Stories about the Story Road Encampment

Closure of "The Jungle" Captured by the Media
By Deb Kramer

On Thursday, December 4th, the City of San Jose began the cleanup of the Story Road Encampment aka "The Jungle", which had housed up to 300 homeless individuals. Below are select stories from various media sources. 

• On 12/3/14, KQED Forum hosted a show with the story and interviews related to The Jungle's closure. http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201412030900
• Take a look at this video from KQED Forum. It let's you see what The Jungle looked like before the rain and exodus last week.http://bcove.me/2z4gmd18
• The San Jose Mercury News ran a story on 12/4, with photos and video.
  http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_27066589/jungle-san-jose-shuts-down-notorious-homeless-encampment
• On 12/5/14, the San Jose Mercury News ran a followup story about the continued cleanup.
  http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_27077914/cleanup-jungle-encampment-continues-after-eviction-homeless
• NBC Bay Area had a news story on 12/1 about the posting to evict homeless residents of the encampment.
  http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/San-Jose-Taking-Final-Steps-in-Shutting-Down-The-Jungle-Homeless-Encampment-284274701.html
• The National Journal contributed a video and article about the people who live in the encampment.
  http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/population-2043/how-silicon-valley-created-america-s-largest-homeless-camp-20141125

Regional Water Board Poised to Act on Creekside Pollution of Creeks

Regional Water Board Poised to Act on Creekside Pollution of Creeks
By Richard McMurtry

On November 12, 2014, homeless activists from San Jose spoke out at a meeting of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board in Oakland, the state agency responsible for protecting our streams from pollution. They stood up for basic human services (sanitation, wash, trash pickup) at existing homeless encampments to prevent pollution of the creeks. They advocated for the creation of managed homeless villages with proper sanitation, wash facilities, trash pickup and shelter from the elements and with opportunities for the homeless to be stewards of the creek by keeping it clean.   

They also called on the Regional Board to issue enforcement orders to the owners of creekside properties – Santa Clara Valley Water District, City of San Jose, County of Santa Clara, CALTRANS – to pick up the trash in the creek and along its banks and provide sanitary facilities to prevent discharge of human waste to the creek.

Mr. James McGrath, vice-chair of the Board, said, "I can’t imagine this would not be a high priority for this board. I have walked several miles of creek and seen mountains of trash in the creeks and along its banks on public agency and private land. This is not just a City of San Jose problem. There must be a better way to address human waste collection other than provision of dry bags."

The Board indicated their desire to have this issue put on an agenda for a future meeting of the Board and to create a subcommittee of the Board to focus on this issue. Perhaps the current impasse around addressing homeless-related creek pollution is about to make a major shift!

The Coyote Creek Homeless Stream Stewards

The Coyote Creek Homeless Stream Stewards

By Richard McMurtry

When you look into the eyes of a homeless person on the creek and genuinely are interested in who they are, it is hard not to fall in love with them. "Love" in the sense of caring about them: wanting the best for them; seeing their humanity and their goodness – warts and all. And, wanting to empower them to be the stewards of the creek, rather than the trashers of the creek.

On September 25^th, the Coyote Creek Homeless Stream Stewards held its first trash cleanup at two encampments along Coyote Creek just north of Capitol Expressway. Despite city warnings that the homeless are "dangerous," we worked with four individuals living in that area to pick up about 15 bags of trash. Then we went to Round Table and had pizza to celebrate our work together. More cleanups are planned for October.

The mottos of the Coyote Creek Homeless Stream Stewards are:

• Collecting creekside trash as fast as it’s generated
• Protecting Coyote Creek
• Serving the community

With the help of the homeless, our community volunteer cleanups will make headway against the backlog of trash along the creek. No longer will we be picking up trash that was generated between cleanups.

Stream area prior to cleanup

Stream area following Stream Stewards cleanup

Richard McMurtry (second from right) with three of the team members

Stream Steward member looking regal

Living Along Coyote Creek

Every other week or so, I go out to Coyote Creek and monitor trash and take photos...lots of photos. Through these photos, I'd like to share some of the people, animals, plants, and other aspects of the creek that I find fascinating.

This week: "Lives Left Behind"

Recently, I went out with Richard McMurtry to evaluate the trash levels between Yerba Buena and Singleton Road. What a minefield of trash! We'll be hosting a cleanup along this section soon. The San Jose Park Rangers had recently cleared out the homeless people, and below are a few items I found left behind.

People need medications, and here are some prescription vials left behind. Hopefully, the user has their next supply of medication to stay healthy.

