WATSONVILLE—Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office deputies dismantled a homeless encampment on Riverside Road set up by a group that last month battled with the city of Watsonville over another camp on Bridge Street.
Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Ashley Keehn said that the department posted a 72-hour notice to vacate the area between SBS Concrete Aggregate Supplies and the Salsipuedes Creek portion of the Pajaro River levee on Jan. 6. Come Sunday morning, about a half-dozen Sheriff’s deputies and various County of Santa Cruz Public Works employees showed up to clear out the area. About a dozen tents were set up within a stone’s throw of the previous encampment across the street from the Buddhist Temple.
“We received several complaints from community members regarding the camp and have seen how quickly they can grow, therefore we acted before this grew into a larger encampment,” Keehn said in an email. “Shelter beds were available to anyone that needed or wanted them, but I’m unsure if anyone from that camp utilized those.”
Keehn did not have specifics about what shelter beds were offered to those at the camp set up by the Pajaro/Watsonville Homeless Union.
The campers, union president Monike Tone said, have not yet decided what their next move is. She did, however, say that she was planning to run for elected office in Watsonville to better represent the local homeless community. She also said that deputies did not offer any alternative shelter when they arrived Sunday.
That homeless union had previously established the Bridge Street camp in Watsonville in mid-December after being evicted from the Monterey County side of the Pajaro River levee. After a two-week dispute, the city came to an agreement with the union that put the people staying at the camp in motel rooms through the winter holidays. The camp was dismantled before the end of the year, and there is now a chain-link fence around the city-owned parking lot.
The city has also posted written anti-camping notices at other city-owned parking lots.
Though a previous lawsuit against the city was withdrawn as a result of the agreement reached in December, the union’s lawyer, Anthony Prince, has said he plans to file another claim against the city that would challenge its right to evict homeless people without providing alternative shelter.
An email into Prince’s office was not returned as of Tuesday night.
The Watsonville City Council discussed the previous litigation at its Tuesday meeting. There was no final action taken on the matter, city attorney Samantha Zutler said.
About a half-dozen residents called into the City Council meeting to voice their concerns about the recent evictions. All said that they were disappointed that the elected leaders were not doing more to address homelessness in the long term.
City Councilwoman Rebecca Garcia said that she and City Councilman Francisco “Paco” Estrada recently met with county officials about the resources available to the city via the Human Services Department. She and Estrada then had a meeting with Interim City Manager Tamara Vides and newly-appointed Watsonville Police Chief Jorge Zamora to relay those findings.
Garcia at the end of the meeting requested the City Council conduct a study session on homelessness at a future meeting.
“I want to know what our current situation is and what options we have to address the seriousness of what we’re experiencing now and possibly in the future,” Garcia said.
