City of Vallejo tells encampment to vacate ahead of bike trail project

VALLEJO – Vallejo city employees notified encampment residents along Enterprise Street on Tuesday that they will have to move over the holidays in preparation for a rehabilitation project at the nearby bike trail or their belongings will be impounded starting Jan. 2. 

Assistant to the City Manager Natalie Peterson, accompanied by four Vallejo police officers and a Solano County Sheriff’s deputy, began posting notices along Enterprise Street just after 9 a.m. Peterson and the officers walked from tent to tent calling out to see if anybody was inside and then passed laminated notices through tent flaps to residents who responded.

City officials will return again next week to remind the encampment residents that they have to leave, according to an email from the city manager’s office to the City Council that was obtained by the Vallejo Sun. The flyers that Peterson and the officers posted at the encampment state that all personal property must be removed by Jan. 1 and that anything left behind will be removed that week.

According to the city, the Enterprise Street encampment is in the way of a $10.5 million construction project to rebuild the bike path that connects Napa County’s Vine Trail to the San Francisco Bay Trail. 

A section of the project from Sacramento Street along Wilson Avenue was completed by construction crews earlier this month. Crews are slated to begin work on the section of Enterprise Street next to Highway 37 in early January.

But residents of the camp and homeless advocates have questioned the timing and what options are available to the people being displaced by the project. 

“Can’t they just let people relax over the holidays?,” said Michael Nicolai, who lives at the Enterprise encampment. 

Housing and Community Development Commissioner Joey Carrizales, who was at the camp observing when Peterson and the officers arrived, said that he has just one question for city officials: “Where do they go?”  

Peterson said that the Solano County Behavioral Health outreach team will visit the encampment before the deadline to connect residents with services. But she said that she does not know if any housing services are available.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Martin v. Boise prohibits cities and counties from removing encampments from public property unless there is a sufficient number of shelter beds available. Although the city does not have adequate shelter, Peterson said that this ruling does not prevent the city from clearing the camp. 

“There is going to be a construction project here and this area will not be a safe location, that is why Martin v. Boise does not come into play,” Peterrson said.

Ashlee Oriente lives at the Enterprise encampment with her mother who is disabled and in ill health, she said that it will be difficult to coordinate with someone who has a vehicle to move their things over the holidays and on such short notice.

“I’m in panic mode right now!” Oriente said. “Where are we going to go? How am I going to transport the things we need?”

Peterson said that the city is not making any recommendations as to where the encampment residents should go next. “The city does not currently have a safe camping or parking area,” but the council will be considering that option in the new year, she said.