Guadalupe River Park getting aid to help homeless, clean up area.
SANJOSE>> A new effort is underway to clean up debris-strewn Guadalupe River Park, while also helping the large numbers of people living there in tents and makeshift shacks.
The two-year pilot program, announced Monday, involves three local nonprofits working together. Downtown Streets Team, San Jose Conservation Corps + Charter School and the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy will send teams to the park on alternate days to pick up trash, maintain the landscaping and trails, and reach out to the park’s homeless residents. The collaboration is funded by a $90,000 grant from the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
City officials for years have struggled to turn the 3-mile long river- front park into an attractive com- munity gathering space, but the COVID-19 pandemic has hindered their efforts. As the virus decimated people’s incomes, the number of homeless encampments in the park ballooned, and the city mostly has avoided removing encampments in an effort to prevent COVID-19 from spreading.
The pandemic also has disrupted some of the park’s regular clean- up programs, and piles of trash are growing along the riverbanks and throughout the trails and gardens.
“This is a great opportunity for additional resources to support the maintenance and condition of the GRP,” San Jose Councilman Raul
Peralez wrote in a news release. “The Guadalupe River Park is an asset in our City and cross-sector partnerships such as this one not only help to restore the park, but allow it to thrive.”
The move comes as San Jose officials also are considering setting up a cluster of prefab, modular housing units off West Mission Street to shelter between 80 and 100 unhoused people currently living in Guadalupe River Park. Residents who move in would be asked to help pick up trash and maintain the park.
City officials are working on the design and budget of the housing program and haven’t yet set a date to present it to City Council, according to Ragan Henninger, deputy director of the San Jose Housing Department.
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting for the city to act. More than 1,500 people have signed a Change.org petition urging San Jose to ban camping along the city’s waterways.
As part of the partnership announced Monday, Downtown Streets Team launched a five-person crew in Guadalupe River Park last month. The nonprofit pays unhoused people and people at risk of losing their housing to clean and beautify communities throughout the Bay Area, and already was operating in dozens of other sites in San Jose.
Workers earn an average stipend of about $100 per week, which they can receive in gift cards to Target, Safeway and other stores, or apply it to rent, storage units, cell phone bills and other expenses.
The remote nature of Guadalupe River Park makes it an ideal candidate for their services, said Erika Laguna, manager of program operations for Downtown Streets Team.
Because it’s not visible from the street, “what ends up happening is the debris just continues to grow and grow and grow, and pile up,” she said. “And it needs attention.”
The nonprofit is visiting Guadalupe River Park twice a week. In addition to picking up trash — including large, bulky items and hypodermic needles — team members also try to engage the homeless park residents they meet, and get them involved in Downtown Streets or other programs that could help them.
San Jose Conservation Corps + Charter School also will send workers to the park twice a week. The nonprofit provides a high school education, job training and life skills to young people ages 17 to 27. At Guadalupe River Park, young people in the nonprofit’s training program will patrol the park’s trails on mountain bikes, scouting for safety hazards, illegal dumping and other issues. They also will help maintain the park’s landscaping.
The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy will coordinate the efforts of all the nonprofits in the park, while also bringing in volunteers to clean.
“The thing that I’m most excited about,” said Jason Su, executive director of the conservancy, “is that we’re able to address one of the biggest priorities our members have, which is the ongoing maintenance of the park, and do it in a way that also supports other priorities, such as how do we find work for youth or for unhoused residents so that they can support the park while also supporting themselves.”