(Please mention in the check for which cause you donate).

Homeless Issues

The SDPD Mid-City Division, which includes Rolando Park, holds a monthly Homeless Coalition meeting chaired by Officer Josh Cummings on the last Tuesday of every month at 8 am. Any Mid-City Division resident interested in homeless issues is welcome to attend.

The coalition includes SDPD Mid-City officers, Neighborhood Policing Division, including the Homeless Outreach Team officers, City Park Rangers, Environmental Services Department representatives, and City Council Districts 9 and 4 representatives, County and nonprofit homeless service organizations, and residents of Mid-City communities including Rolando Park.

Anyone interested can participate in these meetings, held the last Tuesday of every month, 8am-9am at the Mid-City Division, 4310 Landis, 92105.

Information on Get It Done reports for homeless encampments

•  To report homeless encampments for intervention by SDPD, ESD (Environmental Services Department to remove encampment trash), or San Diego City Park Rangers (for City parks property), use a Get It Done report via the app or website.
• Only one GID report per encampment is necessary for these three agencies. More than one report per encampment does not give the location a higher priority. Generally, the reports are addressed in the order of receipt. Multiple reports about the same location get only one response from the three agencies, but result in more administrative time to process a response to each GIT report online.

It is helpful to give individual reports on separate encampments in the same neighborhood.

• Because Neighborhood Policing (the Division charged with responding to reports about homeless encampments) is short-staffed, they are grouping reports by geographic proximity so all available NP officers can respond to encampments within a specific area.

For example, there are usually encampments in Rolando Park on Rolando south of University, on Aragon across from the Kroc Center, and on the east side of Bonilla. Each of these separate locations need a separate report, but only one report per location. This allows NP to group their response to these locations.

• When you receive a “closed” response to a GID report, it will usually say NP made contact and closed the report. Closing a GID report does not mean that the encampment is gone. It means that the officers made contact and addressed the inhabitants with one of the four steps in the Progressive Enforcement process (from warning to citation to arrest). If the encampment remains, it is necessary to do another GID report to initiate NP making another contact with a higher level of enforcement. NP can only “enforce” a higher level of enforcement if there is an emergency shelter bed available and the homeless individual is refusing to accept that bed.

•  NP and ESD try to coordinate their response at the same time so ESD can immediately clean the location as soon as the police complete their intervention. Sometimes ESD cleanup crews cannot be available at the same location at the same time. They will then come in at a later day.
• It’s important to give as much detail as possible when completing a GID report: specific location, risk of fire, observation of cooking or campfires, proximity to schools, number of individuals, amount of trash and belongings, observation of activity/behavior, if known.

SDPD Mid-City Division Homeless Coalition Meetings

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Attendees:

Brandon Roberts, Neighborhood House Association, Security
Chris Dainty, Owner, Key and Cleaver
Christine Young, Resident, Colina del Sol
Derrick Torrence, Neighborhood House Association, Security
Fernando Garcia, Resident, Kensington, Candidate for D9
Gerrie Flaven, Resident, Rolando Park Community Council
Ida Buckles, Resident, Fairmount Village, Bobbi’s Canyon
Jennipher Hager, Owner, Key and Cleaver
John Luellen, NPD, CRO, Get It Done Coordinator
Josh Cummings, NPD, Mid-City CRO, 820s
Lexi Chavez, PATH, Outreach Specialist, City Heights – 619-981-8095
Linda Pennington, President, Azalea Park Neighborhood Association, Project CLEAN
Monica Ball, UPLIFT (Urban People Living in Faith and Trust)
Noema Aguilar, UCSD, Upward Bound Mentor for Hoover High Students
Roberta Cox, Resident, Rolando
Robin Baker, Resident, Talmadge, KenTal Litter Pickers
Serafina Marquez, SDPD Mid-City CRO, 830s
Terry Hoskins, SDPD Mid-City CRO, 810s, 10/27/23, Candidate for D9
Vickie Church, Resident, Leader of Friends of Chollas Creek Oak Park Branch

Introductions

Neighborhood Policing Division Community Relations Officer John Luellen noted that the time that the NPT (Neighborhood Policing Team) will be focusing on Mid-City is ending. Also, 1/3 of the team is out on illness and overtime is kicking in.

Vickie Church noted some issues with making a Get It Done report. For a car blocking a driveway, CRO Josh Cummings advised calling SDPD Dispatch as this issue is taken very seriously as the residents could have a medical emergency.

Robin Baker reported that the cleanup of the colony of encampments that are located on City land along the west side of the southbound lane of Fairmount Ave. from the Aldine Drive overpass to the large pine tree south of the bridge was finally cleaned up after 6 months of reporting. Ron Anderson had also been reporting this spot and had said last that, 6 months ago, the KenTal Litter Pickers had cleaned this area spotlessly. Robin noted that the KenTal Litter Pickers had an event on Sunday. They have been holding regular events for years.

Officer John Luellen suggested calling Franklin Cooper Smith of Environmental Services Department for cleanup issues. John also noted that he gets notified every time there is a fire created by a homeless person and that he creates a Get It Done report from that notification.

Christine Young of Colina del Sol said that she was told that nothing could be done about building fires in the camps in Colina del Sol Park. Josh said the City is working on creating some 10pm to dawn park closing hours for Colina del Sol. The basketball court should be locked at night to discourage camping there.

Josh also noted the outreach on University Ave. Chris Dainty, co-owner of Key and Cleaver thanked Josh for the changes. A 4-way camera has been installed and after a construction crew got into a violent altercation with some homeless individuals, security was hired.

John noted that acceptance of services is about one in ten.

Josh said PATH Outreach Specialist Lexi Chavez had been at Colina del Sol Park. One man agreed to go to the Step Program so getting results had been a “run-around” situation. Lexi noted that most people on the street have filled out housing accessibility paperwork. Lexi provided her phone number: 619-981-8095 as well as Path’s Caleb Ferguson’s number: 619-907-5027. Both Lexi and Caleb work in City Heights. Lexi says that sometimes the homeless need to see the effort and will become more receptive to accepting services. Vickie Church noted a particular woman at Redwood and 54^th. Lexi said that woman is very mentally ill and would not engage but 4 people from Redwood and 54^th went to Safe Sleeping. Lexi stayed with one man for 5 hours but then he picked up the ball and went to the bank himself. Lexi describes a “ripple effect”. Homeless individuals visit their friends who have gone from shelter to housing and they become motivated to do the same.

CARE Court was launched on October 1, 2023. Terry sent the link to this info: (From the Behavioral Health Services website: CARE Court – a pilot program in San Diego County: The Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment [CARE] Court program will create a new pathway to deliver mental health and substance use services to individuals who are diagnosed with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders and are not engaged in treatment. Through a new state law, CARE Court creates a process for families, clinicians, first responders, and others to file a petition with the civil court to connect individuals [ages 18+] to court-ordered voluntary treatment if they meet criteria and would benefit from the program. San Diego County is a pilot county and will launch the CARE Court program on October 1, 2023, in collaboration with the Superior Court, the Public Defender, legal advocacy, contracted service providers, and community partners.) Monica Ball says there is funding for 350 people.

Josh notes that 5150 has the same criteria. (From Google: 5150 is the number of the section of the Welfare and Institutions Code, which allows an adult who is experiencing a mental health crisis to be involuntarily detained for a 72- hour psychiatric hospitalization when evaluated to be a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled.) San Diego also has PERT (Psychiatric Emergency Response Team) officers who are funded by the County. We are the only ones who have this. A PERT officer will also respond with other officers when Adult Protective Services are called when there are concerns about an elderly neighbor.

Gerrie Flaven notes the new CA Senate Bill 43 includes chronic alcoholism. This is being tested in San Diego County. (Senate Bill 43 expands the definition of “gravely disabled,” the legal standard for detaining people and putting them into conservatorship without their consent, as well as introduces bonds and ballot measures to build treatment beds and housing units. In addition, Senate Bill 43 encompasses people with a severe substance use disorder, such as chronic alcoholism, and no longer requires a co-occurring mental health disorder.) Gerrie says to qualify for CARE Court, a person almost has to be psychotic.

Lexi related a case where a pregnant 25-year-old woman got a 5150 and was put in a long-term care facility in Costa Mesa. Her baby was born healthy. At first the woman hated Lexi but now she is grateful to her.

Monica says they need regular people to assist UPLIFT. She says Gerrie is one of their best volunteers. When a person goes to the street, they eventually become mentally ill. Once in housing, they don’t have the oversight they need except for maybe a once a month visit. There is a 30% recidivism of former homeless who return to the street. Those placed in motels, must move every 28 days.

Terry asks how the system tracks repeat persons. For example, if the governor says we housed X number of people, is the same person counted 3 times if they get into housing and return to the street 3 times. Gerrie says the stats are unclear. She knows her part but no one knows the entire system. She says she thinks it’s OK to count repeats but the stats need to reflect that detail. Also, Gerrie notes that if no contact is made with the case manager after three months, then the individual is dropped from HMIS (Homeless Management Information System). (Link to HMIS: https://www.rtfhsd.org/about-coc/homeless-management- information-system-hmis/)

Derrick Torrence noted that when he did intake for a homeless veterans’ facility, he struggled with stats. One person would go from system to system, spending 30 days in one place and then they would leave and move on to the next. Those situations are very difficult to track.

Roberta Cox said she sees the sidewalks being cleared of campers and they simply move to the street parking area. She was advised to make a Get It Done report or call in to the SDPD non-emergency number: 619-531-2000.

Chris Dainty wants to see the stats on the City spending on homeless.

–Tuesday, September 30, 2023–

Attendees:
Chris Dainty, Owner, Key and Cleaver
Derrick Torrence, Neighborhood House Association, Security
Francisco Peralta, Representative, D9 Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera
Ida Buckles, Resident, Fairmount Village, Bobbi’s Canyon
Jennipher Hager, Owner, Key and Cleaver
John Luellen, NPD, CRO, Get It Done Coordinator
Jose Cervantes, City Heights Business Association
Josh Cummings, Mid-City CRO, 820s
Julie Germaine, PATH, North Park, University Heights, and North of I8
Linda Pennington, President, Azalea Park Neighborhood Association, Project CLEAN
Matt Levasseur, NPD
Noema Aguilar, UCSD, Upward Bound Mentor for Hoover High Students
Roberto Marin, Representative, D9 Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera
Robin Baker, Resident, Talmadge, KenTal Litter Pickers
Sera Marquez, SDPD Mid-City CRO, 830s
Terry Hoskins, SDPD Mid-City CRO, 810s, Retiring October 27

Introductions

Terry Hoskins noted that Mid-City Division has 2 new Lieutenants: Lt. Luis Carbaval for the 810s and Lou Magi for the 820s. Terry is retiring on October 27. Terry introduced his replacement for the 810s Service Area, Community Relations Officer Josh Cummings. Terry says that Officer Cummings is a combat Marine veteran who served in an additional capacity while in harm’s way. Just this past month, Officer Cummings was conducting United States Marine Corps Reserve training – so he is still serving. Josh has spent ten years in Mid-City. He has been assigned to the Crime Suppression Team, the Gang Unit and has done Problem Solving with Terry. Josh’s work phone is: 619-301-9460 (He is working on getting Terry’s old number which is: 619-517-0939).

Officer Sera Marquez has been with Mid-City for 7 years and now covers the 830s Service Area as Community Relations Officer.

Robin Baker noted she was planning to attend a Coastal Coalition meeting on Monday, October

Julie Germain is new to the MCHC She is with PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) and is assigned to North Park, University Heights and the area north of I8.

Jennipher Hagar and Chris Dainty are also new to this They own Key and Cleaver at 4727 University Ave., open M-F, Noon to 10, Saturday 10 to 10 with Brunch on Sunday 10 to 2. They have a private meeting space upstairs. Linda noted that an artist neighbor held a painting workshop on their second floor recently. Jennipher says they have participated in cleanups around the block including the recent September 23 Coastal Cleanup Day.

NPD Officer Matt Levasseur was in attendance, filling in for Pat Heller.

Linda Pennington noted that the Mid-City Homeless Coalition meeting started on March 19, 2015, with Terry Hoskins and 5 City Heights Community The distribution list has grown to 185 people. Attendance is usually around 20 but many of the ones who aren’t present say they read the notes and share them with colleagues in their office so they can keep up with the changing protocols.

NPD CRO John Luellen says they are now in Phase 2 of the new Unsafe Camping Ordinance which forbids camping within two blocks of a school and a shelter, along trolley tracks and transportation hubs, in a canyon, in a park or a waterway like the San Diego River regardless of shelter availability due to those locations considered to be high risk to public health and safety. The City Manager decides on the The squad goes to parks every day. The shelters are pretty full but often only have top bunks or limited tent area. (Many homeless are not physically able to get up to a top bunk.) Signs are still needed to post the 5 areas noted in the new ordinance. The City has to get permits to develop new shelter and camp areas and that takes time. Outreach still has to be first. Officers give a warning and education. At the next encounter they hand out misdemeanors and citations. Jail is the next step if shelter is available but so far no one has gone jail because at that point, the homeless are gone.

Jose Cervantes says University has hot spots and asked how to get them Menlo and University Ave. is within two blocks of a school as is Wilson and University. John Luellen said you must make a Get It Done report as decisions are made based on data. Also, signs must be posted by the City. Terry suggests contacting Eric Dargar, the City Manager and Chief Operations Officer. John notes they still have staffing issues so the City is trying to prioritize.

Robert Marin, Rep for D9, says that Stella has been complaining about an ongoing homeless issue over on RexOfficers say the homelessthat arecampedthere are onprivate property andtheowner must signacitizen’sarrest.Officerscanpreservethepeace while the owner cleans the area but the City will not clean up private property.Robert says that Stella says there is vandalism and robbery associated with this camp.It was noted that City staff has protocol for contacting department heads but non-staff can contact anyone.

Jose says the MTS bus stop at the southeast corner of 50^th and University has encampments in the fenced area. John says to report this to MTS and Get It Done. Terry says all Bus and Trolley stops are a mess on University and most of us wouldn’t use them. He went on to say that before staffing issues, SDPD enforced loitering and smoking for 25 feet around bus stops. Robert says the bus stops are cleaned 1 to 2 times a week. Jose says the City Heights Business Association pays JPA once a week. JPA Janitorial Services] is an independent contractor hired by MTS to do maintenance services on MTS-owned bus shelters e., emptying attached trash cans to the bus shelters, power-washing, pick up trash, graffiti removal, etc. The current University Ave. project includes new bus stops. Jose also says that there are no streets lights on the two blocks of University between 46^th and 47^th.

Roberta asks when SDPD is getting She says Rolando is turning into a crime spot. She says a guy on a bike with a bat raped two women in her area and beat them with a bat. Terry says the SDPD Academy has 4 phases of training before they can go out on patrol, and that the San Diego pay for police officers is not compatible with other cities. Also, our officers need to feel supported. Police recruitment has been an issue for 10 years and the mayor and the council have to support them. He notes that the Citizens Police Board is mostly comprised of activists who do not support the police. Terry has sat through 3 negotiations with the City.

Robin thanked SDPD for their response to the Aldine Fairmount Hot Naome thanked everyone for their good work and passion and said she had been looking for a group like the MCHC to join. Julie said she was happy to be at the meeting. Robert said he appreciated being at the meeting and noted how important it was for the community to be their eyes and ears. Ida expressed her thankfulness for SDPD and ESD. Jose and Derrick also expressed thanks.

Jennipher invited everyone to come into Key and She expressed the need for Smart Street Lights. Chris noted issues at City Heights Market at 4634 University Ave. CRO Josh thinks there is a gambling den there – a small operation with 2 machines – which is only a misdemeanor crime and needs to be a felony. He advises Chris to call SDPD even for loitering and spitting on the sidewalk. Sera says to request extra patrols by using this link: https://www.sandiego.gov/police/services/request-additional-patrol. Once you submit the request, let your CRO know, and they can forward it to the patrol sergeants who work that area. (Josh has the 820s, Sera has the 830s, and Jenny Hall has the 810s.)

–Tuesday, August 29, 2023–

Terry Hoskins – Retiring on October 27.  He will be working 2 days a week until that date.  Joshua Cummings will be stepping into the CRO position; Terry and Joshua will be working together starting September 17.

Vickie Church – There was a successful cleanup on Sunday of a path from Community Gardens to Chollas Creek.

Francisco Peralta Vargas, D9 Representative

• City Council is in recess. Sean Elo-Rivera is on paternity leave for a month, but the D9 staff are still working.
  • Francisco has been doing walks with business to identify issues
  • Parks and Recreation considering putting in a dog park at NW corner of Colina Park
  • University Avenue (under construction): Installation of three roundabouts to slow traffic.  Working on addressing parking concerns.
  • Sept 14: There will be a curbside collection with Environmental Services in Colina del Sol.

