San Bernardino begins removing homeless from parks

San Bernardino’s long-planned removal of homeless encampments from its parks is underway.

On Nov. 14, city staff began issuing last-minute warnings to unhoused individuals in Perris Hill Park informing them that the facility at 1135 E. Highland Ave. was to be cleaned for health and safety reasons, and that they were to exit the premises immediately.

The two-day cleanup was delayed for about one year because of a court injunction regarding the city’s alleged mistreatment of homeless people and their property.

That injunction, which was the result of a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, was lifted in September after San Bernardino agreed to provide better shelter for homeless people and to take better care of their personal belongings.

With the main part of the cleanup completed, Perris Hill Park will be closed for several more weeks for cleaning, maintenance and repairs.

“These past two days have been a big success,” said Mayor Helen Tran said in a statement on the city’s website. “We have cleared the park, and we’ll be restoring it for use by our residents and families.”

Many of San Bernardino’s parks are populated with large numbers of homeless people, but none more so than Perris Hill Park. It covers 64 acres and includes a baseball diamond, tennis courts, a swimming pool, playgrounds and a senior center.

“It’s the one we’ve gotten the most calls and complaints about,” Tran said during a telephone interview. “A lot of our parks have homeless issues, but Perris-Hill is the one we wanted to fix first.”

Individuals from several city departments – housing, public works, police, animal services, homeless outreach, and park rangers – descended upon the park at 1135 E. Highland Ave.
The city’s trash hauler, Burrtec, worked with the homeless people there to identify items and place them in one of three categories: items that could be disposed, items they would take with them, and items that the city would store for up to 90 days.

Officials from the ACLU, the Salvation Army and the San Bernardino City Unified School District also attended.

“This is a high priority,” Acting City Manager Rochelle Clayton said in the statement. “We wanted to make sure that our first cleanup went smoothly, and it did.”

When the work was completed, 52 tons of trash had been collected. That included – barbecues, tents, sleeping bags, blankets, old clothes, and any other items crew members had permission to remove.

That’s equal to the amount of trash produced by 2,000 homes in San Bernardino in a typical week, said Jeff Kraus, San Bernardino’s public information officer.

Some people who were evicted from the park went to stay with friends, while others were sent to city shelters or found their own lodging, according to Kraus.

The Perris Hill Park cleanup actually began in mid-October.

City staff spent more than one month at the park, telling the homeless people there that they would have to leave soon. By the end of the first cleanup day, the number of tents in Perris Hill Park had dropped noticeably.

“It went very smoothly.” Kraus said. “We were out there way ahead of time telling people what was going to happen and doing as much community outreach as we could. No one resisted what we were doing.”

Perris Hill Park was heavily occupied by homeless people for about nine months before the cleanup, Police Chief Darren Goodman said.

“We offered services to everyone there, but not everyone accepted,” said Goodman, who observed and assisted with the cleanup. “But it was a successful effort. Once we get some repairs and maintenance done we can reopen the park. It’s very important we get this cleanup done everywhere, because all of San Bernardino’s parks need to be open to everyone.”

Before the cleanup began, San Bernardino officials identified about 200 people who had been living in Perris Hill Park for at least one month, Kraus said.

Some of those people ended up in local shelters, others received vouchers for a seven-day stay at a nearby motel, a stay that can only be extended if the extension is approved by a case worker.

“The hotel provides shelter, but it also helps people who have shown they’re willing to work to find permanent place to live,” Kraus said. “But we don’t want to be giving away free motel rooms. We have to spend our money wisely.”

San Bernardino’s s effort to clean out its parks started five months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that municipalities could fine, ticket or arrest anyone who was living on the street, even if that jurisdiction could not supply them with adequate shelter.

One month later, in July, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared that California municipalities “had no more excuses” for not removing their homeless encampments.

The lifting of the injunction two months ago by U.S District Judge Terry J. Hatter made it possible for San Bernardino to begin dealing with its homeless problem.

The city had an estimated 1,400 homeless people living within its borders in January, according to its Point-In-Time Count, a single-night nationwide assessment of sheltered and unsheltered individuals required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

That’s about one-third of San Bernardino County’s estimated homeless population of 3,055, Kraus said.

Meadowbrook Park, a 14.2-acre facility at 250 N. Sierra Way, might be the next park to undergo a cleanup, but that decision hasn’t been made yet, according to Councilman Theodore Sanchez.

“I think we’re off to a good start, but we have to be vigilant,” Sanchez said, adding that reducing its homeless population is the biggest issue currently facing San Bernardino, including its downtown revitalization efforts. “But we have to be vigilant. If we aren’t, the problem will only get worse.”