By GABRIELLA BOCK | Reporter
Beds and sofas, a 70-inch television powered by solar panels, and enough clothing to stock a mall—this is some of the haul recovered from homeless encampments around Pacific Palisades in recent months.
Who paid for such household goods—or how they were carried high up into steep areas such as Via Bluffs through scrub and trees without anyone noticing—remain mysteries that still intrigue the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness.
But they are the volunteers who are preparing to drag the furniture and electronic goods down the slopes again before they add to the fire hazards threatening the town this summer.
In 2016, the Palisades was home to 45 active homeless encampments and as of June 2017, that number has significantly diminished to 11 active encampments—a large victory for PPTFH. But with the good news comes the arduous—and expensive—task of clearing house.
At the task force’s July 17 meeting, Tom Creed, a 20-year resident of the Via Bluffs and active PPTFH member, shared the expensive truth.
After coordinating an encampment cleanup in his own neighborhood, Creed estimated that the cost to clear each site will range anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 per campsite.
Creed spent three days working to clear out a trail in the Via Bluffs so that his crew could access the site with a pickup truck.
Once inside, what they found was more than just tarps and trash.
Housing several encampments inside one large community campground, the site had many of the makings of an actual home.
Creed told PPTFH attendees that he found the television and furniture abandoned by those who once called the bluffs home.
Although the make of the TV was not revealed, a current Samsung 70-inch TV weighs 68 pounds—carrying it up a steep hill would be a task even for two fit people and the homeless tend not to be as healthy as the average Palisadian. An older TV could weigh twice that.
And after an entire day’s worth of work and removing two full truckloads of garbage, Creed was only able to clear about 10 percent of the site.
After taking a vote, PPTFH was met with unanimous support of a cleanup initiative, but what remained unclear was how the task force would pay for the massive overhaul.
“We will need to find outside funding,” PPTFH President Doug McCormick said. “We can’t let this subtract from our main mission of getting more people off the streets and into permanent supportive housing.”
Those in attendance suggested recruiting volunteers from local Boy and Girl Scouts troops and area high schools to help remove trash from lower areas in the community.
But for more rugged areas, like the bluffs, a solution won’t come overnight.
“Safety will need to be our primary concern,” McCormick continued. “Organizing and funding this kind of work isn’t simple and the work needs to be supervised by city park rangers.”
Nestled above Pacific Coast Highway between Temescal Canyon Road and Potrero Canyon, the Via Bluffs are notorious for their steep terrain and heavy brush.
According to Creed, there are already more than 60 large, construction-grade bags filled with trash waiting to be removed from the area. But without clear access to the bluffs, the garbage will sit until a solution is made.
The meeting did find a potential partnership with Hollywood’s Griffith Park, and although the organization has limited resources, LA Recreation and Park’s Ranger Albert Torres extended a helping hand.
“If you can find a way to get it all bagged up,” he said, “then I’m sure we can devise a way to come and help haul it all away.”
But for now, PPTFH must find enough volunteers who are willing to get their hands dirty.
All interested volunteers can email pacpalihtf@gmail.com.
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