Overnight camping near river should be addressed

The Tannery Talks and Jessica York’s article on social justice issues surrounding the San Lorenzo River seem to ignore the issue of overnight camping. As we turn the community to face the river, all of us including the houseless will continue to take solace from it. But this should not include overnight camping.

The last stormwashed out abandoned streamside encampments that had built up just this winter, and there is one camper whose tent has been parked for weeks, ironically, by the creek right outside the offices of the Coastal Watershed Council. It is imperative that we as a city provide limited, sanctioned outdoor sleeping space for those who will not sleep indoors, along with porta-potties, showers, and the promotion of safe injection. Without each of these, needles, feces and people’s abandoned camps will continue to wash down the river and into the ocean.

— Tory Wilson, Santa Cruz