Nonprofit plans continued cleanup of closed Vallejo Army base, despite threat of arrest

VALLEJO – The Oakland based-nonprofit Urban Compassion Project has continued their clean-up efforts at a former U.S. Army Reserve Center in Vallejo that has become a target for illegal dumpers, despite threats of arrest for trespassing by Solano County Sheriff’s deputies last week. 

The nonprofit is planning a volunteer clean-up day at the Army base on Saturday. According to Urban Compassion Project co-founder Vincent Williams, 52 volunteers have signed up to participate in the event through the group’s website. 

When the group conducted a cleanup on Nov. 10, five sheriff’s deputies arrived at the site, notified the group that they were trespassing and told them that they had to leave the property or they would be arrested. 

Williams, who was leading the clean-up crew that day, agreed to leave but promised to return the next day, even though deputies said that they would be arrested if they returned to the property. 

The group returned the next morning at 8 a.m. and worked until 1 p.m., filling two 40-yard refuse containers that the nonprofit had ordered for the site. The sheriff's deputies did not show up to enforce the trespassing warning.

The nonprofit continued the clean-up efforts on Friday, but that evening after the clean-up crew had left for the day a fire broke out at one of the buildings on the site.

The fire department responded to the dispatch call at 6:56 p.m. and arrived at the site 3 minutes later, according to fire department spokesperson Kevin Brown. The fire burned in a garage that is located about 75 feet from the main building across a paved yard. 

Brown said that debris in the paved yard blocked the firefighters from driving the engine all the way up to the building and caused a minor delay while they connected a longer hose to reach the fire. However, the firefighters were still able to control the fire within 15 minutes of their arrival.

According to Brown, the fire burned materials inside the building and did not spread to the building structure. Firefighters found the body of a dog that had died while trapped inside the building. Homeless residents living at the base said that another dog also died from the smoke. There are no other reports of injuries from the fire. 

The fire department’s investigation into what caused the fire is still ongoing but Brown said that fires at encampments are often caused by cooking or warming fires. 

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Williams and members of the Vallejo Homeless Union who have been participating in the clean-up expressed frustration with the city’s response to their efforts. 

“Everybody in that neighborhood wants that place cleaned up,” said Ben Clausen, a member of the Vallejo Homeless Union. “Urban Compassion Project is cleaning it up for free. Why are we having a huge problem and all this pushback from the city?”

Williams told the council that, “Since the moment we began cleaning the location, we have been met with not partnership, but with resistance. The first step taken by the city was contacting Solano County Sheriff's Department in an attempt to have us trespassed from federal property.”

Williams then claimed that the city of Vallejo contacted Recology and told the company not to support the group by providing trash dumpsters for the clean-up.

Recology had provided a work crew with a large loader for a few hours on Nov. 10 before the sheriff’s deputies arrived. Recology spokesperson Robert Reed said that the company is not entering the property because the deputies asked them to leave. 

City Manager Andrew Murray said that when the nonprofit first contacted the city about their plan to clean up the base, the city was unable to authorize any clean-up effort because the site is federal property. He said that the sheriff’s office was just carrying out their intergovernmental responsibility under a trespass letter, as the Army had requested that the sheriff’s office act as their agent in removing trespassers. 

City officials did not respond to questions from the Vallejo Sun about whether the city had asked Recology not to provide services to Urban Compassion Project’s clean-up efforts at the base. 

In an interview with the Vallejo Sun, Williams said that Urban Compassion project had anticipated a donation from Recology of two large refuse containers to fill on their volunteer day but Williams said that now the group will have to find an alternative means to remove the refuse.

Since the no trespassing order from the sheriff’s deputies, Recology has continued to pick up trash bags that the clean-up crew has been leaving on a portion of the property that is accessible from the street, Williams added.

Williams said that in-kind donations from companies like Recology are very important to the group's work. Each 40-yard refuse container can cost the group as much as $2,400. according to Williams. The group has already filled four of these containers at the Army base in addition to what they have bagged or removed by other means. In total, Williams said that the group has removed 82 tons of refuse and materials from the site. 

Although Urban Compassion Project’s introduction to Vallejo has involved some challenges, the group is making plans for clean-up operations in the White Slough area of Vallejo at an encampment known as the Island, which is a portion of land that extends out into the slough.

At the council meeting Tuesday, Eli Smith of the Vallejo Homeless Union said that in August, the union offered to organize a clean-up of the Island and requested that the city provide dumpsters for the project but received no meaningful response. 

Smith added that she is disappointed that Urban Compassion Project has not received more support from the city when they are offering to independently clean encampments and dump sites at no cost. 

“There's a lot of talk about lack of resources in Vallejo, and nobody knows that better than its residents. But Vallejo’s greatest resource is the strength of its community. We are rich in community, and it's extremely disheartening to see this resource repeatedly disrespected, tossed aside and wasted,” Smith said.

In an interview, Williams said that because of the scale of the work that needs to be done on the Island, the group would need support in the form of in-kind donations from companies like Recology.

Reed, Recology’s spokesperson, said that the company considers all requests for donations on a case by case basis.