PPTFH Clears Out Homeless Encampments Behind Temescal

By CHRISTIAN MONTERROSA | Reporter

The Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness added to its number of cleared encampments on Tuesday, April 17, by cleaning out leftover trash from abandoned sites in the bluffs of Temescal Canyon and Pacific Coast Highway.

Together with the LA Conservation Corps and the help of LAPD, the task force removed everything from old mattresses and propane cans to human waste and broken glass housed in between the brush and canyons.

The cleanup, coordinated by Sharon Kilbride, chair of the PPTFH Enforcement Committee, came one day after Mayor Eric Garcetti announced plans of a renewed $430 million effort to take on LA’s homelessness problem after a 20 percent increase in the homeless population.

But the efforts of PPTFH are not new, as it has been working to provide care for the homeless in the Palisades for the last two years, effectively taking over 70 percent of homeless people off the streets. The group estimates that close to 25 homeless individuals that lived in the area off Temescal Canyon for close to eight years have now been housed, but left behind sites that now require cleanup.

“We have discovered over several years, 60 total active encampments between Chautauqua and Temescal,” said Doug McCormick, president of the PPTFH. “The idea of having them [cease] to exist on land that is a fire hazard where no one should be, is what we were trying to do.”

Since then, the task force has cleaned up all but 20 of those encampments, and set out on Tuesday to clean 16 more, leaving just four sites to be worked on at a later date.

“After cleaning these encampments up, you start to see that Mother Nature is taking back over where this used to be a hotbed of narcotics activity and these guys would start fires,” LAPD Officer Rusty Redican said.

“Unfortunately it’s a constant thing that we’re going to have to do, but the things that [the PPTFH] has done is amazing and we all support each other, which keeps the table upright.”

As the number of homeless people continues to rise, PPTFH continues the fight in seeking to provide the proper care for our less fortunate neighbors.