John Luellyn, SDPD – Update on new no camping ordinance: Downtown area was first area of focus.  SDPD evaluating what went well/what can be improved.  Training for officers in progress.

John Brady, Lived Experience

• Shelters opened for inclement weather cannot remain open permanently because these places are used for other activities.
  • Estimates 6,500 homeless individuals in San Diego; count is probably much higher
• 55+ and seniors are the fastest rising group of homeless.  County program to help seniors stay in their homes by helping pay a portion of their rent.  He may have been referring to this program.

PATH – Opening a new group to service North Park to Clairemont

–Tuesday, July 25, 2023–

Attendees:
Bryan Do Resident, Fox Canyon
Daniel Ruiz City, Park and Rec Senior Open Space Ranger
Dawn Anderson Resident, Talmadge
Derrick Torrence Neighborhood House Association, Security
Francisco Peralta Representative, D9 Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera
Gerrie Flaven Resident, Rolando Park Community Council
Ida Buckles Resident, Fairmount Village, Bobbi’s Canyon
John Luellen NPD, CRO, Get It Done Coordinator
Lexi Chavez PATH, Outreach Specialist, City Heights
Linda Pennington President, Azalea Park Neighborhood Association, Project CLEAN
Makwana SDPD, Lt. Neighborhood Policing Team
Lucero Maganda Mayor’s Office, Community Representative for Districts 8 & 9
Monica Ball UPLIFT (Urban People Living in Faith and Trust)
Rich Belmontez Resident, Rolando
Roberto Marin Representative, D9 Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera
Robin Baker Resident, Talmadge, KenTal Litter Pickers
Ron Anderson Resident, Talmadge
Sharon Johnson PATH, Outreach Specialist, Rolando
Terry Hoskins SDPD Mid-City Community Relations Officer
Tom Sadler ESD, CLEAN SD
Vickie Church Resident, Leader of Friends of Chollas Creek Oak Park Branch

• Introductions
• Lt. Makwana noted that her six Neighborhood Policing Team squads cover all nine San Diego City Council Districts.
• Vickie Church said she appreciates the information that she get from reports to NPT when they close a report. Details like “Referred to ESD” and “Couldn’t find” are helpful to the person who made the report. She noted that camps typically return right away. Fires in creek or canyon areas, whether they are cooking fires or warming fires, are alarming.
• Officer John Luellen said that San Diego Fire Rescue still lets Neighborhood Policing know about any fires involving homeless.
• Lucero Maganda said the Unsafe Camping Ordinance will be implemented starting August 1. She had asked Lt. Makwana to attend this meeting because of the questions that were included in last month’s notes.
• Lucero reported that 75 individuals accepted shelter at the new campsite.
  On July 19, Smart Street Lights were approved at the Public Safety Committee by a vote of 3 to (Note from Linda: Councilmembers Campillo, von Wilpert and Campbell voted to approve, Councilmember Steppe voted against. The question will come to the full Council on August 1. You can submit a comment online before 8:00am)
• Francisco reported that Council President Sean Elo-Rivera is on maternity leave. I know we all wish him and his wife the best as they become parents for the first time.
  Francisco has been working on many constituent issues: brush management reports, business parking on University Ave., etc. D9 has been short staffed but is now hiring.
  D9’s Roberto Marin says lots of Chollas Creek brush management requests have come in – the City will try to get it by October. Roberto reported a cleanup at the shooting site in Chollas Creek. Twenty-seven Get It Done reports have been submitted, 5 or 6 have been regarding camps, and the rest are illegal dumping.
• Terry noted that PATH (People Assisting The Homeless) are still involved. Lt. Makwana said that since the Neighborhood Policing Team only deals with criminal issues, they don’t cross paths with PATH. NPT does accompany ESD when they are cleaning up a camp just to make sure the ESD staff is safe.
• Tom Sadler of ESD says the process is constantly changing. Signage has to be installed around schools and shelters where homeless will not be allowed to camp even if no shelters are available. Homeless in those areas will be given 24 hours to vacate although that time could be extended for delays due to rain.
  Robin Baker asked if signs will be posted in hot spots. Toms said, “No”. Tom did note that ESD has a very successful “Hot Spot” program. Now trucks drive around and remove alley trash. ESD has two new officers coming on next month.
• Terry took photos of the Talmadge Hot Spot but no one was there. John said NPT only goes in if there are homeless individuals in the camp. If a camp is abandoned, the report goes to ESD. If the camp looks active but no one is there at the time, NPT will go again.
• Tom Sadler says they first check to see if the camp is on public, private, or Open Space. ESD will not clean up private property. If there is a small hazardous waste item, ESD (or even rangers) will grab the item and drop it of at a City facility. If it is large, then a contractor will be called out to handle it as ESD has no way to deal with it. The different departments work it out.
• Ron Anderson asked if an SDPD officer could be with them when the KenTal Litter Pickers do their First Sunday Aldine and Fairmount cleanup. Lt. Makwana said most teams are working the downtown and Central Division. If they know about the cleanup, they will try to make it. This week camps were located ON the trolley tracks on Commercial so clearing the tracks off was an emergency situation.
• Terry noted that our Mid-City Community Relations Officer Serafina Martinez is back at work from her maternity leave. Terry has been covering his ten neighborhoods in the 820s services area plus Sera’s eight in the 830s so it’s good to have her back.
  Derrick asked if the signs have to be installed by the City. Tom said yes. Lt. Makwana noted that grades K through 12 are included but not Headstarts. Derrick provides security to several Neighborhood House Association Headstarts and deals with many egregious homeless problems around their facilities.
• Lucero noted that if any of those facilities are near a canyon or waterway, they would be covered by the Unsafe Camping Ordinance.
• Lt. Makwana said that tents and containers for belongings are provided at the new 20th and B camping site.
• Terry reported that the shooter in the homicide in Chollas Creek Neighborhood at a Streamview and Winlow house was in custody. The house has been a chop shop. The property owner is now involved.
• Last week, Terry was with Park and Rec at Wightman Park. They were cleaning out culverts.

–Tuesday, June 27, 2023–

• Introductions
• SDPD Mid-City Jack Pearson of the 830s Service Area stopped in to introduce himself and thank everyone for their attendance at this meeting.
• Vickie Church reported meeting Jason of ESD who was with a crew in Chollas. The crew cleaned up the bulk of the trash and debris. Jason also went with Vickie to check out a different Chollas Creek location that needs work.
• Francisco of D9 reported on construction on University and issues with construction
• There have been multiple ESD Curbside Pickup Sixteen tons were picked up in Teralta East and Teralta West. Rolando and Fairmount Village are slated to have “mini-curbside” pickups.
• Francisco has been working with neighbors on a Code Enforcement hoarding situation, 2 or 3 felony arrests and eviction proceedings in the Castle Neighborhood at 3911 and 3921 Myrtle involving a divorce, the husband remained, and homeless were invited in.
• D9’s Naveed Haris noted that the Unsafe Camping Ordinance which passed on June 13 will be live beginning in
• Terry mentioned the tragic June 19th unprovoked stabbing/murder of our 65-year-old City Heights neighbor, Chi Thi Kim Cao in the Central Avenue Mini-Park. Silivesinusi Patafalai Hamal, who lives nearby, was caught on a neighbor’s security camera and has been arrested.
• Terry noted that the homeless need to be in shelters with services first, not housing Marsha Lyon confirmed that the San Diego Housing Commission is placing homeless in housing where families with children are living and that this is not an appropriate place for them to be. Marsha has related a situation where young children witnessed a very disturbed former homeless resident who had been placed in their apartment complex jumping off the roof and committing suicide. Lexi says case managers help with housed individuals but push others to transitional housing. Derrick says that it is not realistic to expect an individual who has lived on the street for 10 years to be able to live with a roof over their heads. He says he used to work intake for homeless veterans and knows of one individual who built a bonfire in his living room. Marsha and Derrick both know of cases where a housed individual invited all of their crack head friends to over. Both have seen rooms that are not fit to live in.
• Linda had sent out an article about the new Chula Vista Bridge Shelter Village, but since sending that out, she had heard from a City employee that there were many problems that were spilling over into the City property next door to this tiny homes village.
• It was noted that there needs to be a different classification for someone who recently lost their job or a senior who can no longer afford their rent.
• Vickie, who is a constant volunteer in the Oak Park section of Chollas Creek, stated that the degradation of our environment is inexcusable.
• Francisco expressed concern about substandard conditions of some of the apartment He noted that the tenant reporting the substandard conditions are retaliated against.
• Linda said she was asked to bring up two questions about the new Unsafe Camping Ordinance:
  • Who will post in Open Space? Answer: Not ESD will post when they schedule a cleanup.
  • Who will abate a camp? Answer: ESD
• Terry shared a situation on 41^st behind the gas station. There are 3 units. A trespasser jumps the fence and is living on an upper deck at one of the units. Trespassing is a Citizen’s Arrest situation. Also, one can get a restraining order.
• Pat Heller said the Neighborhood Policing Team has had a very busy month with 200 Get it Done reports to respond. His team was also called on to help with the situation where the officer was shot by a homeless person and they helped search the canyon looking for the stabber/murderer of Ms. Chi Thi Kim Cao.
• As far as the Unsafe Camping Ordinance that was passed, there is a required “second reading” at City Council that is usually on the consent agenda. This second reading was happening today. Pat said signs will have to be made after a decision is made of what they will say. This will be a slow process. Jails and courts both have to be on board. Captain Shawn Takeuchi, the captain of the Neighborhood Policing Division, is still working on a plan which he will have to submit for approval.

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

• Introductions
• Neighborhood Policing Division Community Relations Officer John Luellen led the meeting in CRO Terry Hoskins’ absence who was in Riverside at his graduation ceremony for Doctor of Public Administration from the College of Arts and Sciences from California Baptist University. All present expressed heartfelt CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Sgt. Major SDPD CRO Terry Hoskins!
• Vickie Church noted problems with GID GPS: Reports in Chollas Creek are being mispositioned by the app. The app is designed to pick the closest parcel, regardless of where the reporter put the initial GPS John says if this occurs; please respond back to the email saying that the issue was not resolved/addressed. Linda said when reporting canyon issues, she makes the GID report from her home computer so she can attach a map with the location clearly marked along with any photos of the camp. Also, add extra details about the location in the description part of the report, like the best entry point in the canyon to get to the camp.
• Christina reports that homeless are still living in their cars around Colina Del Sol Park. They hang out in the park in the daytime and continue to build The NO FIRE signs that were posted have been torn down. The San Diego Fire Rescue Department refuses to respond to small fires if there is no danger of burning down the park. Homeless are also bringing furniture into the park. Also, when Christina took a photo from a distance, a woman followed her home. Vickie suggested contacting the head of SDFR Chief Colin Solwell and the head of Park and Recreation Director Andy Field. John recommended to keep reporting this issue to the Fire Department. He also recommended reporting vehicles that are being inhabited so that officers can come by to do outreach and recommend safe parking areas. Vehicle Habitation is still under litigation. If someone is living in a vehicle, SDPD is not allowed to tow. Pat says some special SDPD units are doing Vehicle Habitation but Safe Parking must be available. John says to describe the vehicle and location. SDPD will go out. It’s possible the occupant may have a warrant, which is an issue that SDPD can do something about. Also, expired plates or junk hanging out of the vehicle can be addressed. Monica suggested UPLIFT may be able to help if the occupant needs gas money to get to a Safe Parking area.
• Bettina reports there was a large 4 or 5 day cleanup around the water tower in Redwood Village about 3 weeks Pat and John say that, so far, the area is staying clean. Some homeless get tired of relocating to another spot and do accept services.
• Vickie reported shoveling at encampments: There are certain encampments in Chollas Creek that are using shovels to dig out embankments, destabilizing the slopes and doing serious environmental damage.
• Pat passed around a business-sized card with a QR code that officers can pass out to homeless to give them information about services and also the ability to do a live chat with someone about services.
• Linda reported 3 very successful community cleanups in the last two weekends: April 15 D9 3-Dumpster Cleanup in the Hollywood Park Neighborhood (next to Hollywood Canyon), April 16 Knights of Columbus Cleanup on Home Ave. and the April 22 Creek to Bay event with 100 sites county-wide.
• Millie noted the large number of homeless on University from 54^th to 70^th.
• Pay to Place for Housing Placement: (Note from Linda: As requested, Monica sent the detailed information below in an email to explain Pay to Place for Housing Placement plus other elements that UPLIFT is working on with RTFH. Thanks, Monica!)
  • Housing Stability Hotline for all, weekend outreach straight into shared housing & placement of street families together into shared housing as first placement.
  • Pay to Place model (working title) is intended to address the 30% recidivism we are experiencing in San Diego, meaning 30% of those we are placing into housing fall back to the street due to lack of housing stability support. That’s very expensive financially & emotionally.
• • Pay to Place is a model designed to encourage successful housing placement & stability for those who have experienced homelessness. Traditionally Homeless Service Providers or Placement Agencies are paid via contracts requiring a set amount or range of placements. That number is often called a contractual “deliverable” with follow up confirming that number has been achieved.
  • Most permanent housing contracts consider the homeless services provider placement agency’s contractual obligation met once the Client has been in place for one year. Therefore, no entity is responsible for longer term housing stability for those Clients after one year. Should issues arise that endanger the Client’s housing stability after lone year, there is no ready access to case management or assistance. So Clients who have already experienced homelessness are again on their own to figure out how to stay housed. That does not traditionally result in success.
  • Pay to Place model modifies the compensation for homeless service providers or placement agencies, funding their basic program costs, staffing, rental assistance, up front for a specific number of clients to be placed. Then the provider or agency is “bonused” for every successful placement. Once they reach initial placement goals they may keep going with as many placements as they can achieve, receiving the placement bonus for each. Client placed receive a follow up call or visit every 6 months for the next 3 years, minimum, from the funding entity, or third party representative confirming the Client is still in housing. Clients do not need to be living in the same location as original placement, but they need to still be in housing. Then the original placement agency receives a little bonus every 6 months for each Client still in Bonus proposed is $5k every 6 months for first 2 years. $3k each 6 months thereafter.
  • In the sales and music world this is called a Every time a client renews an insurance policy or a song is played, the originator of that contract or music track receives a ‘spiff’. This honors the value of the original work and encourages continued engagement to protect the revenue generating nature of that original work.
  • When applied to housing placement & stability it’s a 360 degree win for Much less expensive and less destructive to keep folks in housing once placed, than to let them bounce out and start the whole complicated process over again.
• Derrick noted the encampment at the private property at 5043 Wightman near the Neighborhood House Association Head Start at 3778 Altadena (part of the Unity Church complex there). GID has been submitted. Homeless have knocked down a fence and created a “smirf” camp on the private property. Derrick spoke to some young homeless there who seemed very surprised that they could not camp there. There is also an encampment around the Head Start at 3795 Fairmount, which is part of the library complex.
• Derrick had a meeting with Councilmember Whitman to discuss the School Safe Zone Ordinance that would make camping illegal within a certain distance of schools whether or not shelter beds were Monica and Derrick both expressed dismay that originally the ordinance was just about schools, which had wide support but other areas have been added and resulted in more opposition to getting it passed. Vickie noted that schools are not clearing camps from their property.
• Derrick noted the Rapid Re-Housing often fails because an individual who has been homeless for some time is simply not prepared to live in a house or apartment.
• Jose noted illegal encampments along the I-15 Freeway at Winona and University Ave. John advised making reports on Caltrans property to Caltrans. (Link to report: https://csr.dot.ca.gov/ )
• GID reports are being closed. John again recommends replying to the closed case email and he will re-open the case. Sometimes this issue is closed early by officers that are not familiar with the specific location and cannot find the encampment.
• Jose reported homeless living in a boat on a trailer for 2 weeks at 4001-3 This is still Vehicle Habitation. Pat says he may take a Parking Enforcement officer with him to check it out. Parking Enforcement deals with each case individually.
• Pat advised that the Development Services Department deals with vacant Also, he noted that ESD Program Manager Stephen Bilecz can be contacted: SBilecz@sandiego.gov
• Julieta invited everyone to attend the Chollas Creek Neighborhood Meeting: Thursday, April 27, 11am-12am, to deal with ongoing issues at the Auburn Mini-Park next to the Auburn Park Apartments at 5135 University Ave. The apartment manager will attend.
• Also, Julieta says SAY San Diego is giving out free Narcan.
• Bob Cronk reported on Open Plus at College Rolando Library: This week, SDPL started a policy of keeping security on the clock a little while longer after closing to dissuade establishment of encampments.
• Also, at the recent San Diego Public Library Hiring Fair: 5 folks were hired for entry level positions who were currently unhoused and using the shelters as their current address. Bob noted that these were all highly qualified candidates that were trying to get back on their feet through public service in our city library system. HR and Personnel were at the job fair and streamlined the process.

