Quick Take
Stacey Falls, who teaches chemistry and environmental science at Santa Cruz High School, takes issue with a recent Lookout op-ed on the dangers of the San Lorenzo River levee. Yes, there are unhoused people and it is “certainly unpleasant and even disgusting” at times, she writes. But the problem is the “unjust systems that have created rampant homelessness in one of the most affluent counties on the planet.” The city cleans up beaches and downtown regularly – why not the levee, she wonders.
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I read Jamie Barsimantov’s op-ed, “Riding my bike on the Santa Cruz levee bike path is making me change my politics – it’s too dangerous here to be green,” and like Barsimantov, I ride my bike and walk constantly and everywhere in Santa Cruz. I live one block away from the bike levee path, and I have not owned a car since 2004. I have seen many of the same things he has on the levee bike path and elsewhere.
Although it is certainly unpleasant and even disgusting at times, unlike Barsimantov, I don’t feel in danger.
While I often feel annoyed and frustrated, my anger is directed at the unjust systems that have created rampant homelessness in one of the most affluent countries on the planet and local anti-homeless policies that simply push people around from one spot to the next.
Santa Cruz has struggled with homelessness for decades. Contrary to what many people think, our total homeless numbers (according to the Santa Cruz County point-in-time count) have dropped significantly since 2013. However, people experiencing homelessness have become more obvious and, to folks like Barsimantov, more of a nuisance because of anti-homeless sweeps that push people out of established, out-of-the-way campsites.
In past years, thriving tent communities existed north of the Highway 1 bridge, along the San Lorenzo River. When those tent communities get razed, people flock to the levee path. People need some place to be. Kick them out of their secluded spot and they will end up in plain sight.
Drugs, defecation, fighting are all things people do in the luxury of their homes, and when people don’t have homes, they do those things in public. Give folks a place to be, and the rest of the community won’t have to be confronted by it daily.
I am frustrated by local governments that are quick to pass laws like the temporary outdoor living ordinance and bans on recreational vehicles, but which lack the political will to create substantially sized safe parking zones or managed camps. They wring their hands about homelessness but greenlight housing projects with zero affordable housing.
And frankly, I am frustrated at the way city officials turn a blind eye to the pollution and mess on the levee bike path. It almost seems like they let it be a mess specifically to drum up the kind of anti-homeless rhetoric being spewed by Barsimantov.
For instance, I live near Main Beach, and in the wee hours of the morning after a hot summer weekend day, I notice mountains of litter, trash, food remnants and even fecal matter. But the city puts effort into cleaning the beach. Downtown is similarly often a mess after a weekend, but every day, as I bike to work through downtown, I notice street sweepers and people power-washing the sidewalks.
Most of the mess on Main Beach and in downtown is because of tourists. The city values tourists because they generate revenue, so it is worth it to use resources to keep tourist areas clean. City officials don’t care about the plight of unhoused people and the tensions between them and the housed population, so no one ever bothers to wash the sidewalks, collect the trash and dust up the broken glass or spilled food in areas where unhoused folks congregate, like the levee path.
According to a 2020 civil grand jury report, “approximately one third [of unhoused individuals] have mental health or addiction problems for which there are inadequate treatment options”; an outsized percentage of unhoused folks are veterans; many people who sleep outside are victims of violence and abuse; and many people who lack a roof over their head do so because of “the high cost of rent in Santa Cruz County.”
Hatred, fear and revulsion of people who sleep on the streets will not solve the problem. Avoiding places like the levee path where people without a home congregate will not make them disappear. Instead we need compassionate and caring solutions.
Stacey Falls moved to Santa Cruz in 2002 and promptly ditched her car. She has biked for fun and transportation ever since. She lives in Lower Ocean, close to the levee path and bikes and walks to work, social engagements, for groceries and other errands. She has taught chemistry and environmental science at Santa Cruz High School since 2006. Her dog, Mocha, hates riding in cars but she loves the bike.