Vallejo community bands together to clean up White Slough

VALLEJO — Dozens of Vallejoans met Saturday morning to help clean up the western entrance of White Slough, which has accumulated heaps of trash over the years as a result of people living there without access to public utilities.

White Slough includes a thin peninsula of land, referred to as “The Island” by residents, which cuts across the lagoon and runs parallel to Highway 37. It is currently the largest homeless encampment in Vallejo, where scores of individuals have been living in makeshift housing for years.

Both housed and unhoused locals worked with organizers and White Slough residents. Organizers handed out dozens of shovels, rakes and brushes along with contractor-sized garbage bags.

Volunteers filled bags and shopping carts with trash and then piled it in the back of pickup trucks, which drove to the Dumpster and emptied their loads. Organizers even rented a skid-steer, proving very handy plowing through huge piles.

Vallejo Together, a nonprofit, brought hot meals to feed the volunteers and Island residents. Clothes and supplies were also provided to White Slough residents.

Shawn O’Mally, 52, is president of the Vallejo Homeless Union and helped organize the event. He said it took over six weeks of planning.

O’Mally, who is homeless himself, said the effort is a great example of community coming together, specifically “showing that the community can work together with homeless people.”

While the day-long efforts filled up a rolloff Dumpster with trash, the foray was only able to penetrate 20 to 30 feet into the encampment, itself over a thousand feet long.

The message to the community however is clear: something can be done about the trash at White Slough and residents are eager to help clean up.

“They don't want to live in garbage obviously,” said O’Mally, who said he hopes this will be the first Dumpster of many.

“We’ve been wanting to clean this up for some time, and finally we have the assistance, the organizations that volunteer, and manpower to do it,” he said. 

Michael Davis, 35, has been living on White Slough for 2 years. In an interview, Davis explained the many challenges that make up Island life, including dealing with the cold, living with no amenities, and mud when it rains.

“The hardest part is getting water,” said Davis, who makes 2-3 mile-long trips a day while carrying five-gallon jugs to get water that he needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning. If they have a generator, they do the same for gas.

“Me and my girl argue over the water because she says I use too much,” he said.

The back and forth trips take up a lot of their time. Without a trash pickup service provided by the city, they also have nowhere to take their garbage.

Residents will “burn anything just to keep warm,” including their trash, resulting in dangerous fumes and fire hazards, said Davis. 

Yet, residents make due. “Being homeless is hard, but as long as you got a couple of people with you, it’s ok, you’ll survive,” said Davis.

Connie Burns, 64 years old, lives in her trailer by the waterfront. She said she was invited to help clean up by her friend O’Mally. 

Even though she doesn’t stay on the Island, she came out Saturday because she understands the need for the homeless community to help each other out. 

Other volunteers came from all walks of life, including medical students at Touro University, city Councilmember Tonia Lediju, county Supervisor Cassandra James, realtors and a local welder.

Eli Smith, vice president of the Homeless Union, said that the larger purpose of the initiative is to develop “prototypes and better solutions for homelessness in our city,” she said in an interview. 

One idea includes a “trash for cash” program, where the city could pay people $5 per bag of trash that they fill cleaning up public land. If the city provided a trash pick up, it would diminish the environmental impact and health hazards of the current situation

However, the city of Vallejo is wary to get involved in White Slough clean up efforts. 

Some parcels at the site are owned by Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District and Caltrans, while others are owned by private entities and individuals, including the Island itself, which is owned by a homeless resident of the encampment. 

The city is litigating with the private property owners to abate them, and city officials said it could take two months to receive the court orders to abate the properties.

“The City does not have the right to enter those properties to perform cleanup,” the city said in a statement in February. It added that city staff are looking for “alternatives” to aid in clean up efforts.

“People complain about this all the time, but they don't want to do anything about it,” said O’Mally.

On Saturday though, everyone was helping, “especially the ones that live here,” O’Mally said.