–Tuesday, March 28, 2023–

• Introductions:
• Neighborhood Policing Division Community Relations Officer John Luellen led the meeting in CRO Terry Hoskins’ absence. John noted that Sgt. Pat Heller’s Neighborhood Policing Team was back working in Mid-City. Pat’s squad of 6 also handles the Eastern and the Northeastern Divisions (94 up to the Wild Animal Park and 805/163 to the eastern border of San Diego) The Redwood Village area next to Darnell School cleanup was rained out. (This was the water tower area.)
• Roberta Cox noted the community of homeless at the Starbucks on 70^th St. around 67^th and University.
• Ida Buckles reported that the 2 tents against the garage at 4666 Landis that she reported in February are still there despite her Get It Done report being closed on February 23. John says the property owner there isn’t making them leave. John sent this to Code and advised Roberta to do another Get It Done.
• Christine Young notes homeless sleeping in their cars and that this has been a problem for 2 to 3 years. NO OPEN FIRE signs have been posted in Colina del Sol Park. John advised Christine to call the Fire Department. They will send a report to John.
• John notes that regarding the Illegal Habitation Laws, the City has shown to the courts that discretion is being used when beds are available. Councilmember Whitburn, with support from Mayor Gloria, has proposed an Unsafe Camping Ordinance that will be presented to the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee on April 13 and if passed will go to the full City Council on April 28.
• This ordinance would prohibit unauthorized tent encampments on public property when shelter is available. Regardless of shelter availability, encampments are prohibited at locations considered to be high risk, such as:
  • within two blocks of K-12 schools
  • within two blocks of a shelter
  • along trolley tracks and transportation hubs
  • certain parks like Balboa Park, Presidio Park, Mission Bay Park and shoreline parks
  • canyons
  • waterways like the San Diego river.
• Derrick Torrence and Monica Ball notes that often homeless individuals have no skill set to be in a house. Derrick says some individuals are just too far gone and that you can’t take a chronically ill person and put them in a house.
• Monica says the recidivism rate is 30%. Although citizens generally object to encampment enforcement, 100% agree that no one should be camping around libraries, daycares, and schools. We don’t need more shelters; we need to get them off the street and into a room. We need a “pay to place” rule for case managers. Case workers would get a bonus if the client remains housed for 6 months and a second one at a year. After a year, case management stops.
• James Lively mentioned again this month that he wants to have a bi-monthly meeting to strategize solutions. Several of the residents that were present expressed an interest. Email him at James.b.lively@gmail.com if you are interested. He will send a link for a “solutions” group.
• Monica says it is illegal to let disabled be homeless. She says 75% of the people cannot get into the top bunk at the shelters.
• Lucero Maganda spoke about the proposed Unsafe Camping Ordinance and said she would keep us updated.

–Tuesday, February 28, 2023–

• Introductions
• SDPD CRO Terry Hoskins shared a traffic stop incident that took place on February 26, 2023, to this group to illustrate the importance of police officers being able to do traffic stops to check for outstanding warrants, stop unsafe vehicles, and question suspicious individuals about criminal It occurred on 2/26/2023 at approximately midnight, Officers observed a white Ford F150 with Washington plates. There was a report of a male pointing an AR-15 rifle at someone. Officer located what believed to be the vehicle and attempted to stop the vehicle. Pursuit began, vehicle became disabled 13 minutes later on Fletcher Parkway and Amaya Dr. in La Mesa. When the male stepped out of the vehicle, he had a loaded revolver in his front waistband, which fell onto the ground. Male was taken into custody; inside the vehicle was an unloaded AR-15 rifle, an unloaded level style rifle, 4–30 magazines for the AR (200 rounds and half were armored piercing rounds), several rounds of .357 ammo, and numerous pairs of brass knuckles. MCHC members clearly understand that SDPD is short on staff and our violent crime rate is the highest that we’ve seen in decades but there is a growing movement in the San Diego community to support the “Protect Act,” which would keep our officers from conducting traffic stops where they often find illegal guns.
• Terry Hoskins: 50th and University is being maintained after the cleanup several weeks ago. The original agreement between ConAm, the owner of Auburn Park apartments and the city to maintain the park next to Auburn Park was recently distributed to Code Enforcement and members of the City Heights Clean and Safe Coalition. The agreement outlines ConAm’s responsibility to clean the park with help from the city since the public can use the park. Since the homeless encampments have made it untenable to maintain the park, the city has agreed not to penalize ConAm for the trash and debris associated with those encampments.
• Colina del Sol: Within the last two weeks, NPD did cleanup and enforcement near Colina del Sol park along 54th
• Linda Pennington noted the ongoing long-term problems with all of Auburn Creek from University next to Auburn Park Apartments, south through Wightman Park and the section south of that from dead end of 50th south of Wightman to Auburn Dr., which Linda worked on with San Diego Canyonlands and Community Housing Works Bandar Salaam Apartments from 2014 to 2019. Countless 40-yard dumpsters were filled. (Further south is the section that Brian Do recently cleaned up with some sheriff’s deputy friends that Wendy Miller and many of us have cleaned before.) Pat Heller said he would check my former project.
• Vickie Church reported the big encampment in the 5600/5700 block of Chollas Parkway was cleaned, but it was all back in 3 weeks.
• Terry noted the encampment around the tow yard at 38^th and He said private property owners can get a stay-away order but they do need a name to apply for one.
• Pat said ESD recently selected and City Council approved Urban Corps to receive a 3-year cleanup Urban Corps has purchased several packer trucks and hired more staff.
• Terry said private property owners can contact Junk King to do cleanups of homeless encampments on their property. Pat Heller says interested owners should file a Get It Done report on private property and come up with a plan to set a date for and organize a cleanup and his team can come and do outreach ahead of You can reach him by emailing neighborhoodpolicing@pd.sandiego.gov and Officer Luellen will get the information to him. Francisco says D9 can help with a dumpster and a landfill pass.
• Conservatorship reform at the State level passed, but Paul Krueger noted that it is being fought in court.
• Lexi Chavez of PATH explained about Waiting Lists for Housing: When clients for housing are enrolled in the CES system, they need to check in with their case manager every 90 days. If they fail to check in, they will be bumped off of waiting lists for various iterations of housing. Gerry Flaven, who volunteers with UPLIFT, says that she has a client who was offered 2 very inappropriate shelters that she rejected, but is now not on the list because she is known to have rejected 2 offers.
• James Lively wants to have a bi-monthly meeting to Email him if you are interested
• Bettina brought up the water tower encampment on mixed private and city property. Pat said they need a cleanup plan before they go in there. Terry noted the encampment is east of the water tower and gave directions: go south on 58^th and turn east on Dandridge for best access. Terry will contact Stephen Bilecz for ownership.
• Francisco noted two upcoming cleanups facilitated by D9 staff: a Litter Pickup on March 4 around Gem Café at El Cajon and Euclid and a Hollywood Canyon Neighborhood Dumpster Day on March 11.
• Derrick says Home looks better but the Neighborhood House Association Head Start at 4111 Home where he works still has 2 homeless near them. In the past, homeless were living on their roof.
• A report from Mayor Gloria had noted for every 10 people that get off the street, 13 more show up.
• Linda asked Pat to describe the territory his squad of 6 Sgt. Heller’s area goes from the 94 up to the Wild Animal Park location. For east-west, it is everything east of 805/163 (where they cross) out to neighboring cities. Geographically, it is very large. Go to the city website under public safety to see a map and look by division. His squad handles Eastern, Mid-City, and Northeastern Divisions.

–Tuesday, January 31, 2023–

• Terry Hoskins: Introductions
• Luellen: Recent Status: Several officers are now assigned just to GID reports. Two times in last month they did outreach and enforcement at 5000 University. Today (1/31) they are focusing on 4000 Orange Ave.
• 5000 University: About a week ago, Sean Elo Rivera (SER) and his team, ESD and NPD visited the encampment area next to Auburn Park Apts to show SER how abatement and the cleanup process works. Marsha Lyons is working with the management teams in the area on possible solutions.
• Brady: Lived Experience Advisors: Mr. Brady represents a group called Lived Experience Advisors. Currently it’s a crew of 14 people that have experienced homelessness that act as advisors to homeless service providers, NPD and other organizations. The aim of this group is to develop effective solutions to our homelessness roadblocks.
• Peralta: Working with Homeless Strategies and Solutions Department (HSD). The D9 office is advocating for HSD to get more funding.

UPDATE 2/27: HSD was granted 2.45 million dollars to address homelessness in East Village. https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/20230131_encampmentresolutiongrantrelease.pdf

Tenant Protections: Working the mayor’s office to increase tenant protections to keep people from becoming homeless.

• Ball: Point in Time Count: There was a low number of individuals counted on the west side of City Heights. Rain is suspected to have played a part in that.
• Circle of Safety Program: ID Lanyards for Homeless: Monica mentioned that she is able to supply ID lanyards for homelessoutreach teams to distribute when they do outreach. There was lots of interest among the parties that attended the MCHC meeting.
• Vicki Church: Mid-City Cleanup Email List: Please reach out to Vicki Church if you would like to be involved in regular community cleanups in areas associated with prior homeless encampments. Her email is vchurch7@gmail.com.

Redwood Village Encampment: New encampment identified near the water tower.

• G. Flaven: November 29th Cleanup at Redwood Village: Cleanup went well. Constant attention is being given to this area, which dissuades campers.
• M. Lyon: New Home Ave Encampment: A new encampment was identified in the location where Chiquitas used to be.

–Tuesday, December 27, 2022–

• Introductions
• Terry Hoskins: Terry has been in contact with Mick and Danielle Rossler, the owners of the Tower Bar at 4757 University Ave. and has visited there several times throughout the last month. There has been an uptick of homeless around the Tower Bar. All homeless have moved out, but trash on private property Bryan Do, who lives nearby, has noticed the encampments there jumping from location to location.
• Andrew Pena of Redwood Village says the homeless that were living at his private canyon that was cleaned up by residents from five neighborhoods plus Terry on November 19 are trying to come back, but he politely asks them to leave and they have been staying
• Terry brought up the horrific situation at the park area of the Auburn Park apartments at 5123 University Ave. The 10-tent homeless colony there is physically and verbally aggressive. Park and Rec was supposed to help manage this park area, but the apartment owner is ultimately responsible and they do not have the funding to hire someone to clean this Terry does not want to turn over these situations to Code Enforcement because that is like punishing the property owner twice. The City can’t get to all of the City property that needs to be cleaned but they are not fined for that.
• Pat says he is still not sure when his team will get back to Mid-City. No dates have been decided as of yet. There are still officers available for responding to Get It Done calls for service, but there are no cleanup crews associated with them. He reports that they will have a new Lt., Joanna Makwana, on January 7, and she seems very passionate about the work that the Neighborhood Policing Team is tasked Pat notes that he does see a good response from Code Enforcement reports on private property. The owner is contacted and put on notice that they will be fined $100, which is an excellent motivator for most. Environmental Services will work with the owner. Alpha Project is an entity that a private property owner can hire. Also, Urban Corps, who employs young adults who have gotten off track, can be hired to clean up camps. Several members noted that they do an excellent job.

Vehicle Habitation – Pat says the City Attorney has litigation going on regarding vehicle habitation. A sergeant and four officers have been assigned to deal with vehicle habitation city-wide. However, if there is an egregious situation, like trash piling up around a vehicle, then that can be addressed. Pat can cite for trash and also for lack of registration. He notes that officers always offer information about the Jewish Family Services Safe Parking areas. When Safe Parking areas were first created, the vehicle had to leave every day. Now they can stay at the Mission Valley Safe Parking location without leaving. Call 858-637-3373 or go to https://secure.jfssd.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=contact_safe_parking to enroll. Pat says it would be very helpful if they could offer a gas voucher to those who are camping in their vehicle and who say they are out of gas so they can’t drive away. Monica Ball says UPLIFT can help with this. One idea would be to give them a gas card AFTER they get to Safe Parking and use this offer as way to incentivize folks to go there. To use the Safe Parking, one’s vehicle has to be registered. Vickie says she knows of one camper that the homeowner wants to have there as the camper is clean and their presence keeps the partiers away. Vickie notes that the 2023 registration stickers are red. John notes that the City does have temporary permits available for 2am to 6am.

Terry notes that as far as vehicle enforcement, officers can use the “spirit of the law,” not the “letter of the law” so there is discretion when it comes to handing out citations for infractions.

• Monica asked if the Neighborhood Policing Team officers follow the outreach of PATH John says the team moves around to different council districts. SDPD Enforcement schedules its enforcement and cleanup to work in tandem with HOT team and PATH outreach. Pat says they recently needed helicopters to pull trash out of a Torrey Pines location.
• Mike Dykes asked for the three hot spots that had been mentioned. They are 54^th and University, the 5700 block of Chollas Parkway, and 54^th and Chollas Parkway. ESD has a new Deputy Director: Franklin Coopersmith, and 3 new hires. They are adding some code officers. They have a “Hot Spot Crew” which consists of 1 code officer and a field operation 3 member crew with a packer truck that goes around picking up trash wherever ESD send them but they also go around on their own. Pat advises when making a Get It Done report on homeless trash with no homeless present don’t check the “Encampment” category as that will involve the Neighborhood Policing Team instead of going directly to Environmental ESD has been working on getting a new contractor since April to help with cleanups since the CEO group stopped handling homeless cleanups. A new contractor has been chosen but they are waiting for City Council to approve. Get It Done is always the best way to report. The La Mesa Muffler shop at 6517 El Cajon Boulevard was mentioned as a problem spot.
• Brian Helmich said 4650 Aldine is a mess ESD is going there after the meeting.
• John Royal of the Talmadge Patrol said that he responds to calls from elderly residents in the Madison to El Cajon area who have campers in their car port Talmadge Patrol has been organized for a very long time. Resident volunteers paint out graffiti and address trash and other issues.
• Bryan Do, who lives in the 5100 block of Auburn east of Lantana, say the hillside behind him, is starting to get messy again. Bryan actually works for the Sheriff’s Department and knows 6 law enforcement individuals in the area who are willing to help him with a cleanup and removal of brush which is giving privacy to the campers. Vickie Church has offered advice to Bryan and Project CLEAN equipment. Terry will accompany Bryan sometime next week to do an encampment reconnaissance along the culverts and many of the previous hot spots addressed by cleanups led by Fox Canyon’s Wendy Miller.
• Gerrie attended the Regional Task Force for Homeless at the Convention Center and says 85% of our homeless population are San Diegans and not from another area.
• Andrew Pena says talking to his neighbors has been the biggest help in keeping his private canyon camp
• Millie says Rite Aid now has a fence which has made that situation much
• Roberta said a homeless female meth addict has been shutting off the water and then the electricity at the shopping center near
• Pam Wilson mentioned issues at the Mini-Mart at 4712 El Cajon

–Tuesday, November 29, 2022–

• Introductions
• Pat Heller: Abandoned Rite Aid Property (6405 El Cajon Blvd) that is still owned by Rite Aid: HOT team dispatched and services were offered. No one accepted help. Camps moved to surrounding areas. Building cleaned and rechained. One arrest, some citations. Pat advised everyone to keep the complaints 50^th and University was hit hard. One arrest and some citations were made.

42^nd and University hit and cleaned as well as 6 or 7 hot spots. Vickie Church noted the horrendous situation at the City Transportation and Storm Water property at 5600 block of Chollas Parkway. Pat said they go out as a whole division now. John Luellen noted that NPD is sent where they have the most complaints.

However, Pat’s team is now working in the Eastern and Northern Divisions. Outreach will focus on Mid-City again in 3-4 weeks.

