A firepit, filled in with ashes and dirt was found by the campsite.
An abandoned homeless campsite located off Pacific Coast Highway between Potrero Canyon and Temescal Canyon was cleaned up on August 27. The campsite, which had a firepit, firewood and cigarette butts scattered in the area was located in the Very High Fire Severity Zone, which means camping is prohibited.
The site was first located by a community member’s drone shot and posted on social media. A volunteer with the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness (PPTFH), sent the shot to former PPTFH President Sharon Kilbride, who works with the police.
The Beach Detail, which have been on break, normally patrol not only beach areas, but also hillside areas, such as this one. Before this area was patrolled and signs went up there were three fires and about 60 abandoned campsites and trash had to be cleared off “meth mountain.”
Kilbride contacted LAPD and asked them to send someone to determine if the site was abandoned. Of late, people camping can be violent and volunteers don’t go into a site, until they get the go ahead from police.
The site was checked out on August 26 and determined abandoned, so Kilbride, PPTFH’s Bruce Schwartz and Carlos Rodriquez, accompanied by LAPD’s Officer Suleiman, cleaned the area and filled a pickup truck with bags of trash, and other discarded materials. But first the trip line had to be dismantled from the entrance to the camp.
Additionally, there was a big dump spot of “urine and feces” from an RV. All that bacterial matter will find its way into the ocean, which is on the other side of PCH.
An RV dumped the waste from its black water tank on land across from the Pacific Ocean.
That area is under CalTrans jurisdiction. There is a broken gate, which means RVs can simply pull in and dump. It also means it provides easy access for transients.
There has been an influx of new homeless into Pacific Palisades, and the PPTFH volunteers have been monitoring and making contact with those new to this area.
People are asked if they want services. Most have refused. Additionally, social workers, which the community has hired, also contact the homeless. If a homeless person is presenting violent behaviors, a resident needs to notify LAPD.
Since it was formed in 2014, PPTFH might be the only nonprofit, which actually has statistics about people they have helped off the streets click here.
A PPTFH volunteer said that it appears because of the Grants Pass Ruling there are more homeless coming to the Palisades. Today there were 11 new people in a one-mile stretch on the beach. Only one said they would go to a meet up with social workers. It appears none of the people want services.
The bed of the truck was filled with garbage from the abandoned camp.
Does the trip line make noise to alert the transients?
I have spent the summer at Lake Tahoe, doing vacation home property management, & haven’t seen a single encampment or sleeping bag on the ground at any community around the lake, in either California or Nevada. How do they do it? Why can’t L.A. learn from nearby communities like Burbank and Orange County?
A person trips over it, falls and makes a noise then they do, alerting the person who set it up.