I'm always amazed by what "food-related" packaging I find. These are coffee creamer flavoring cups. I found one huge box (apparently holding about 150 cups) and its empty containers. Flavors, in case you are interested, are Hazelnut (tan), French Vanilla (blue), Irish Creme (green), Half & Half (white), Black Coffee Shot SToK (black). The SToK flavor contains the following ingredients: Water, Corn Syrup, Brewed Coffee (Cold Brewed Coffee [Filtered Water, Coffee],Caffeine, Natural Lactic Acid), Dipotassium Phosphate, Guar Gum. Not exactly high on the health index.

Children are out on the creek, and I mean living here, not just playing. Here is a Sesame Street stuffed animal, which I found adjacent to the baby-sized socks and toy truck (see below). I am saddened to see the evidence of children living out here. The weather is warm and dry now, but shortly, the rains will come, it will be cold at night, and these little ones may not have a safe place to be. 

Who was the little baby who lost his/her socks?
I hope he/she is safe.

Small toy fire engine

Coastal Cleanup Day a Mighty Success!

What a turnout for Coastal Cleanup Day this year! Restore Coyote Creek and the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter hosted its first Coastal Cleanup Day, not knowing exactly how wildly successful it would be. We had 150 volunteers and the Conservation Corp who helped collect 5.7 tons of trash over a nearly 1 mile stretch of creek from Tully Road south to Capitol Expressway. To put that amount of trash into perspective, this is the equivalent of 4 Mini Coopers in weight. 

Here is a sampling of what we collected:

• 600 bags of trash
• 100 articles of clothing
• 26 tires
• 12 shopping carts
• 10 bicycles

Some of the most unusual items included:

• Mop bucket and wringer
• 2 TVs
• Water cooler
• Darth Vader game controller
• Dart board
• Spanish Bible

We had people come representing so many different organizations: Sierra Club, Silver Creek High School, Yerba Buena High School, Andrew Hill High School, City Council District 7, McLaughlin Corridor Neighborhood Association, San Jose State University, and University Preparatory Academy. About 70 of the attendees were high school students. One of the adults "enjoyed working with the young people who are fantastic."

Many of the people were all smiles and commented on how much fun they had. One person said he was "interested to see how far the trash extends" into the creek. One group of students couldn't believe how many tires were in the creek..."tires, tires, tires!"  

Sonya Herrera, journalist at the Spartan Daily, wrote an excellent piece about the cleanup event, and interviewed many of the participants. You can read her article for more insights.

The Links Between Homelessness and Coyote Creek

I recently read an op-ed article in the San Jose Mercury News [San Jose's Jungle: It will close, but homelessness will remain a huge problem] that commented on the ultimate closing of "the Jungle" and the lack of "shared community responsibility" towards homelessness. Many people live along Santa Clara County's creeks, including Coyote Creek, and for a variety of reasons. As this op-ed points out, once the Jungle is closed, the visceral, visible icon for homelessness will disappear, but the homeless will be dispersed, once again, amidst our cities. Some will find housing, but others will not.

One of the new plans to end homelessness is the Community Plan to End Homelessness, a final draft of which was unveiled on Thursday, September 11, that offers three main strategies with underlying goals, one of which includes the environmental community. As part of this Plan, the goal is to shelter the chronically homeless, veterans, and families, but also to identify and help households at risk for becoming homeless. By supporting and being a part of the implementation of this plan, communities can help keep our creeks and waterways from becoming a home away from home for homeless people, and allow environmental groups to focus on restoring these natural places rather than primarily focusing on keeping them free of trash.

To join in the implementation plan or to learn more, contact Destination: Home.  

City/County Plan to End Homelessness

The Environmental Community has been included in the conversation about ending homelessness in Santa Clara County. On July 30, homeless advocates, agencies, and environmental groups got together to discuss environmental impacts and considerations for a document called "Community Plan to End Homelessness in Santa Clara County." This high-level document brings many groups together to look at the problem of homelessness in the county and big goals to end homelessness by 2019. This effort is led by Destination: Home with input from over 50 partners. 

Representatives from Audbon, Friends of Coyote Creek Watershed, Sustainable Silicon Valley 3D and others discussed the impacts that the homeless have on our environment and how providing homes will lighten that burden.

From the meeting, one interesting document was the statistics related to homeless individuals in Santa Clara County. Here are a few numbers:

• 7, 631 homeless individuals (2013)
• 67% are male
• 87% lived in Santa Clara County before becoming homeless
• 74% are unemployed
• 42% sleep outdoors or in encampments

With these numbers, we can see how ending homelessness in Santa Clara County would help the environment as well as the people who experience this untenable situation everyday.