• Maryan Osman: Communication about GID (Get It Done) Reports: City offices are short staffed. The D9 office is respecting City Staff’s requests to allow 30 days to pass before getting further clarification about Get It Done reports. (Councilmembers do not oversee ) Please continue to send issues with GID reports to the D9 office but expect at least 30 days to pass before getting answers that require City Staff input. Officer John Luellen notes that you can email him directly with additional concerns about your GID reports. Pat says he will drive around and take a look at 7 areas where there have been a lot of complaints.
• Mike Dykes: ESD Cleanups and Moisture: Abatement is not allowed to occur whenever there is moisture on the
• Mike Cassidy: Parks and Rec Update: New ranger, Danny Ruiz, is onboard.
• Vickie Church: Cleanup of a private hillside: A very successful volunteer event took place on November 19 in the Redwood Village Area. (Note from Linda Pennington the following detailed account was in an email from Gerrie Flaven: “We were able to arrange a community volunteer effort on 11/19 to clean the abandoned homeless encampments which were on the hillside property of three private homeowners in Redwood Including the 3 homeowners affected by this concern, there were 25 individuals involved in a cleanup effort on 11/19 resulting in the removal of approximately 3,000 pounds of trash and 850 pounds of metal from the site. It is significant to note that volunteers came from several nearby communities, including Redwood Village, Rolando Park, Oak Park, Talmadge, and Azalea Park. Equipment and trash bags for the cleanup was provided to us by Project Clean (Linda Pennington from Azalea Park). Mid-City Division Officer Terry Hoskins participated in the project. Vickie Church, an Oak Park resident and Mid-City Homeless Coalition member, was a major organizer of the event and Loretta Ebinger from Azalea Park made several trips to haul metal to a recycler. Bagged trash was hauled off in several trips by one of the people volunteering to help. Because of the large number of volunteers and prep work done in advance of 11/19 (including advice from Wendy Miller of Fox Canyon), we were able to clean all the trash from the hillside on 11/19.” In addition, Vickie named Rolando Park resident Gerrie as the spear header of the event who acted as the liaison to the Redwood Village folks. Vickie handled logistics, Terry took care of the advance noticing of trespassers on private property, and a neighbor with a truck made 4 trips to the Caltrans Community Cleanup site in Chula Vista which fortuitously just happened to fall on this date.
• Roberta Cox: Observed a week long cleanup from 70th and El Cajon down to Rite Ten officers dealt with one very violent person. A K9 officer was stabbed in the paw and one officer was hurt.
• Dawn Anderson: Talmadge Litter Pickup Update: Recently went out with Francisco Peralta from D9 office and Lucero Maganda of the mayor’s office and clarified the location at Fairmount and Aldine and the extent of particularly bad There was a large gap between the assumed and actual problem spots/severity.
• Andrew Pence expressed thanks for the Redwood Village cleanup. He said two people tried to come back, he asked them to leave, and they did. Pat Heller commented that Mid-City is the most organized division in the City.
• Katherine Cline of Marston Hills said Balboa Park is dealing with all of the same They do monthly canyon cleanups and work with Ranger Carol. Deborah Morrison, who brought Katherine, is a resident of and a member of the University Heights Community Association and is on the Beautification Team. She and another neighbor manage the cleaning of the Vermont Street Bridge as they’ve had their fair share of graffiti, trash and transients under and on the Bridge. She also volunteers at the Neil Good Day Center – 5 years now – and is working within her community to spearhead meetings such as the Mid-City Homeless Coalition.
• Pat Heller: Notes that SDPD has PLEADS (Prosecution Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Services) and can take people to detox but those people can still refuse services. Progressive enforcement can lead to arrest. Sometimes getting locked up is good motivation. Pat says it feels like we are moving in a positive direction NPT evaluates the person as to heroin and other drugs and can take an individual to PLEADS. If they are violent, they go to jail.
• Pete Haggard: PATH UPDATE: PATH has been were privately funded to work the North Park and City Heights Business District. The City funds the canyon areas. There are 3 dedicated workers within our greater area (North Park, City Heights, and Rolando). Outreach tries to engage clients in a long-term relationship to help them out of This process is not quick and requires building relationships. The community should not expect PATH outreach to result in rapid resolution of homeless encampments.

The Auburn Creek area underwent a massive cleanup. PATH worked for 3 weeks in the area. Almost everyone refused services. The young pregnant homeless woman is now at her mom’s house but still visits the creek. Pete met a mom with a 7-year-old sleeping in a tent. He has a bed for them and will meet them today. Pete says he could spend 40 hours a week in Auburn Creek.

• Gerrie noted that homeless can call 211 to connect to a housing
• Pete, who has been with PATH for 3 ½ years said they have LEAP (Landlord Engagement Assistance Program) but it only helps a small number of people. They have to be a working person and have an income to pay a rent once they have housing.
• Linda Pennington: City Attorney’s Office Case Update: Encampment on the sidewalk at church at Fairmount and Poplar. Camelia Ann Tanner, the homeless individual, swung a pipe at Linda. SDPD non-emergency was called. Four patrol cars showed up, SDPD restrained her, then released her, told her she had to move on and then they filed a report with Linda’s signature on the back as a Citizen’s Linda noted that SDPD did everything they legally could do. Linda received a letter recently from the City saying that charges could not be filed.

–Tuesday, October 25, 2022–

• Terry Hoskins welcomed everyone and noted that this group formed with 5 people including him 7 years ago in 2015. The Neighborhood Policing Division made up of the HOT Team (Homeless Outreach Team) and the NPT (Neighborhood Policing Team that deals with homeless criminal activity) was created in March of 2018.
• Shoutout to Lexie from PATH San Diego: A cleanup was coordinated in the cul-de-sac at 50th and University. Nine encampments present. There was a 26-year-old pregnant lady in her third trimester present in one of the encampments. Men have been giving her heroin and taking advantage of her. She had a felony warrant but Terry did not want to arrest her. Terry called Brian at PATH and he was able to send out a couple people to reach out to her. Lexie got her to go to the hospital on a 5150 hold but they released her in 10 minutes. Lexie was then able to find her family on social media and helped them connect again as well as get her in touch with other resources. The woman is now accepted into a UCSD program to get clean.
• Pat Heller: These are whole division efforts targeting specific area. Current outreach efforts are focused in the Sports Arena area on Hancock St. which Pat says is the worst he has ever seen. Outreach will focus back on Mid-City areas starting November 14-17th.
• Jose Cervantes: 4123 University Ave: Encampment on private property going on two months. Letter of Agency is on file. No enforcement has yet occurred. Recommendation from P. Heller was for Jose Cervantes to write up a list of all of the hot spots in the area and give it to Terry to give to him for the NPT Team to try to address when NPT is back in Mid-City. Additionally, business owners should keep a record of calls to Non-Emergency and incident report numbers to allow NPD Community Relations Officer John Luellen to track what has been done before going forward. T. Hoskins recommended calling Non-Emergency to report these encampments so that SDPD will send out a patrol officer.
• Terry: Rolando Park and Redwood Village are planning a vegetation cleanup and asked if ESD can pick up the trash that the volunteers gather. Because this is private property, the City will not clean up. Linda noted that Mayor Faulconer authorized ESD to pick up the debris from 12 consecutive Saturday cleanups led by Wendy Miller from 30 entrenched camps on a hillside between Auburn Drive and Islenair. However, Mike Dyles of ESD said their department has staffing issues. Linda then suggested asking Council President Elo-Rivera to get a dumpster donated for a cleanup. Pat noted that some people give homeless permission to camp on their property.
• Jose said 4193 University Ave. has an LOA (Letter of Agency) on file. The manager calls non-emergency about trespassing. Terry says incident numbers are now called “Event Numbers.”
• Millie Contreras: Closed Rite Aid (6405 El Cajon Boulevard): The closed Rite Aid location has become a magnet for homeless encampments. Recommendation from P. Heller for a property like this is to find the new property owner (which T. Hoskins is working on) and to get them to file an LOA as LOAs do not transfer to new owners. Also, the owner can call Developmental Services Department (619-446-5237) about fencing. The City doesn’t provide fencing but they can work with the property owner to make sure the area is secure and that often includes fencing – but that would come from the owner. Essentially the City requires property owners to take reasonable care for the property and that burden is often met with fencing. Vickie noted that one can call the County Tax Assessor (619-236-3771) to get the name and address of a property owner.
• Pete Haggard noted that Sharon Johnson is PATH’s new Outreach Specialist for Rolando.
• Roberta Cox asked about Vehicle Habitation issues. She described an inhabited vehicle in her neighborhood that has a large amount of foot traffic. She was unsure if this vehicle is associated with illegal activity. The recommendation was to submit a GID and then forward the report with a detailed description to NPD CRO John Luellen who will get it to the right place. Living in vehicles is not prohibited, but there could be associated issues (crime, litter etc.) that are linked to that vehicle. NPD has a team led by Sgt. Cologne to follow up with those sorts of issues but he only has 3 on his team at this time.
• Ida Buckles noted 3 tents at 4666 Landis. The suggestion is to report it to Code Enforcement. Then the city issues a notice to the property owners to clean up or be fined. (Note: You can do a report to Code Enforcement online at sandiego.gov. Search for “Request for Investigation” to get the online form. Or do a Get It Done and ask for the report to be referred to Code Enforcement.)
• Lexi asked if there was a long-term solution to homelessness. Others noted that beds are available, transitional housing will take people and make room, no questions asked. COVID put Progressive Enforcement 3 years behind. Roberta noted that so many are mentally challenged and don’t even know they need help. Pete agreed. He noted the homeless need a fear of illegal repercussions. Pressure from the law is good because it gets them motivated to take services.
• Linda mentioned the information that she had received and forwarded about Sunburst Ranch but Pat noted that it will have to have rules and that is a deal breaker for so many homeless. Several have noted flaws in this plan since that was forwarded.

–Tuesday, September 27, 2022–

• Terry Hoskins welcomed everyone and noted that this group formed with 5 people including him 7 years ago in 2015. The Neighborhood Policing Division – made up of the HOT Team (Homeless Outreach Team) and the NPT (Neighborhood Policing Team that deals with homeless criminal activity) – was created in March of 2018.
• September 6 to 15, there was an Enforcement Sweep and Cleanup in Mid-City. Results were: 6 Felony arrests, 12 Misdemeanor arrests, 12 Misdemeanor citations, 14 Infraction citations, 60 Field Interviews, 958 “Get it Done” cases closed out, 13 Vehicle impounds, 10 Parking citations, 13 Volunteer calls, ESD abated in excess of 10 tons of debris (Check for stats at https://www.sandiego.gov/homelessness-strategies-and-solutions)
• Pat Heller and John Luellen: Get It Done Close-Out Messages. The Get It Done crew is working on giving more options for officers to choose for the close-out message that gets sent to the report submitter. If reports are closed out, there is not currently a method to give feedback to the submitter about the report being closed due to being a duplicate. Pat also introduced two new SDPD officers that he brought with him.
• Maryan Osman: Coordinated Homeless Outreach Effort in City Heights, Oak Parkm and Chollas Creek: Set for October. Dates TBD. Joint Meeting between City and County: Monday, October 3, 9am, SDSU, Affordable Housing Crisis, first meeting in two decades. The County has announced that homelessness is a health crisis.
• Terry mentioned the volunteer cleanups in Bobbi’s Canyon organized by Wendy Miller. Wendy thanked Terry and neighborhood leaders like Vickie Church who came from other areas to help, neighbor Ida Buckles and neighbor Ray Johnson who brought big equipment to pull up items to the canyon rim, and D9’s Ben Mendoza who arranged a free dumpster for the cleanup.
• Pete Haggard introduced two new Outreach Specialists, Caleb Ferguson and Lexi Ambrosia. He reported that within the next couple weeks a new outreach worker is expected to be assigned to the Rolando area.
• Stephen Bilecz talked about the understaffing at ESD. Recently CEO (Center for Employment Opportunities), the City contractor that supplied 6 teams to supplement ESD pulled out of their contract. ESD is in the process of getting approval for a new contractor. The current barrier to the acquiring this contractor is the higher cost, which must be approved by the City.

Other information

Q: Is the District 9 office aware of the magnitude of the homelessness issues and the problems that users experience with GID?
A: Yes

Q: How can you check on the status of your Get It Done Report?
A: Answered by Officer Luellen: Go to the City of San Diego Get It Done website, https://www.sandiego.gov/get-it-done and search either by report number or on the map at the location that the report was submitted.

Q:If no shelter beds are available, will someone’s camp be removed?
A: No

Q: What does PATH (People Assisting the Homeless) do?
A: Answered by Pete Haggard: PATH does outreach and casework for the homeless in San Diego. They now have about 40 outreach workers in the San Diego area. They have case managers assigned to a specific region. Case managers work on more long-term housing solutions for homeless individuals. They build relationships with individuals and help individuals gather documents in order to be enrolled in support/housing programs.

Q: Does the City clean up encampments on private property?
A: Answered by Stephen Bilecz: No, when this occurs the city issues a notice to the property owners to clean up or be fined. But he added that the owner needs to communicate with them to let ESD know if they need more time.

Q: Is ESD responsible for canyons?
A: Answered by Michael with ESD: No, they are not caretakers of those areas. They can work with the organizations or individuals responsible for those areas but coordination takes time. Also, they don’t have any SDPD officers to go with them into the canyons.

Phone # for Psychiatric Emergency Response Team: 858-454-3154

Phone # for Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT): 888-724-7240

–Tuesday, August 30, 2022–

Terry: Introductions

Luellen/B. Brecht:

• Updates from NPD: Currently combining all outreach teams and operating as a whole unit. Currently, the focus is in beach communities. Focus is often on areas where there are lots of GIDs. Next area is not yet decided.
• Feedback on GID: Neighbors do not know whether a duplicate report in the system is the reason why their report was closed out. Perhaps more feedback could be given to the GID user.

Cassidy/J. Luellen/B. Brecht: Both NPD and Parks and Rec confirm that only one report of a homeless encampment is necessary. Multiple reports bog down the officers that have to close out duplicate reports.

Anderson/T. Hoskins:

• Trash Issues along El Cajon Blvd: Issues with trash receptacles can be taken up with El Cajon Blvd Business Association
• Teralta Park Encampment: Orange Ave and I15, ripping out plants at Teralta Park, completely blocking sidewalk.

Mendoza: Current city budget included sign-on bonuses for new SDPD officers and pay raises for current officers. These are initiatives to fill the current vacancies in SDPD.

Luellen/B. Brecht: Call 911 or Non-Emergency for immediate issues; otherwise, use GID

Church: Requested update on parking enforcement. Recent campfires have been seen at encampments near College Grove Dr.

Halverstadt: Lisa is a journalist with the Voice of San Diego and is currently investigating homelessness in San Diego and the city’s response to it. Please reach out to her with information that would help the greater community understand these issues.

Meeting FAQS
Q: If no shelter beds are available, will someone’s camp be removed?
A: No

Q: Is the District 9 office aware of the magnitude of the homelessness issues and the problems that users experience with GID?
A: Yes

Q: Does the City cleanup encampments on private property?
A: No, when this occurs the city issues a notice to the property owners to cleanup or be fined.

Useful numbers
Psychiatice Emergency Response Team                                                                                       858-454-3154

Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT)                                                                                           888-724-7240

–Tuesday, July 26, 2022–

• Terry Hoskins welcomed everyone and noted that this group formed with five people including him seven years ago in 2015. The Neighborhood Policing Division, made up of the HOT Team (Homeless Outreach Team) and the NPT (Neighborhood Policing Team that deals with homeless criminal activity), was created in March of 2018.
• Introductions were made.
• Lydia Van Note, D9 Council President Sean Elo-Rivera’s Chief of Staff, was given first chance to speak, but deferred to Ben Mendoza.
• Ben Mendoza notes that D8, D4, and D9 and the Mayor have been meeting with NPD, ESD, and Homelessness Strategies and Solutions to create a presentation for the community. Ben says these are very enlightening meetings regarding the processes; 30 staff participated.

From the end of June through July, there has been a lot of focus on El Cajon Blvd: 239 contacts were made, five individuals were sheltered, five went to permanent housing. Ben will send additional stats. There is also an effort to abate 8-10 camps in the Cherokee Point canyon south of 35^th and Swift. Note: The residents there call it Bowery Canyon. It is a combination of Street property, private property, and Caltrans property. Lydia said with the new MOU with Caltrans, the city staff can now go on to state property and do what needs to be done. FYI, the neighbors have participated in Creek to Bay and Coastal Cleanup Day by organizing cleanups many times over the years with support from Project CLEAN tools and equipment that I have delivered to them and 40-yard dumpsters from I Love A Clean San Diego.)

• Terry said he looked at the Homelessness Strategies and Solutions new website and encourages everyone to check it out. (https://www.sandiego.gov/homelessness-strategies-and-solutions)
• Jose asked if there was any plan to bring the same kind of focus to University Ave. Lydia said she was not aware of one.
• Terry noted that El Cajon Blvd. from Park to 70^th is very densely populated and the campers move to University Ave. when they are displaced.
• Bryan said that with only 11 officers in the whole division, they were still able to successfully hit five canyons and abate them.
• Terry pointed out that there were previously 80 personnel in the division and asked Lt. Bryan how many there were now. Lt. Bryan said there were a LOT less. They are currently doing trainings and many officers are assigned to patrol to help answer radio calls. Terry said Mid-City Division Captain Knighten wants our three Community Relations Officers to continue their CRO work as well as respond to calls.
• Lydia says that they have found that outreach clinicians are most successful at getting homeless to accept services, but that there are many situations that are quite dangerous where a trained police officer is necessary. Currently there are 3 outreach workers in D9.
• NPD uses a “progressive enforcement” model to provide a consistent approach that is compassionate yet firm. Officers are trained to always offer services to individuals with whom they come in contact prior to taking enforcement action and continue to provide offers for shelter and services at each interaction.

