As he pushed the stroller with his two young children up 9th Avenue during his midday walk in downtown San Diego, Jarvis Leverson stopped at the intersection of F Street.
“This is where I have to divert my route,” he said. “I can go that way,” gesturing his head in one direction, “or that way.”
Across the street, the sidewalk was crammed with tents and makeshift canvas shelters erected by the homeless people who have lived there for weeks, even months. Discarded cartons of food and piles of trash were scattered outside the tents, in the gutter and on the street.
Leverson opted to avoid 9th Avenue and turned left on F Street, then took a right on 8th Avenue. Once again, he found the sidewalk impassable, and he rolled the stroller onto the street to avoid tents and people.
It’s a daily occurrence for Leverson, who lives in the Parkloft condominiums on Island Avenue.
Parkloft, a 120-unit, 11story building, is one of many residential buildings in downtown San Diego. People who live there, where some units with views of Petco Park sell for more than $2 million, say they are wearying of the worsening conditions in their neighborhood.
“Our house right now is on the market because I do not feel safe,” said Elizabeth Ta, who has lived at Parkloft since 2014 and has a 3-yearold daughter. “I can’t even walk to Petco Park to the kids playground without running into a homeless person. And God forbid I try to walk to CVS.”
Leverson and his wife bought a unit in the building in 2020. They had lived in the same unit as renters seven years earlier. Back then, Leverson said, it was an upand-coming East Village neighborhood and sidewalks were clear of homeless encampments.
The sidewalks in front of Parkloft are still clear; security patrols are paid for through homeowners association fees, Leverson said.
Just a few blocks north, however, things are much different. A monthly count conducted by the Downtown San Diego Partnership found about 160 homeless people on sidewalks and in cars and tents between 6th and 12th streets in the blocks from E Street to the north and Market Street to the south.
In all of downtown, the number of homeless people living outdoors has surged over the last six months, reaching almost 2,000.
Leverson and his neighbors say the increase in people on the street has brought a rise in alarming encounters. While violent incidents make the news, along with efforts to help, house and shelter homeless people, the day-to-day, declining quality of life experienced by downtown residents is often overlooked.
“You name it, I’ve seen it,” Leverson said, describing the contrast of walking from a $1-million unit into abject poverty, drug use and mental illness. “I’ve seen people OD on the street, seizuring, foaming at the mouth. Every day I walk past people doing meth and with needles in their arms. People with their pants down, defecating on the street. I’ve seen people fighting. I’ve seen a person beating someone with a pole. I’ve seen people having sex.”
Lisa Roth is among the Parkloft residents who say they have lost patience. She suggests hiring companies to tow away tents and requiring homeless people to pay to retrieve them and awarding tax benefits to commercial building owners or tenants who prohibit camping around their premises.
“These are not homeless persons in search of a new life,” she said. “They are vagrants who live in our beautiful city rent- and tax-free, enjoying handouts and supplies like tents and blankets.”
Last week, City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn announced he is proposing an ordinance to ban encampments on sidewalks and public places.
The city also is launching a pilot program to house and bring services to homeless people in the area where Leverson walks every day, with a plan to keep the sidewalks permanently cleared.
A temporary women’s shelter has opened in the former library in the neighborhood, and Whitburn and Father Joe’s Village have discussed opening safe campgrounds as an alternative to tents on sidewalks.