Solano County Sheriff halts nonprofit clean-up of U.S. Army Reserve property in Vallejo

VALLEJO – Solano County Sheriff’s deputies told a nonprofit group and its clean-up crew to leave a U.S. Army Reserve property in Vallejo under threat of arrest Monday, after the group had worked most of the day with encampment residents and neighbors to remove materials dumped at the site. 

When Sheriff’s Deputy Dale Matsuoka arrived at just after 4 p.m., the Oakland-based nonprofit Urban Compassion Project was stopping work for the day with plans to return to remove more of the appliances, furniture, building materials and trash left in the parking lot of the federal property. 

Matsuoka said that the group’s volunteers and workers were trespassing and if they remained on the property or returned to the property they would be risking arrest. The crew returned on Tuesday, but as of 1 p.m., the sheriff’s office had not interfered.

The former Army Reserve facility, located at 120 Mini Drive, has been occupied by homeless residents for as long as five years, according to one neighbor. The Vallejo Sun has confirmed reports of people living in the building for at least two years. 

The site has drawn attention for accumulating trash in recent months. Residents have complained at City Council meetings and a number of complaints have been posted on the city’s SeeClickFix page. A video of a person dumping trash at the site went viral on social media last month.

Robert Cantua, who lives around the corner and helped in the clean-up effort, said that dumping at the site has gotten particularly bad in the last six months.

“I don’t think it's the homeless residents that cause this problem, it’s people looking for a free dump.” Cantua said. 

The Urban Compassion Project conducts encampment clean-up operations designed to support homeless communities. The group distributes food and supplies to homeless residents and performs outreach activities to connect homeless individuals with available services.  

Supriya Golas, a co-founder of the group, said that since the organization’s inception in 2021 they have removed 2,900 tons of materials and waste from encampment sites in the Bay Area. She said that most of the organization’s work has taken place in Oakland but they have recently expanded to other Bay Area cities. 

Another co-founder of the group, Vincent Ray Williams, was clearly frustrated by the sheriff’s directions to leave the property and discontinue the clean-up effort.

“People come here and dump continually, nobody has stopped them from dumping in here and trespassing, nobody has fined them, and then all of the sudden somebody comes out here to do the right thing and clean up the trash and they are trespassing,” said Williams. 

In late October, Williams emailed the city of Vallejo to express interest in working with the city to provide outreach and encampment clean-up services. In his email, he notified the city that the group had spoken with individuals living at the Army Reserve facility and had ordered two dump trailers to remove materials from the site on Monday. 

The city’s email in response said that the property is not under the city’s jurisdiction and that the group would have to get permission from the federal government to conduct the clean up.

According to Sheriff’s Sgt. Jason Speakman, U.S. Army officials set up a “no trespass letter” with the sheriff’s office in September which gives the sheriff the authority to take action to prevent trespassing on the site. 

Speakman said that U.S. Army officials received reports that the clean-up activities were taking place on the property and contacted the sheriff’s office to ask them to remove the group. 

On Wednesday, the city of Vallejo issued a press release stating that the Army had communicated to the city and county that no external agencies are allowed to access the property without explicit permission from the Army. It also noted that the Army had retained a contractor to perform clean-up activities but that process was stalled by the government shutdown. 

The city posted an update on Friday stating that they had met with Army representatives. 

“While the Army currently lacks the capacity to perform cleanup operations directly, it has indicated a willingness to reimburse the City for conducting both interior and exterior cleanup of the property,” city officials wrote in the statement. 

The city’s next steps are to provide a cost estimate of the cleanup work to the Army and to arrange for access to the property as well as for reimbursement for the city’s services, according to the statement.

According to Williams, the Urban Compassion Project’s average cost for a clean up is $5,000.

City Manager Andrew Murray, Assistant City Manager Nalungo Conley and assistant to the city manager Natalie Peterson showed up at the Army property while the deputies were removing the nonprofit workers. 

Murray said that if the city conducts the clean-up of the site as planned, those living at the site will be asked to leave.

The Urban Compassion Project’s approach is to clean up encampment sites in coordination with those who live there. The group pays encampment residents and other program participants $25 an hour to help with the clean up. 

Jaisaun Harris, who is 48 and lives at a nearby encampment, said that when he heard about the paying work, he jumped at the chance. “I thought it’s an opportunity to show people my skills, I mean, it’s not complicated work but you have to keep at it and be efficient,” he said.

Bella W., who is 35 and lives in one of the buildings on the property, said that she has tried hard to keep parts of the camp in reasonable condition but the dumping was more than she could handle. She said she understands that it is expensive for people to dispose of materials and some of it is valuable for the residents to pick through and recycle but the dumping has gotten out of hand. 

“I stay in a garage that has a locking door and enough room for my two dogs,” she said, adding that the location is not too far from the city’s navigation center, where some encampment residents go to take showers. 

For most of the morning and afternoon on Monday, the clean-up team was using a compact loader to lift materials into two large debris boxes. In the afternoon, a team of Recology workers showed up with a large loader and made significant progress clearing the lot. 

One of the members of Recology’s team, Derek Nelson, said that Recology donates their services to various groups like Urban Compassion Project. He pointed to Recology’s facility, which is visible from the site and said that they had noticed that the site was getting worse and worse and had wanted to do something about it. So, when they saw the request for assistance from the nonprofit they decided to go around the corner and help out.

“We all live and work here in Vallejo and we want to contribute to making it better,” said Nelson.

Recology spokesperson Robert Reed said that Recology is in full support of the city and wants to do everything that they can to have a healthy, successful Vallejo, but they were not aware of the city’s press releases regarding the site. 

On Tuesday at 8 a.m., Williams returned with his crew to continue cleaning the site and the group worked until 1 p.m. with no sign of the sheriff or city officials. Williams said that the group will come back Friday and work through the weekend. The group is also planning to hold a volunteer day the following weekend, Saturday Nov. 22. 

“We have 23 volunteers already signed up and usually our volunteer days bring out about 40 people,” Williams said. “Vallejo residents came by today and said they appreciate the work we are doing so we are going to continue.”

Vallejo resident and a member of the clean-up crew, Ben Clausen, said that Recology told the group that the company will no longer come on the site but they are willing to pick up items the clean up crew stages on the other side of the gate near the sidewalk.

“While we have been cleaning up we have seen trucks pull up ready to dump but they left when they saw the crew,” Clausen said. “We want them to know that we are not going to tolerate dumping here anymore.”