The progressive enforcement model is only used in instances where individuals are in violation of the following:

CA Penal Code § 647(e) – Illegal Lodging

647. Except as provided in paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) and subdivision (k), every person who commits any of the following acts is guilty of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor: (e) Who lodges in any building, structure, vehicle, or place, whether public or private, without the permission of the owner or person entitled to the possession or in control of it.

San Diego Municipal Code 54.0110 – Encroachment

54.0105 Sidewalk Sales and Displays Prohibited (a) Except as provided in Section 54.0105(b) and (c), it is unlawful for any Person to place, or allow to remain, any goods, wares, baggage, personal property or merchandise on any sidewalk or curb, between the outer edge of the sidewalk or curb and the property line.

San Diego Municipal Code 63.0102 (b) (12) – Overnight Camping

63.0102 Use of Public Parks and Beaches Regulated (b) It is unlawful for any person within any public park or plaza or public beach or beach areas within the City of San Diego to do any of the acts enumerated in Section 63.0102(b).

(12) Overnight Camping. It is unlawful to camp, lodge, sleep, or tarry overnight; provided, however, that nothing in Section 63.0102(b)(12) prohibits any person from being or remaining in any park while in attendance at any function for which the City Manager has previously granted permission.

All other violations of the law will be applied to the same extent as all residents.

• Vickie noted that Mayor Faulconer had ensured regular patrols of camping activity around the 54^th and Lea storage facility, but the new administration is ignoring the area.
• Lydia says the Council Office cannot direct city staff but can flag an area. The city will be more involved in outreach.
• ESD Code Enforcement Supervisor Gary Warren, who is in charge of the cleanup crews, says they are always available when needed. They have to have NPD with them and then perform under the Isaiah Settlement Guidelines: post a 72-hour notice and impound valuable personal property like IDs, meds, and photos and also rideable bikes. They can pick up trash without notice. He is aware of the Cherokee Point camps. They have two 40-foot storage containers for impounds, but only a small percentage come to claim their property. ESD holds it for 90 days and ends up tossing most of it. There are 10 staff dedicated to abatement.
• Terry notes the biggest complaint from the community about the homeless is the trash. He suggests contracting with Alpha Project to do a regular pickup of the hot spots.
• Gary says they do patrol some but to check with Stephen Bilecz – maybe the list of hot spots needs to be tweaked. When they are not abating, staff is looking for hot spots. Gary advises using Get It Done.
• Terry suggests choosing the “Illegal dumping” category rather than the “Encampment” one on the Get It Done report when reporting an area that is trashed by homeless but is not actually a camp so it will go directly to ESD and not have to involve NPD.
• Lydia says when homeowners add their stuff to the homeless trash, flag this for D9 staff.
• Vickie says we need a proactive rather than reactive strategy.
• Gary says when responding to one spot of dumping in an alley, the crew will get everything else that is dumped in the alley as well.
• Ranger Mike says they are hiring five rangers, one will be dedicated to Chollas Creek. More will be hired to help where needed.
• Terry noted the horrific environmental damage being done by homeless. Ranger Mike says they can’t connect the individual to the damage. The rangers also follow the Progressive Enforcement Model as well.
• Wendy noted the Cambodian Temple at 4720 Dwight is not cooperative as far as maintaining their property that runs down into Bobbi’s Canyon, which is a combination of private and Streets property. There are camps with motorcycles and dogs in the canyon. PATH went with Wendy recently to do outreach, but SDPD is needed to enforce trespassing laws. Property owner Ida brought an LOA for her property on Roselawn which is also part of Bobbi’s Canyon. Terry said he will go today and cite for trespassing, but the owner will have to clean up the camp. Vickie suggested posting NO TRESSPASSING signs.
• Christine says there is a Colina Del Sol owner who has given permission for homeless to camp in his/her property.
• Dawn notes an issue at 4569 Highland, which is for sale. People are living in their car there. Brian suggests the owner could get a Ring for a construction site.
• Carol asks if school areas are prioritized. Lydia says any sex trafficking definitely needs to be prioritized. Carol did note that the mayor did respond to her request for help.

–Tuesday, June 28, 2022–

• CRO Terry Hoskins greeted the attendees. Terry noted that this group first met with 5 people in 2015 with the goal of disseminating information about how to deal with homeless.
• Introductions were made. (Park and Rec Open Space Rangers noted that they manage 3,000 acres of Park and Rec Open Space.)

D9 Rep for Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, Ben Mendoza, said D9 met with the mayor and that encroachment enforcement on sidewalks, (after downtown locations), would start on El Cajon Boulevard, first at Rolando and then North Park and work their way toward the middle.  Others noted hot spots in Cherokee Point at 805 but that location is Caltrans’ responsibility.  47th and El Cajon was mentioned.  Jose Cervantes noted that abatements take place and the campers move across the street.  Terry asked if duplicate reports come in, will the duplicates be closed.  Sgt. Douglas said a report on the same location can mean that the camp came back so they will check on it.  Daniel Berge said he had made 1,900 reports about the campers that camp at 6801 El Cajon but they move around from 67th to 73rd so he keeps making reports.  However, he now understands that making more than one report on the exact same issue does not expedite a response; it just takes NPD more time to close each report out.  With COVID, there was no jail option so sometimes no citations were written. Now there are new faces coming to Mid-City from downtown.

• Bryan Brecht noted that there was a Focused Outreach today at 73rd and El Cajon Boulevard. In one week, they will enforce that area progressively.
• Roberta Cox talked about the June 15 tragic murder of Dr. Kelly, an 88-year-old Rolando veterinarian who was beloved by the community. The story by writer Steve Price:

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Police Department has confirmed the man accused of killing a popular veterinarian in the Rolando area earlier this month lived on the streets. 

For many Rolando residents, it’s their worst fears confirmed. For months, neighbors have been documenting the growing problem and say several of the homeless people have become increasingly aggressive.

Dr. Clark Kelly was killed inside his El Cajon Boulevard veterinary clinic on June 15. According to police, the 88-year-old veterinarian walked in on a burglar who physically attacked him, causing a serious head injury. Kelly later died at a hospital.

Police arrested 37-year-old Patrick O’Brien and charged him with murder. 

CBS 8 took a closer look at O’Brien’s background and discovered he’s been arrested multiple times. O’Brien was arrested here in San Diego County and in Northern California. In fact, unrelated criminal charges were filed against him just a week before Dr. Kelly’s murder.

• Luis Colon, who has taken Sgt. Heller’s area, which is everything east of the 805, says prior to COVID he had 6 officers on his Neighborhood Policing Team, now he has 3.  (Sgt. Heller has been assigned to cover everything west of the 805.  Last month St. Heller had said he had a team of 8 and he is now down to 3 – and his officers were still being pulled for patrol.)  This week only the HOT Team will work El Cajon Blvd.  Next week NPT will come in.  NPD used to have 60 officers, now they have 30 officers with 800 Get It Dones waiting to be addressed.  In Rolando, there are 20 to 30 individuals causing most of the problems.  There is a vacant building at 60^th and El Cajon that needs to be cleaned up but because it is private property, the City will not clean it.  If an owner fills out an LOA (Letter of Agency), then SDPD can arrest someone sleeping there.
• Terry noted that everyone at the meeting had been dealing with this issue a long time. Also, SDPD is law enforcement, not law makers.  As far as progressive enforcement, Terry asked why, if someone is already in the system, do they have to be contacted 4 times?  Colon noted that patrol officers work in a different division than NPD with their NPT and HOT Teams.  COVID made everyone step back.  Patrol officers need to clear a call and get to the next call so if they can get a homeless person to leave the spot they are in, even if the homeless person only walks across the street, they will get on with their day.  NPD officer have a little more time to spend on each situation.  At this time, NPD is focusing on encroachment on sidewalks.
  • Field Interview
  • Encroachment – Items may not be stored on city property
  • Illegal Lodging CA Penal Code 647(e) – Idaho case law notes that officer can only enforce illegal lodging if there is somewhere else the person can sleep.

Terry noted that the policies need to change.  A resident member spoke for everyone when he stated that the group supports NPD.  (NPD officers were given a round of applause.) The resident member noted that citizens need to focus on the Mayor to ask for needed changes to policies.  Terry shared that SDPD had recovered 4 stolen vehicles from the Auburn Park location at 50^th and University location.  He called Brian Gruters from PATH and Brian came immediately to offer services to the homeless there.

• Linda shared advice from an NPT officer regarding camps on Caltrans property.  Go ahead and use Get It Done and NPD will refer it to Caltrans.  Linda says she prefers this to the Caltrans online report form because with Get It Done, one can attach photos of the camp and the GPS feature gives coordinates.  The Caltrans report form doesn’t accept photos and one has to describe the location, which can be quite difficult with no address to reference on a Caltrans hillside.  Lucero Maganda suggested also sending reports of camps on Caltrans property to our Assemblymember.  (Note from Linda: David Alvarez won the recent Special Election to fill Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher’s 80th Assembly seat from now until December 5.  After that, since our area has been cut from the 80th District due to redistricting, we will be included in the 79th.  So…our new Assemblymember for the next full term is Dr. Akilah Weber, the incumbent for the 79th.)
• Monica Ball noted that City Net has been brought in by Caltrans from LA to bring services to people who camp along freeways. Monica provided the link to this October 18 UT article is about the Caltrans change from their previous policy of leaving encampments in place.

The state and the City of San Diego will partner to help homeless people who camp along freeways. 

Newsom, Gloria, Caltrans chief make announcement

BY MORGAN COOK

OCT. 18, 2021 7:14 PM PT

SAN DIEGO — 

Gov. Gavin Newsom, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and California Department of Transportation Director Toks Omishakin announced on Monday a partnership to bring services to homeless people camped along state highways.

The city’s Homeless Strategies and Solutions Department will contract with outreach provider City Net to deploy three teams to connect homeless people with housing and other services, according to the announcement from Gloria’s office Monday. The contract runs through June 2022.

“The City’s partnership with Caltrans and its contract with City Net represents the first agreement in the State of California to provide dedicated outreach at encampments in the Caltrans right-of-way since Gov. Gavin Newsom announced $22 billion in investments to local governments to address homelessness and the lack of affordable housing as part of his California Comeback Plan,” the announcement read.

City officials did not immediately respond to questions about the contract cost or the specific source of its funding. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported in August that the latest state budget included $2.7 million for Caltrans to clear trash and help connect homeless people with services and shelter.

Caltrans recently changed its policy of clearing only high-priority encampments amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy generally followed a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guideline to leave encampments in place because moving around exposed people to infection.

The policy change allowed Caltrans districts to partner with local governments to clear encampments along freeways so long as there is local shelter and service infrastructure to support those in the camps.

• Matt Armstrong presented his crack pipe collection from cleaning up of abandoned camps.
• Terry noted that State Prop 47 changed laws. See article about California winning a “Golden Fleece Award” for  Prop 47:  https://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=9417 A paragraph copied from the article: Although some of the criminal justice reforms brought about by Prop 47 were positive, the law sparked a surge in automobile break-ins and shopliftings throughout the state. By reducing penalties associated with these and other property crimes—and by making it more difficult to issue felony sentences—Prop 47 de-prioritizes justice for California residents and businesses, who now are increasingly victims of vandals and thieves operating with near impunity.
• Derrick Torrence, who provides security for Neighborhood House Association’s Chollas Creek preschool called the Altadena Early Learning Academy, says the site is now a homeless resort. Homeless live on the playground.  They also lived on the roof of the facility on Home Ave.  Derrick has provided security for the California and Cedar location in Little Italy as well as 30 other sites.  Daycare provider Laura Phillips says the Altadena Early Learning Academy provides daycare for children ages 18 months old to 5 years old.
• Ben Douglas reminds everyone that your vote is precious! Back to the underlying thought that policy changes are the ultimate responsibility of the voting community.
• Marsha Lyon related a recent incident where a homeless female got into their office and slugged a staffer. All present seemed to agree that the homeless we are now seeing are more aggressive.
• John Royal asked why Letter of Agencies are needed for SDPD to address obvious trespassers.
• The question was asked, how do officers know if homeless are on step 1, 2, 3, or 4. Colon explained that he has a special ARGIS phone and can find all the contacts with an individual that have been made.  This information is also available on all the patrol car computers.  Not everyone is provided with an ARGIS phone.  Some homeless are on DO NOT RETURN lists.  Monica says contact her and they can contact that person’s case worker.  Judges no longer grant STAY AWAY ORDERS.
• Brian Fowler who lives on Spillman Dr. in the Fairmount Park Neighborhood south of Home Ave. says there have been 30 fires set by homeless in his area, and that 5 have been since May 1 in the flood control channel. He has been getting FIRE INCIDENT REPORTS at $5 each for documentation.
• Colon reiterated that only 1 camp report on each camp is needed but if the person moves 50 feet, create another report.
• Vickie Church suggested that we need Code Enforcement to attend meetings and discuss trash on private property.
• Dawn Anderson brought up the ongoing camps in the Aldine and Fairmount storm drains and canyons and said that Council President Sean Elo-Rivera has to help. Also, there is an influx of new people behind Hoover High School and people are also living there in their cars.  It was noted that there is now 24-hour parking in Mission Valley.  Also, Terry says SDPD cannot do anything about people living in their cars.
• Daniel noted that not only El Cajon Blvd. needed to be addressed, but Rolando Plaza at University just west of Aragon was also an extreme hot spot.

Terry adjourned the meeting and thanked everyone for attending.  Next meeting, July 26, 2022, 8:00 to 9:00am, Mid-City Substation.

–Tuesday, May 31, 2022–

This was the first in-person meeting at Mid-City Division headquarters since COVID. All future meetings will take place in person (with no Zoom available) on the last Tuesday of every month at Mid-City Division. The next meeting will be June 28th at 8 am.

Since there were only six people in attendance, including Officer Terry Hoskins, it was not a “regular” meeting, but a brief discussion about well-known homeless sites that have been discussed by this Homeless Coalition during past meetings.

The normal email reminder for this meeting did not go out before 5/31, which is likely why there were not more regular attendees at this meeting. Terry Hoskins and Linda Pennington have already explained in emails that the meeting notice did not go out in a timely way because Terry had been sick and Linda had been out of town.

–Tuesday, April 26, 2022–

Note: Next month’s meeting will be on Tuesday, May 31st at 8 am at the MidCity Division headquarters, 4310 Landis Street. It is an in-person meeting. There will be no online Zoom meeting on this date.

• Pat Heller from Neighborhood Policing (NP) reported that he is no longer responsible for the 20s and 30s. Sgt. Luis Colon’s (colonl@pd.sandiego.gov) team will now cover all areas east of the 805. Sgt. Heller’s team will cover all areas west of the 805.

Sgt. Heller’s team is down from 8 to 3 and his officers are still being pulled for Patrol.

Sgt. Heller again stated that multiple GID reports on the same homeless site are not helpful. NP has to take the time to close out each complaint related to a single homeless site; time they could use more effectively. Stephen Bilecz said that it is also not helpful for ESD to receive multiple GID reports on a single site. It’s more important to offer good details especially pertaining to campsites not on public sidewalks and streets.

Jose Cervantes recommended that GID be enhanced to automatically match multiple reports on the same site/incidents before they are assigned to staff. Stephen Bilecz will send that suggestion to GID developers.

• Brett Weise from District 9 recommends that we review the Mayor’s proposed budget, which will be approved and final in June. The budget is mostly “banked,” but there is some room for Any community comments should go to both City Council members and the Mayor’s Office.

The Homeless Strategies and Solutions Department will be getting some additional staff.

In response to Robin Baker’s question about outcome effectiveness of homeless program expenditures, Brett shared that both the City Auditor and the Independent Budget Analyst do reviews. Brett will send Terry Hoskins the Independent Budget Analyst report to share with the Homeless Coalition.

Brett is leaving District 9 to go to law school out of state.

• Robin Baker also asked about the difference between 3 hour 3 day notices to vacate, especially in high fire risk locations.

