Vallejo clears encampment under threat of arrest for bike path project

VALLEJO – Vallejo city workers cleared structures and camping gear from a homeless encampment on Enterprise Street using large trucks and hydraulic loaders after Vallejo police and sheriff’s deputies ordered encampment residents out under threat of arrest late Wednesday morning.

City officials posted notices on Dec. 19 that the camp would be cleared for bike trail construction and anything remaining after Jan. 2 would be removed for disposal or impound.  

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.

The removal of the camp began on Tuesday when workers cleared some of the debris on the outskirts and gave residents a final notice that the area would be cleared the following day. 

The Enterprise Street camp had about 20 regular residents. Over the holidays, some people moved to other encampments, but space is limited at many of the nearby camps. On Wednesday morning, seven members of the camp were still working to pack their belongings. 

Victor Meno, a 53-year-old resident of the camp, refused to leave. “Where else are we supposed to go?” he said. “I get almost a suicidal feeling. I mean, I’m not suicidal, but it's that feeling that you have nothing else you can do.”

As soon as city workers removed debris left from the individual sites that had been vacated, five Vallejo police officers and three Solano County Sheriff’s deputies told the residents to leave.

Police threatened Meno and other campers with arrest if they did not get out of the way of city workers. Meno bargained to gather a few last carts of equipment and tools and scoop up his cat as city workers blocked off the area with cones.  

After he got out of the way, city workers towed Meno’s trailer and loaded up the items he had not put to the side. 

Vallejo Assistant to the City Manager Natalie Peterson said that residents will have 90 days to retrieve their belongings before they are destroyed. But she said that the residents need to clearly point out which items they want to keep so they can be tagged and labeled.

The two-week notice is a new approach that the city is testing for clearing encampments that are in the way of construction projects, according to Peterson. 

“We are trying to find that sweet spot that provides enough time for people to pack up their belongings” but allows construction projects to stay on schedule, Peterson said.

As part of the new approach the city arranged for county social service workers to visit the site and offer services during the two-week notice period. Peterson said that the county visited Enterprise Street two or three times in the two weeks spanning the winter holidays. 

But residents of the encampment said that there is no offer for shelter or housing from the county social services and some said that the outreach workers had not spoken to them at all.

Workers from the Solano County Health and Social Services department who visited the Enterprise Street encampment on Dec. 28 said that they did not have a direct offer of housing or shelter but they could help residents sign-up for Medi-Cal health services, Cal-Fresh food benefits, or general assistance. 

Once encampment residents sign-up for the basic services, there may be other programs that they qualify for but workers said that is handled by other divisions of the department.  

One resident, Mike, said that he wanted to sign up for Medi-Cal but the workers had not spoken with him. Another woman who goes by Miss Leilani said that she needed help collecting documents to prove her citizenship so she could access benefits. She said that she wanted to talk with the workers but she did not have time because she was too busy moving.

By the time members of the encampment had rounded up the final items that they had pulled to the side in bags or shopping carts, it was already evening. 

Meno said that he could stay in the cab of his truck for the night but he probably will lie awake worrying about how he will get his trailer and other belongings back.

Mike was left with two shopping carts of belongings and his dog. He said he would push the carts nearby and try to make a warm camp for the two of them.