Marysville neighbors complain of trash left by homeless
Flood season brought the homeless to shelters in droves, officials said. And area residents who live near shelters and aid stations say they’re feeling the effects.
Michael Perry, who lives less than a 10-minute walk from 14Forward and the Twin Cities Rescue Mission, said he’s seen trash, glass and other refuse litter the ground and gutters around his J Street neighborhood. He believes it is the homeless living at 14Forward or the indigent seeking a hot meal from the Rescue Mission.
“I’m at wit’s end,” Perry said. “I’m out here picking up trash and cleaning the gutters.”
Roger Vaca, executive director of the Rescue Mission, said the trash is a result of the homeless being forced from the river bottoms by flooding.
“There’s more trash because there are more people,” Vaca said.
Volunteers from the Rescue Mission regularly clean the neighborhood, but due to wet weather they have not always been able to, he said.
The Rescue Mission feeds about 200 people breakfast and dinner each day, with 50 men staying at the shelter. A stay in the shelter is contingent upon passing both a breathalyzer and a drug test, he said.
The homeless are also coming to the shelter as Marysville and Yuba County crack down on homeless camps in the area.
The city shut down two large homeless camps – Horseshoe and the former Hollywood Trailer Park. However, they still reside in the “Jungle” or “Thorntree” between Binney Junction and Jack Slough in the Feather River floodplain for the time being.
Marysville Councilman Dale Whitmore said the remaining camps will be cleared out in the spring or early summer, depend- ing on when the area dries from flood season.
“What it comes down to is we can’t let these people live on city property,” Whitmore said.
The city and Yuba County will attempt to connect willing homeless people with the services they need. One such service, 14Forward, has already seen an uptick in residency due to the inclement weather and loitering crackdowns.
“If people aren’t committed to making changes in their lifestyle, then 14Forward might not be the best place for them at this stage in their life,” said Chaya Galicia, Yuba County Homeless Project manager.
She said 14Forward does not require residents to be sober when they begin participating in the program; however, they must be willing to take steps toward sobriety. The project assigns resi- dents tasks to complete each day and provides them with counseling services, she said.
After individuals have completed their daily tasks, they are granted free time, when they may venture into the community. The facility is not designed to confine its residents to the 14Forward area at all times. Of the 40 beds available, 33 are occupied, she said.
“I’m surprised at the comments about increased garbage,” Galicia said. “It could definitely be people who were living at the river bottoms.”
Yuba County crime statistics show a decrease in calls to the old “Horseshoe” encampment at the confluence of the Yuba and Feather rivers, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Leslie Carbah said. However, statistics remained about the same around the former Hollywood Trailer Park.
“We have had smaller encampments pop up in rural areas,” Carbah said. “We try to get them moving.”
The Marysville Police Department has seen an increase in complaints from neighborhoods around the Rescue Mission and 14Forward, but the department attributes them to the pedestrian travel of homeless from the Thorntree area into town, said Lt. Christian Sachs.
“We’ve stepped up patrols so we can combat that,” Sachs said.
He encourages residents to contact police with specific time frames of suspicious activities so the department may be more effective, he said.
“The complainants are specifically attributing that to the Rescue Mission and 14Forward, and that’s not necessarily the case,” Sachs said.