Stephen Bilecz responded that generally ESD provides a 3-hour notice for camps on City streets and a 72-hour notice for remote or open space, canyons, and river beds since they are more difficult to access. They don’t post notices until they know they have a crew available at the end of the notice period. They will pull tags/notices when rain is expected. ESD is trying to get a contingency authorization from the Mayor’s Office to allow timely posts for locations with fire risk. Note that in accordance with a lawsuit, notices to vacate can only be posted by ESD.

• Richard Diaz asked about FRD’s input in addressing homeless encampments and if the city has identified fire hotspots in open space locations.

Per Ranger Mike Cassidy, FRD does GID referrals when they come upon fires in open space areas.

• Ranger Mike Cassidy reports that they just filled two vacancies so Rangers will be in open spaces more frequently.
• Robin Baker asked if homeless camp fire risk hotspots can be posted. Terry Hoskins said there is no actual list of “designated hotspots.” City agencies involved with homeless are aware of locations regularly populated with homeless camps. Sgt. Heller said that NP doesn’t use the term “hotspots;” they address reports in the order they are filed.
• Gerrie Flaven reported on the 4/23 Zena Canyon cleanup in Rolando Park: 42 participants (including Girl Scouts, SDSU Alpha Psi Rho fraternity, and neighbors) removing 1,150+ pounds of We appreciate Terry Hoskin’s active participation.
• Gerrie Flaven reported on encampments and trash on the west side of the 94 below the College Grove shopping center. After the meeting, Stephen Bilecz followed through and an ESD Code Compliance Officer found two encampments. The obvious one visible on the west side of the 94 is on Caltrans property and ESD will send to Caltrans. The second one is behind Sam’s Club under a large palm tree adjacent to the parking They are checking boundary maps and will be contacting the property owner.
• It was clarified that homeless living in culverts are the responsibility of Storm
• Jose Cervantes reported ongoing encampments at 4123 University GID report filed. Businesses complaining. Terry Hoskins says the location is on everyone’s radar.
• Dawn Anderson asked about 3-hour cleanup notice for road at Fairmont and 43rd Street which goes directly to an Stephen Bilecz clarified that it is not considered open space, but is an unimproved road. ESD would treat it as a 3-hour notice to clean up.
• Stephen Bilecz said that ESD has a shortage of cleanup crews because they’ve had to rebid an area where the existing contractor could not provide adequate crews. ESD is now evaluating the new contract bidder.
• Richard Diaz concerned about drug activity at Terry Hoskins says that Drug Enforcement doesn’t have enough staff to check on encampments. (There’s also not enough staff to investigate prostitution.) Terry advises calling 911 if we observe active drug activity.
• Aleyda Arteaga reports an encampment next to Marlborough near Western Dental. She did a GID: The encampment was cleaned out and has now returned. Camp residents openly using Terry Hoskins advises calling 911 with good details/descriptions to identify the offender.

–Tuesday, March 29, 2022–

• Terry Hoskins: In April, the MCHC will be upstairs at the Police station. Possibly a hybrid meeting.
• Brian Gruters: Update and Q&A Responses. Three people dedicated to City Heights. Working on quarterly report. Still working with the City to address the large number of repeat calls for service or GID reports for homeless encampments. Encampment Reporter Updates: GID/Community Request via Email/211 outreach requests are all addressed. Outreach services are focused on individuals, not the encampments. Encampments may outlive successful outreach and may be subsequently inhabited by new individuals. When they close a report in GID, the report will go to the next person in line, like Environmental Services. If ESD visits and the encampments are still inhabited, NPD or PATH will be contacted for further addressing the issues. Right now, ESD is overwhelmed with the number of cleanup requests so they cannot always get to each encampment before it gets reinhabited.
• Wendy Miller: Recently walked Fox Canyon with Jessie Angeles, a City Height PATH worker.
• Ben Mendoza: Homeless Outreach Encampment Reports February 2022
  https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/panda_get_it_done53.pdf

 NPD Progressive Enforcement
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/npd_progressive_enforcement100.pdf

San Diego Homeless Outreach Statistics
https://www.rtfhsd.org/reports-data/

• Maurice: Bridge over I-15 cleared of homeless, but tents still there.
• Pat Heller: Currently, the NPD team has been assigned to patrol due to SDPD staffing shortages and is not able to address GID requests about encampments.
• Vicki Church: Repeat encampment along 54th street north of University (along Colina del Sol park next to utility boxes, just North of Vien Dong).

Also, Vickie has reported several “open air” toilet spots in Chollas Creek that get referred over to “Clean Harbors” but no one ever comes out to clean them up.  Stephen says Clean Harbors can only clean right of ways on City property, like sidewalks or streets, they don’t clean up “dirt” areas like the creek.  Stephen says Park and Rec needs to clean it up but Vickie says they say they don’t do it.

Vickie noted the massive encampment behind Pearl Car Wash at 4345 Home Ave.  Stephen said he will look into it.

• Stephen Bilecz: Code compliance and Encampments.  Environmental Services Department does not clean up camps on private property. The property owner is responsible for cleaning up camps on their own property. ESD Code compliance will give notices of violation for things like trash on private property to the property owner but ESD can only cite issues that are able to be viewed from a public area or an adjacent private property which they have permission to enter.  A second violation of trash is a $250 fine.  Officer Hoskins asked why cite homeowner if it is the homeless trespassing campers who are making the mess.  ESD Officer Bilecz says communication from the property owner to ESD is important to avoid fines. If the property owners call SDPD to report trespassers but SDPD can’t come and help remove them so a cleanup can take place, then let ESD know.  There is a progressive follow-up strategy until property owners are fined or comply.  Only if ESD give the owner an administrative abatement will the City clean up private property and then a lien will be placed on the property.  If a community member would like to follow up with issues, please reach out to the City Councilmembers’ offices.

If a homeless encampment area on city property is referred for cleanup by ESD to one of the city’s private contractors, the current turnaround is 2-4 weeks.

• Pat Heller: Priority of Park Encampments. NPT (Neighborhood Policing Team) has a backlog of 500 cases.  Dangerous encampments should be referred to 911, but the danger should be articulated properly. Parks and Rec/Police Non-Emergency should be contacted for encampments that are not an immediate threat.

–Tuesday, February 22, 2022–

• Officer John Luellen from NPD announced the suspension of enforcement pending the Point-In-Time count of homeless on 2/24. NPD officers will continue contact to offer help.

Terry Hoskins added that there is no enforcement during inclement weather.

• The current procedure of Get It Dones (GIDs) going directly to PATH is changing. The GIDs will soon be routed again to SDPD first. PATH will return to contacts/services to homeless in known outreach areas.
• Robin Baker is concerned about those camping in the Aldine Drive storm drain, especially given the expected rain. NPT intermittently goes out to check on encampments there. Senior Ranger for Open Space Mike Cassidy will connect with Robin to get photos and follow up on the storm drain.
• Gerrie Flaven asked about evidence of encampments on the ridge above the west side of College Ave. just south of University Ave. (near Hegg and Rock Streets). Another neighbor had reported seeing a campfire there, but did not report it. Terry Hoskins said he was there one month ago. There is a lot of trash and evidence of campsites. Several years ago, the City cleaned the privately owned property close to the City easement around the water tower, but they will not do it again. The elderly owner is not taking responsibility to clean his property because he cannot afford it and he is fearful of the campers on his property.

Gerrie also asked for an update on encampments in Zena Canyon in Rolando Park. Terry Hoskins was out there last week with SDUSD Police Sgt. Keith Boyd. Terry and Sgt. Keith did not find any individuals in the canyon, but did find lots of trash and evidence of encampments. SDUSD doesn’t have the resources to provide trash containers for a community cleanup. Officer Luellen reports that Sgt. Heller from NPT has been talking to SDUSD.

• Dawn Anderson asked about the homeless at Meade and 44th. She will initiate a GID report.
• Off. John Luellen from NPD recommends we do GID reports to get them in the wait queue for NPT to address since NPT now has a backlog.
• Maurice Federle (Teralta West) says that the 15 overpass on Orange Ave. had a great cleanup last week, but it’s in bad shape with encampments again. He’s also concerned about a homeless woman at the east end whose belongings block the sidewalk, forcing walkers to use the street. She may be aggressive. Sgt. Heller says NPT will address the situation.
• Sgt. Heller from NPT reported that the Peeping Tom recently known in Mid-City neighborhoods has been identified by Off. John Luellen and PD is now looking for him.
• Marsha Lyons with SAY has been helping Multi-Unit properties with homeless encroachments. Clarified reporting of an abandoned vehicle.
• Aleyda Arteaga asked if churches are still open for homeless individuals. (No one available to address her question.)
• Brett Weise from D9 introduced new D9 rep for City Heights Community Outreach Francisco Peralta. He’s replacing Julio Garcia who’s moving to a new position in D9. Brett stated that the D9 office staff will participate in the 2/24 point-in-time count in both City Heights and Southeast to get a perspective on the why and circumstances of homeless individuals. D9 staff will also be working with PATH mobile outreach teams on 2/23.
• Richard Diaz (Oak Park) commented on one of the Point-In-Time survey questions (“Where did you become homeless”) as being too open-ended. He is also concerned about parking of heavy commercial vehicles on public streets. Terry Hoskins responded that Chollas Parkway is a hotspot, but the Traffic Division seems to be taking action. Terry will give Richard contact info for Traffic Division.
• Robin Baker asked if D9 will be counting homeless on El Cajon Blvd. between 54th and 70th. Brett responded that he’s not sure of all the precincts. D9 will be involved in doing the count, but not every precinct gets counted. HMIS (Homeless Management Information System) helps to inform where the homeless population is.
• Terry Hoskins asked if anyone walks the canyons for the Point-In-Time count because it couldn’t be accurate without including canyon encampments. Brett said that the Regional Task Force will be using drones for those areas.

(Note: Our City Heights canyon partners made up of residents, San Diego Canyonlands, Ocean Discovery Institute, and sometimes even SDPD officers, have been counting homeless in Manzanita, Hollywood, Swan, and Olivia Canyons since 2013, meeting at Grace Church at 5:00 am in the morning. In 2020, RTFH said if we counted in one part of a census tract, we had to count in the entire census tract. This year, nine D9 staff including Council President Sean Elo-Rivera joined our deployment site to count the non-canyon areas. San Diego Canyonlands’ Miranda Hyldahl, who managed the Grace Church deployment site by herself this year, reported that there were no active encampments in the City Heights Canyons.

25.01 – 1
25.02 – 5
26.01 – 6
26.02 – 0
27.05 – 5
34.01 – 80 [the census tract that includes Chollas Creek from Euclid to Federal and doesn’t have regular canyon partnership restoration work])

• Terry Hoskins observed a lady in a wheelchair on 50th with a big encampment. Sgt Heller was out on 2/18 pm and 2/20.
• Julieta with the City Heights Clean and Coalition recently did a cleanup on Euclid. They’re now organizing one on 50th/El Cajon Blvd.
• Terry Hoskins asked about 5123 University Ave. Sgt. Heller is not aware of any camp there now. He says there are currently no GIDs for that location. Sgt. Heller says that NPT is currently not “proactive” since they are trying to catch up with existing GIDs.
• Terry Hoskins also talked about sale of “hits” off pipes for $1 under the tarps. Sgt. Heller says NPT frequently sees this practice.
• Terry Hoskins wants community members to be aware of the “Protect Act” soon to be heard at the City Council for a vote. The “act” would eliminate certain vehicle stops/questions from being asked by PD. PD believes that these stops/questions have been an effective way to find ghost guns. Regardless of your position on this “act,” the community needs to be aware so they can inform City Council members of their position.

–Tuesday, January 25, 2022–

• Officer Terry Hoskins introduced Lieutenant Jose Chavez.
• City Council President and 9th District City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera was our guest speaker.
• He noted a “shared concern” that our communities are safe and clean and that residents have a roof over their heads. He provided the following specific information:
• Coordinated Outreach – A pilot model of outreach, involving coordinated teams of County workers, nurses, and homeless service providers, serviced District 9 recently, and in just two weeks, this team connected 10 individuals to shelter and enrolled 20 individuals in case management, putting them on the path to permanent housing.
• Additional Shelters and CHR-T – The City has also provided an additional 200 shelter beds since the start of 2021, and is providing around 50 community harm reduction (CHR) beds in the Midway area for those experiencing mental health & drug abuse issues. This is the first community harm reduction shelter in the region.
• Mobile Crisis Response Teams – The City started a new City-County partnership, known as the Mobile Crisis Response Team, to allow for trauma-informed experts, social workers, and medical health professionals to respond to unsheltered neighbors experiencing a mental health crisis.
• Operation Shelter to Home – Last year, the city concluded Operation Shelter to Home, which sheltered nearly 5,000 San Diegans during the pandemic and connected more than 1,400 individuals to permanent or long-term housing.
• State Grants & Project Homekey – The city worked with the state government to secure more than $55 million to support homelessness programs throughout the city and acquire two hotels to provide non-congregate shelter to hundreds of people.
• He reminded us that there’s a huge spectrum as to what’s going on in the lives of the homeless, necessitating a variety of strategies and tactics. He is willing to continue working with us.
• He also listed his District 9 2023 budget priorities, which are in his Budget memo: https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/2022.01.14_budget_priorities_memo_0.pdf

–Tuesday, December 28, 2021–

The SDPD Mid-City Homeless Coalition will be meeting for the eighth year starting January 2022.

These notes are specific to Rolando Park.

• A request was made to Stephen Bilecz with the Environmental Services Department (ESD) to include Rolando Boulevard south of University Avenue in their “hotspots” periodic cleanup efforts for illegal dumping by homeless people and others in and around the flood control channel.
• Neighborhood Policing (NP) and Environmental Services Department (ESD) advise that we can use the “illegal dumping” option in Get It Done reports in lieu of “homeless encampments” when homeless people, including those living in cars, are leaving trash on public streets and sidewalks. This will allow a city services response (NP and ESD) to the trash even when the “homeless encampment” reports go to the non-profit PATH agency. Note that there is no communication link between PATH and ESD so PATH does not report trash at homeless encampments to ESD for abatement/cleanup.
• Neighborhood Policing (NP) reports that when the Fire Department responds to a fire in a homeless encampment, they do refer to Neighborhood Policing (NP) for follow-up.
• We are making another attempt to get the Countywide annual homeless count on 1/27/22 to include Rolando Park and maybe Rolando. (If we can get Rolando Park, including Zena Canyon, we will need volunteers included in the county, we will need volunteers to participate.)

–Tuesday, November 13, 2021–

• Terry Hoskins: Introductions
• Stephen Bilecz: Sidewalk Reset. Sidewalks that are heavily impacted by encampments are being given special cleaning treatment to remove waxy buildup of food waste. ESD uses a light mix of bleach and water.  A “collector” is used to keep the mix from going into the storm drain.  This is to allow for more effective sanitization. Submit requests for these “Sidewalk Resets” specific sidewalks via Get It Done. Robin said El Cajon from 54^th to Rolando needs cleaning and Terry mentioned 50^th and El Cajon, both sides.  Stephen said if the street rather than the sidewalk needs cleaning, the street sweeper will be sent in.
• Julio Garcia: D9 Update. The Homeless Forum sponsored by the District 9 office last month is up on YouTube for viewing. Link to D9 Community Homelessness Forum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNX6RtPyxfQ
• Brian Gruters: PATH. Solutions are focused on the 10% that want to get off the street and go to shelter.  Those who are resistant to accepting help often have concerns about going downtown to shelters – they fear getting beat up.  SDHC Dashboard: “These interactive dashboards contain data for homeless services programs administered by the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) and funded through the SDHC and/or the City of San Diego. Data in these dashboards comes from the San Diego Continuum of Care (CoC) Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), managed by the Regional Taskforce on Homelessness (RTFH).” https://www.sdhc.org/homelessness-solutions/city-homeless-shelters-services/dashboard/

Noted that City shelters and interfaith shelters have different rules.  Also, that people can come and go their jobs or to take care of personal business.  However, to answer Terry’s question, if someone is caught dealing drugs out on the street, they should be arrested.  If PATH finds Joe Shmo using or selling, PATH will contact the interfaith shelters and let them know.

• Gerrie Flaven: Thanked D9 for the Homeless Forum.
• Jose Cervantes: ESD Referral. Asked about how we know that ESD is following up with an ESD referral on homeless encampments. Stephen Bilecz left the call early so was unable to answer.
• John Luellen: NPD. Noted that they do not get feedback from ESD. Also, please continue to report encampments
• Ron Anderson: The Grass Triangle north of Meade Ave, between Fairmount and 43rd St. and another location north of that area by Aldine. The Get It Done reports on the encampments in these areas are closed after they are referred to another department but there is no other information shared and no indication that the issue is resolved.  The Grass Triangle is now a small village.  Also the PATH dashboard does not display encampments in this area despite encampments still being there. Brian says he is working on a written response to Get It Done reports so they can express what happened although HIPPA keeps them from giving details. Terry noted the roll of SDHC is not to relocate a camp but to rehouse.   NPT Sgt. Pat Heller mentioned that The Grass Triangle is constantly assessed by his team which has only 6 officers who cover all the way up to Wild Animal Park.  The area has been cleared of brush one time but needs to be done again.  NPT always offers services and are using progressive enforcement. Terry asked Julio Garcia from District 9 to push this spot as a hotspot. Julio said he would work with Stephen and the Get It Done analytics team. Brian Gruters mentioned that the PATH dashboard is meant for displaying how many instances of services were offered and accepted in the last month. He also said his team can put a little more focus on that area.  Terry noted that cooking or warming fires always warrant a 911 call.  Brian said that it takes 72 days to get someone off the street and into housing and that it’s a real struggle to find answers.  People want to stay put rather than go into a shelter for a few days where they can start the process of getting housing.
• Jackie Vance: Small Shelters. NIMBY (Not in My Back Yard) efforts have kept shelters out of neighborhoods.  Suggested that small shelters spread throughout the city – since homeless are reluctant to go downtown, could help to provide places for people to safely cook or camp.
• Monica Ball: Camping in Environmentally Sensitive Areas. Monica suggested to D9’s Julio Garcia look into the Federal Storm Water Run-off laws and that enforcement of camping in environmentally sensitive areas is a viable option that is likely to get political traction in California. Offering safe camping areas in non-sensitive areas would be a good idea that has been discussed previously. Monica intends to continue this discussion with Julio.

–Tuesday, October 26, 2021–

• Officer John Luellen: Thanked MCHC member Gerrie Flaven for speaking to the owner of USA Smog at 4149 Rolando Blvd. (at the SE corner or University Ave. and Rolando Blvd.) about putting up a fence to keep homeless off of that property. The new fence has improved the situation there considerably.
• Sgt. Pat Heller: Noted that due to the recent marathon, RVs were been pushed away from the areas that included the marathon route. (Rock and Roll Marathon, October 22 and 23)
• Brian Gruters: PATH works with the San Diego Housing Commission. (From last month’s minutes: Get It Done encampment reports go to a dispatch center for review by the Housing Commission. Reports are screened for duplicates and assignment of appropriate responses.) Brian has invited SDHC to this meeting and provided the email of Ketra Cater (ketrac@sdhc.org) to be added to the email list. SDHC is running the Targeted Homeless Outreach set-up at the ARCO Station at 4333 Home Ave. PATH, Alpha Project, SDPD HOT Team as well as RTFH (Regional Task Force on Homelessness) are there. They saw fewer people than expected. PATH is hiring and expected to be at full capacity to handle all Get Done Reports by the end of the month. PATH has a higher rate of success (50%) than the national rate (30 to 40%). Brian provided his phone number: 928-864-9378
• Brett Weise: Says he is meeting with Rolando residents about homeless in Clay Park.
• CRO Terry Hoskins: Says the homeless are always there in Clay Park.
• Ben Mendoza: Says SDSU is hosting district forums around homelessness. Ben provided this information in the chat:
• SDSU Research Speaker Series: In October and November, SDSU will be hosting five virtual presentations. SEVI fellows will share their research findings and recommendations on issues related to homelessness and housing in San Diego. More Info: https://crs.sdsu.edu/sevi
• Brian Fowler: Lives in the Fairmount Park Neighborhood, (the part south of Home Ave.) Says there have been 32 fires in the area, some on his property and in the culvert under Spillman and 805. He says the brush needs to be cut back along the storm drain.
• Brett Weise: D9 is working on brush management issues.
• Monica Ball: Question for Brian Gruters: Is there an influx of homeless going to shelter when there is an abatement? Brian noted that he meant abatement causes them to go somewhere else. He hopes they will be able to track where people go when breaking up a camp. Also, Monica asks what is access for shelter? Brian says shelter access placement is limited. He gets an email every day about shelter bed availability. Ofc. John Luellen says the Neighborhood Policing Division also get daily bed counts.
• Roberta Cox: Question for Brian Gruters about the success of substance abuse rehab. Brian says they have a “Housing First Policy”. Drug addicts need some kind of assessment to be placed in supportive housing. In leased housing with supportive service, the retention rate is 92%, even with meth issues. Roberta noted that ECTL (East County Transitional Living) has been very successful, even putting residents to work help at their facility, and they seem very happy. Brian noted that lower acuity folks, those with less barriers, are very happy to get housing. Addicts have to go to detox and have support once they are housed. Roberta pointed out that those in the throes of drug addiction cannot make the decision to accept help and that our laws need to change.
• Terry Hoskins: Requested the steps to report an encampment. John Luellen answered that PATH can have up to 5 days to respond to a Get It Done report:

1. Get It Done Report
2. PATH has 48 hours to respond to a Get It Done and make a report. If they can’t get to it, it will go to the Neighborhood Policing Division.
3. PATH can request an additional 48 hours to respond and make a report.
4. PATH can request an addition 24 hours. So PATH can have a total of up to five days to respond to a report.
5. When it goes to NPD, it will be assigned to the Neighborhood Policing Team who will still offer services.

• Brian noted that the protocol is a work in progress. The focus is on housing. It takes a month to get folks who lost their rental to get into housing.
• Linda Pennington: Shared recent experience trying to assist Flor Gomez AKA Shorty with help from an Azalea Park Neighborhood volunteer, Cindy Lapio. Shorty had told Linda and Matt Armstrong, a MCHC member and an APN volunteer, on Sunday, October 17, that Jessie Angeles from PATH was picking her up on Monday in Hollywood Park. On Monday, Cindy had noticed the PATH set-up at ARCO so Cindy and Linda went over to Hollywood Park and found Shorty and convinced her to let us take her and all of her truck full of belongings to ARCO. Jessie met with Shorty at ARCO for a considerable amount of time. He said he would find a bed for her the next day and pick her up on Tuesday morning at Hollywood Park. So Cindy and Linda took her back to Hollywood Park. Jessie did pick her up the next morning but she was seen back in Azalea Park about two days later – which was no surprise. NPT has gotten Shorty signed up to the SMART program twice, gotten her to a shelter, arrested her – also one time she spent 45 days in rehab for meth, but she always comes back.
• Linda asked Brian for an update on Shorty. First, Brian said he was very impressed with the volunteer efforts, especially going to the trouble to haul Shorty’s belongings in Cindy’s big truck. He even offered Cindy a job but she feels strongly about remaining a volunteer. Brian said it usually takes an average of 1 to 3 months to get an individual to go to a shelter but some of their issues come from living on the street. (Shorty has been around for at least three years.) Case management has a large team to work with individuals after they get to shelter. (Brian will get specifics about Shorty later.)
• Stephen Bilecz: Reported an outbreak of shigella among homeless. (Shigella bacteria cause an infection called Shigellosis. Most people with Shigella infection have diarrhea [sometimes bloody], fever, and stomach cramps.) Shigella usually lasts about 7 days but can be worse for those who are immunocompromised. ESD crews are sanitizing sidewalks seven days a week. Terry requested a sidewalk cleanup of 50^th and El Cajon Blvd.
• Jacki Vance: Noted that the ECTL group that Roberta mentioned is very successful but they have higher standards for enrollment. Roberta says she got a homeless guy in there and he seems very happy.

–Tuesday, September 28, 2021–

• Terry Hoskins: Meeting introductions
• Vickie Church: Chollas Creek Update – Chollas Creek between 54th & Euclid still has ongoing issues with transient toilets and showering in the creek.
• Brian Gruters: PATH Update/Information – Get It Done reports are now being received. GIDs go to a dispatch center for review by the Housing Commission and Brian Gruters. Reports are screened for duplicates and assignment of appropriate responses. Current staff capacity can address 10 calls for service per staff member per day. Excess calls go to Neighborhood Policing Division. PATH has 48 hrs to respond to GID call before needing to file a report, followed by another 48-hr period and a report, and a final 24-hr period with a report. If the situation is not resolved within that time frame the report will be reassigned to NPD. They currently have two 6-person teams, a Rapid Response team and a street-based case management team. They will be soon expanding into two 10-person teams. Their outreach teams are broken into an initial contact team and a follow-up team. For now, only city property is visited. Their street-based outreach team does outreach to areas not necessarily reported by GID. Every city council district currently has some level of outreach coverage.
• Maurice Federle: Encampments at Teralta Park – Asked about blocking the sidewalks. Pat Heller suggested using GID if a path around the encampment can be taken, but use Non-Emergency if the path is completely blocked.
• Brian Avera: Homeless Hotspot Engagement – HOT Teams comprised of 5-6 officers, PERT Clinicians and County Benefit Specialist do hotspot outreach 7 days a week.
• Tyreese Ceaser: PATH follow-up encounters – Asked if homeless individuals often move before getting a follow-up visit and what the success rate of follow up is. Brian Gruters related that initial outreach is not often successful and that data on follow-up success will be available soon.
• Terry Hoskins: Roving Cleanup Crew – Asked about the possibility of having a roving cleanup crew for homeless hotspots. Stephen Bilecz related that resources for cleanup are limited. Abandoned encampments may not actually be abandoned and cleaning up an active encampment puts ESD workers in an unsafe environment. Terry related that he personally has enlisted officers to help clean up after homeless chose to abandoned their camps.
• Aleyda Arteaga: SAY San Diego is ready and willing to help organize cleanups in the community. Community efforts like these are able to address some of the quality-of-life issues associated with trash and debris from homeless encampments.

–Tuesday, August 31, 2021–

The most significant topic for the last two meetings has been the City’s plan to shift responsibility for homeless intervention from SDPD Neighborhood Policing to a social services agency, PATH, via funding from the City Housing Commission. The shift was supposed to occur in August and now has been pushed off until later in September. One major issue to be resolved is the technical ability of PATH to receive Get It Done reports. PATH already provides homeless intervention services in City Heights and North Park using funds from business association contracts in those communities.

As of yet, there is no program description that PATH is authorized by the Housing Commission to release to communities. Based on information heard at the Homeless Coalition meetings, the plan is that PATH would make the first attempt at responding to Get It Done reports. If PATH is unable to address the issue after 3 days, it would be forwarded to SDPD Neighborhood Policing.

PATH usually works with single homeless individuals and does not have much experience working with encampments with multiple homeless persons. They have designed a Rapid Response Team that will be available 7 days/week, 7 am to 10 pm, to address the new expanded services to the City. It also appears that PATH is not yet familiar with the homeless population and encampments east of City Heights, including Rolando Park. PATH representative participation in the Homeless Coalition is an indication of their interest in connecting with the east City communities.

Related to Neighborhood Policing (the specialty homeless intervention division), Officer Luellen reported that as of 8/2/21, the County Jail is now open to minor offenders. Therefore, Neighborhood Policing (NP) is back to pre-Covid era “progressive enforcement.”

• On first contact, NP offers services to a homeless individual.
• On second contact, NP offers services and can give an infraction citation.
• On third contact, NP offers services and can give a misdemeanor citation.
• On fourth contact, if services continue to be refused and there are emergency shelter beds available, NP can make an arrest and transport to jail.

NP is starting all homeless individuals who’ve already had an NP contact with a fresh slate in the progressive enforcement approach.

–Tuesday, July 27, 2021–

• Terry Hoskins: Introductions
• Bryan Brecht: Explained that it takes the NPD roughly 6 days to get through a round of Get It Done reports. Additionally, PATH soon will have the first 48 hours to respond to Get It Done encampment reports before NPD gets involved. NPD explained that August 24th is the planned roll-out date for PATH to get direct access to GID reports. (Note from Linda: I spoke to Neighborhood Policing Department Community Relations Officer John Luellen who gave me some additional details regarding giving PATH the first shot at outreach to homeless. PATH will have 48 hours to respond but can ask for more time, up to 24 hours, if they make a connection to a homeless person that they want to revisit. So PATH can have up to 72 hours total before turning a case over to NPD. PATH only has 2 people working in Mid-City.)
• Brian Gruters: Explained PATH does not yet have direct access to the Get It Done encampment reports. They currently go through the San Diego Housing Commission for outreach assignments.
• Ken Prue: Gave status of encampment cleanup efforts. If people are not present in encampments, the cleanup efforts can be expedited. They are still checking up on designated hotspots proactively.
• Gerrie Flaven: Asked about whether HOT team and NPD are waiting the full 48 hours before they engage. Expressed desire to have a member of the contract team for the San Diego Housing Commission to attend these meetings so that they can inform us about the higher-level changes with PATH that could be causing delays in outreach and engagement.
• Brian Gruters: Relayed that he would be attending future meetings to relay information in regards to higher level PATH changes. Relayed that there are two PATH workers, Pete Haggard and Carla, currently working in City Heights. Pat Heller from NPD requested the contact info for the City Heights PATH workers so that they can request outreach for certain problem areas in City Heights. Brian said that PATH is able to work with NPD to do future one-off outreach events in City Heights problem areas.
• Robin Baker: Asked if calling 911 for campers cooking outdoors on a city canyon property would be the best course of action. Terry, NPD, and Linda Pennington all agreed that 911 would be the proper course of action to report cooking fires and warming fires.
• Dexter Egleston: Director of Housing Initiatives, PATH, noted that black San Diegans make up 4% of the general population in San County but make up 25% of the homeless population.
• Pat Heller: If 911 calls are put in for encampment fires, no GID is needed because NPD works with the fire department. Those fire areas will be cleaned up. (Note from Linda: Officer Luellen said that he gets the notice of all homeless fires from the San Diego Fire Rescue Department and he actually creates a Get It Done that will generate a visit from Environmental Services Department who will issue a citation to a private property if they are found to be remiss in keeping their property safe from fires.)
• Tyreece Ceasar: Introduced himself as the President & CEO of Project Overlay Inc. Overlay provides right now needed services in City Heights and surrounding zip codes after 5 pm. For the last five years, he has worked as a supervisor with 2-1-1 San Diego prior to creating Project Overlay.
• Ben Mendoza: An ad-hoc committee that Councilmember Elo-Rivera sits on, Committee for Addressing Homelessness Among Black San Diegans, recently advocated for the vouchers, secured them, and now will be working with the Housing Commission on distribution. More funding is now available for addressing homelessness (specifically among Black San Diegans).
• Ron Anderson: Clarified that anyone who lives on the canyon areas should fill out a Letter of Agency so that NPD/PATH can efficiently take care of the encampment.
• Denise Padilla: Asked about progress with the homelessness issues involving a church at 54th and El Cajon Blvd. Terry relayed that the church expressed that they would prefer not to work with NPD as long as the District 9 office is taking part in the conversation.

–Tuesday, June 26, 2021–

• Terry Hoskins: Started meeting by asking SDPD NPD Officer John Luellen for new protocols.
• John Luellen: Says give PATH an opportunity to ramp up on providing more outreach to homeless. (The City is providing $16Million in the new 2020 City budget which started in July.)
• Hanan Scrapper: PATH Outreach Specialist Pete Haggard is based in Mid-City. PATH utilizes Get It Done through the San Diego Housing Commission. PATH has a Rapid Response Team 7 days a week.
• Stephen Bilecz: Good news, the amount of funding needed for the contract with CEO was raised. CEO, (Center for Employment Opportunities), is a contractor that the City hires for their cleanup crews.
• Terry Hoskins: Asked for an update on community meetings for the Transitional Storage Center on Lea St.
• Brett Weise: Said he would ask CD9 staffer Maryan Osman, the Director of Community Empowerment about this.
• Richard Diaz: Says the email list that was used to contact community members about the meeting did not included lots of original folks that were interested in oversight of the Transitional Storage Center. However, people with commercial interests were included.
• Stephen Bilecz: Talked about the importance of submitting GID reports and emails to ESD if locations are becoming trashed. Described the issues at times with distinguishing illegal dumping sites with encampments. Any encampment cleanups have to be coordinated with SDPD. Friday, June 25, at 9:00am the San Diego Housing Commission met to extend the storage contracts. On Monday June 28 at 9:00am the City Council was to vote to approve or disapprove the extension.
• Ken Prue: Noted that ESD is filling 5 vacancies. Interviews were last week. 10 vacancies have been filled already.
• Terry Hoskins: Voiced the need for more roving cleanup crews.
• Ken Prue: Noted that limited ESD positions were made permanent. Due to COVID the funding for contractual services was cut $877,000. Teams of 8 were reduced to 4 but seem to be working well anyway.
• Terry Hoskins: Federal Stimulus money helped but disappointed that money not used for quality of life/cleanliness.
• Tavaris Franklin: The San Diego College of Continuing Education offers free online career training.
• Ben Mendoza: Gave update on CD9 partnership with I Love A Clean San Diego, San Diego Canyonlands and neighborhoods. CD9 provided a 3 dumpster cleanup to the Swan Canyon Neighborhood on June 12. The Castle Neighborhood will get one on July 10. Hollywood and Azalea Neighborhoods will get one on July 24. Ben thanked Linda Pennington and San Diego Canyonlands for helping with these cleanups.
• Stephen Bilecz: Noted that ESD will provide staff standing by until the dumpsters are picked up.
• Brett Wiese: City introducing “harm reduction” with trained social workers and a data informed approach on June 29 in the downtown area to deal with the acute situation of folks who have been evicted. Hopefully this will be expanded city-wide. The City and the County are working together. The County has made a substantial investment in mental health and homeless outreach.
• Julio Garcia: Mentioned the fire on Caltrans property in the Cherokee Point Neighborhood at 805 and 15. PATH is going in to do outreach. Brett has gotten some brush management accomplished in the Kensington area on Caltrans property.
• Gerrie Flaven: Asked Ranger Mike about the Rangers help in Zenia Canyon. Mike noted that Zenia Canyon is not Park and Rec Open Space property and the Rangers have no jurisdiction over is.
• Cathy’s Boyfriend: Noted that he and Cathy are new to Cherokee Point Neighborhood and are deeply concerned about the recent fire on Caltrans property.
• Brett Wiese: Brett said send email and photos of camps to CD9 staff about encampments on Caltrans property and they will contact Caltrans.
• Bryan Brecht: Said also do a Get It Done on Caltrans encampments and NPD will also contact Caltrans about them. (Note from Linda, also go online and make a report on the Caltrans website.)
• Denise Padilla: Question for Ms. Scrapper regarding the highly service resistant individuals that live among us.
• Hanan Scrapper: Doesn’t believe anyone chooses to be homeless, that they just need to be offered the place they want.
• Gerrie Flaven: Asked if jails would be open on July 2.
• Terry Hoskins: Noted that only felons had been going to jail prior to July 2 due to COVID but even with opening them up to the lesser offenses, the NPD still have their hands tied and cannot force people to accept help. And recidivism is very common when they do accept help.
• Vickie Church: Concern about the lack of Caltrans response to hillside camps results in fires and is costing San Diego Fire Rescue Department time and money spent on a preventable situation. A “hot” spot is under the Home Ave. bridges across from the SDPD facility on Federal Blvd. Stephen said he would contact Caltrans about that location.
• Terry Hoskins: Noted that PERT has a set of questions for the homeless and they often know the right answers to be left alone.
• Linda Pennington: San Diego Canyonlands wanted to rent the former University Ave. recycling location to accommodate equipment for a new brush management grant but the high rent and the cost of making it secure was prohibitive. If anyone knows a secure City Heights location with indoor space for tool/equipment storage, outdoor space to park trucks and big equipment, and running water and electricity please let me know. This would be a win-win for SDCL and City Heights.
• Hanan Scrapper: In answer to Monica Ball’s question about PATH case load limit and why SDHC is notified: 1.5 staff is assigned to City Heights and North Park. Staff to client ratio is 1 to 15 (but usually 1 to 20). The SDHC is involved for the Rapid Response Team.
• Monica Ball: Notes that the UPLIFT Home Team does case management in the cul de sac behind Rock church at 4001 El Cajon Blvd.
• Roberta Cox: Noted that a meth addict has been sleeping in front of her neighbor’s house.
• Gerrie Flaven: Would like for PATH to do outreach in Rolando and Rolando Park.
• Ron Anderson: Would like to see illegal dumping signs posted on Fairmount Avenue Expressway. Also, haulers need to cover their loads.
• Jose Cervantes: Needs contact for sidewalk cleaning.

–Tuesday, May 25, 2021–

• Brett Weise gave an update on the council hearing to determine how to move forward with the SDGE deal. Next month, the City Council will be making a decision on the city budget. Reach out to the D9 office if you have input that you would like to give. Terry inquired about the future of the Lea St. storage facility and homeless budget priorities for Mid-City. Brett sent a link to the budget overview https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/pb_v1cbo.pdf and talked about funding in the proposed budget being allocated to PATH, substance abuse centers, and rapid rehousing. The current way to track recidivism (HMIS, Homeless Management Information System) was discussed. It is managed by the Regional Task Force for the Homeless. Brett sent the link containing the last PATH impact report https://www.rtfhsd.org/reports-data/. Terry inquired about a way to distribute dates/locations of homeless outreach to the greater community to inform residents and business-owners.
• Brian Avera talked about how the HOT teams coordinate their efforts. Each Tuesday and Thursday outreach happens. He talked about several personnel changes in the Neighborhood Policing Division. Brian noted that the entire Neighborhood Policing Division was currently assigned to BRAVO for the hours of noon to 10:00PM. (This was a temporary assignment to help with protests.)
• Stephen Bilecz talked about the importance of submitting GID reports and emails to ESD if locations are becoming trashed. Described the issues at times with distinguishing illegal dumping sites with encampments. Any encampment cleanups have to be coordinated with SDPD.
• Vickie Church described the problem with RVs along Chollas Parkway dumping trash. Stephen stated that it is problematic to name encampment areas as hot spots for proactive cleanup.
• Robin Baker asked about when the jails will begin to start accepting people again.
• Gerrie Flaven plans to send an email to the CRO for NPD in regards to campers in Zena Canyon. Has had issues with SDPD saying that they cannot respond to Zena Canyon encampments. Terry clarified that that should not have been the response.
• Ron Anderson suggested a public awareness campaign for illegal dumping.
• Vickie Church shared concern over the dead body found in Chollas Creek.
• Roberta Cox: House with drug issues/encampment on Amherst that was cleaned up but is now occupied again. Terry said that the FBI hit the wrong house on Amherst but the effort to clean it up is ongoing.
• Ben Mendoza shared info for the Meet Your Mayor Webinar. The Mayor and D9 Office are hosting a joint webinar as an opportunity to ask the Mayor questions. The event will be held virtually on Wednesday, June 2nd at 6pm. Registration details here: www.sandiego.gov/mayorcd9townhall.
• Denise Padilla asked about when the jails will begin to start accepting people again and the dead man found at Grocery Outlet. Terry was unable to provide more details at the time.
• Marsha Lyon mentioned that there are some formerly homeless people now that being helped into permanent supportive housing at San Diego Housing Commission apartments that are destroying property and causing quality of life issues. Marsha said, “children should not have to witness poop in elevators or someone committing suicide by jumping off the roof.”
• Sabina Villalobos mentioned the recurring hotspot near Teralta Park.

–Tuesday, April 27, 2021–

• Director Tootie Thomas of the El Cajon Blvd Improvement Association asked if there are any homeless individuals participating in the Homeless Coalition. There are none, but Officer Terry Hoskins would welcome participants who are homeless. He had invited someone who did not then attend. Wendy Miller said that we could make another attempt to invite a homeless
• Jose asked if businesses could get a heads up before abatement of homeless encampments so they could coordinate plans to sanitize Officer John Luellen from Neighborhood Policing said they can try to do so, but a lot of abatement locations are not known/scheduled until the night before.
• Bruce Williams from District 4 says they are aware of encampments on Aragon and Rolando in Rolando Park. They are starting to see encampments in other parts of the
• Officer Terry Hoskins introduced Officer Beth Ortiz, the new CRO for the 830s. Marcia Lyon shared encampment hotspots in the 830s: Azalea Park, Hollywood Park, apartment complex with encampments on both
• Officer John Luellen says that code compliance issues can now be reported via Get It Done. Officer Terry Hoskins would like to do code compliance reports regarding structural issues at the monthly Mid-City Division meetings with Code
• Tootie Thomas and Officer Hoskins talked about re-initiating a project, put on hold by Covid, with businesses on the central part of El Cajon The project involves having businesses sign a pledge or letter committing to being “good businesses,” including cleaning the outside area and the sidewalks in front of their property. Gerrie Flaven was asked to ask for participation from Rolando Park and Redwood Village along University Ave. Gerrie Flaven shared with Bruce Williams that Party House Liquor Store (University and Rolando) has already cooperated with cleanups, including the last District 4/RPCC cleanup before Covid. Stephen Bilecz from ESD is willing to participate. Marcia Lyon and Jose both talked about standards already in place for liquor stores (assessments on “Crime-Free” app and ABC regulations.) Jose and Tootie talked about motivating businesses. Wendy is willing to help from 54th to Euclid.
• Per Officer Luellen, Neighborhood Policing is not involved with the federal shelter project at the Convention Services are being provided by South Bay Community Services.

–Tuesday, March 30, 2021–

The Mid-City Homeless Coalition meeting chaired by Officer Terry Hoskins met via Zoom with 25 participants, including reps from SDPD Mid-City, Neighborhood Policing, City Park Rangers, and Districts 4 and 9. Several community agencies and Mid-City neighborhoods were also represented. Note that this group meets on the last Tuesday of every month, 8 am–9 am. Any resident or business in Mid-City is welcome to attend.

• Bruce Williams from City Council District 4 (Monica Montgomery Steppe) gave information about a one-day vaccine clinic scheduled for 4/3 for any resident of District 4. He also expressed appreciation for agency help with illegal dumping in the Voice and Viewpoint parking lot.

Mr. Williams made an unannounced visit recently to the Lea Street Homeless Storage facility. Only 127 of 250 available bins were being used. The facility is not getting the expected usage or turnover. Some people are not returning to pick up their belongings, which then have to be disposed of. Neighborhood residents are encouraged to stop by unannounced to observe the operation and talk to staff who welcome visitors.

• Vickie Church observes that the City has not been cleaning up around the Lea Street facility for the last few months. Trash, RVs, and encampments are in the area. Bruce Williams referred her to Matt Griffith with the Mayor’s Office and asked that she copy Districts 4 and 9 on her correspondence. Sgt. Pat Heller says Neighborhood Policing can respond to Get It Done reports, but can’t do “preventive” patrols.
• Officer Terry Hoskins and Bruce Williams will try to catalyze the Lea Street community advisory group to meet again. Richard Diaz advised that Linda Godoy, EACPC chair, has been in touch with the Housing Commission to get the advisory group meeting again.
• Per Vickie Church, because the Mayor’s Office has ordered PD not to move encampments when it’s raining, it would be wise to have an alert system similar to City Ranger notice to those living in the Chollas Creek bed. Robin (Talmadge) recommended an advance warning for flood and fire for homeless encampments in the Aldine Drive flood control channel.
• Officer Hoskins notes the homeless encampments on Aragon in Rolando Park continue with two individuals of particular concern. Officer Hoskins is trying to find a business willing to get a TRO for the individual in the wheelchair. He’s also trying to get intervention from a resident of the Aragon apartment complex who is the uncle of the homeless man who is a known sexual offender.
• Gerrie Flaven (Rolando Park) reported the theft of a neighbor’s motorcycle, which was found by PD on 3/27 am at the Smog Certification business on Rolando (south of University) with the wiring stripped. There may have been a second stolen motorcycle at the same location. This location has been reported on Nextdoor as being a “chop shop”/homeless encampment after the Smog Shop’s regular business hours. Officer Hoskins requested that the owner of the motorcycle contact him so he can follow up. Homeless encampments at the Smog Shop have been reported via Get it Done.
• Monica Ball with the City Heights Rock Church (at the old Pearson Ford location) reports that there is 100% reimbursement of FEMA funds available for motel rooms through the City and County for homeless at risk of Covid until September. Even homeless who refuse placement in a shelter will rarely refuse placement in a motel. Rock Church has other shelter resources available after September. They are also looking for volunteers to help case managers find placements.
• Ben Mendoza with City Council District 9 (Sean Elo-Rivera) reiterated the extended FEMA funding described by Monica Ball.
• Jose Cervantes thanked SDPD with abatement of trash at a former recycling center at 4460 University Avenue. They are also working on graffiti abatement. He would designate Chamoune to 47th on University Avenue as a hotspot for homeless encampment.
• Per Maurice Federly (Teralta Park), Orange Avenue overpass has encampments with many who are service-resistant. Neighborhood Police and Code Compliance are involved.
• Brian Helmich (Talmadge) reports that the homeless routinely jump the fence into the yard of a resident to use as a pass-through from Aldine Canyon. Neighborhood Police will reach out to the resident. Dawn Anderson reports an opening/cave on the Aldine Canyon hillside with a homeless encampment.

—Tuesday, February 23, 2021—

The SDPD Mid-City Division, which includes Rolando Park, holds a monthly Homeless Coalition meeting chaired by Officer Terry Hoskins on the last Tuesday of every month at 8 am. Any Mid-City Division resident interested in homeless issues is welcome to attend. The coalition includes SDPD Mid-City officers, Neighborhood Policing Division, including the Homeless Outreach Team officers, City Park Rangers, Environmental Services Department representatives, and City Council Districts 9 and 4 representatives, County and nonprofit homeless service organizations, and residents of Mid-City communities including Rolando Park.

The 2/23 meeting had 32 participants, the most since the COVID-19 pandemic required virtual Zoom meetings. The following are some of the items discussed at the meeting:

• Chris O’Rourke, Program Director, gave an overview of ARMT Medical Specialists.  (Addiction Replacement Medication Treatment). ARMT (formerly Progressive Medical Specialists Inc.) is an opioid treatment program specializing in Medical Assisted Treatment (MAT), including the use of oral, liquid methadone and two other treatment medications. They also work with individuals with dual diagnosis of addiction and mental illness. Their goal is to do physical outreach on the street, but are not doing so during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contact information:

Armt911.com
4974 El Cajon Blvd Suite A
(619) 286-4600
corouke@arm911.com

• Neighborhood Policing (NP) Division including the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT). Lieutenant Bryan Brecht and others provided the following information:
  • The Convention Center Homeless Shelter is funded through March. There is a “demobilization” effort to move remaining residents to Bridge Shelter centers.
  • HOT is the nonenforcement team of Neighborhood Policing with a goal of offering alternate placement and programs to the homeless. They are available citywide, 7 days a week. Neighborhood Policing also has an “enforcement” team. Both teams are mobilized by Get It Done
  • They are aware of homeless encampment hotspots in Rolando Park at the College and Billman shopping center and on Aragon south of University. Two arrests have been made at Aragon, including a known sex offender. Addressing the ever-returning, service-resistant homeless on Aragon is difficult because of COVID-19 restrictions at the County jail, which is not accepting individuals charged with misdemeanor offenses.
  • Mid-City Division CRO Officer Terry Hoskins is also trying to intervene with a relative of one of the homeless men on Aragon.
  • They are also aware of the encampments on Rolando near University. Although the Smog Shop owner has said otherwise, NP still believes that the employees are allowing the homeless to be there when the business is closed. It appears that the business owner, who has himself made Get It Done reports, has to talk directly with Officer Hoskins and NP. He has been given the contact information for both.
  • Note that even though NP has been to these troublesome locations in Rolando Park regularly, they still need Get It Done reports when there is a new occurrence. One report per encampment is sufficient.
• Bruce Williams, representing District 4 City Council Member Monica Montgomery Steppe, spoke to the concerns raised to Ms. Montgomery Steppe at the 2/8 RPCC meeting about the homeless encampments on Aragon and at the College and Billman shopping center.
• Stephen Bilecz, Program Manager with Environmental Services Department (ESD) offered contact information for his department when Get It Done reporters have questions about ESD’s response or disposition.

Sbilecz@sandiego.gov
Gwarren@sandiego.gov
(858) 627-3316

• • Sometimes ESD cleanup crews accompany NP to an encampment; sometimes they go in after NP has made contact.
  • Mr. Bilecz reminded us that the services provided by ESD’s Clean SD program could be impacted by COVID-19 related budget cuts that the City is considering. Since Clean SD funds ESD activities related to illegal dumping and encampment abatements, it’s important that interested community members advocate for these continued activities.
• Per Senior Park Ranger Carey Goldstein, a more limited annual Homeless count is being completed on 2/23. Riverbed encampments have been counted.
• Per Linda Pennington from Azalea Park and Officer Terry Hoskins, a homeless woman died on 2/21 in a fire in an abandoned house in the 4100 block of Fairmont. The fire and death are being investigated.
• Individual community members addressed homeless encampments in their own neighborhoods. Closest to Rolando Park, encampments in Clay Park and on the 6400 block of El Cajon Blvd are well known to NP.
• It’s significant to note that individual SDPD officers and some individual community members have regular contact with some of the service-resistant homeless individuals living in their neighborhoods. Many of these homeless individuals have an addiction or mental illness or both. The degree of mental illness makes them unable to accept help or change their situation, but they don’t meet the criteria for involuntary mental health treatment.