On Monday, the City of Antioch conducted a cleanup of a homeless encampment in a field along Highway 4.
The cleanup occurred in a vacant field between Highway 4 and Neroly near Laurel Road in the City of Antioch where Antioch Police, code enforcement, multiple tow trucks and a cleanup crew responded to remove homeless from the area–note, drone footage of this location can be observed below which was taken on April 3.
The cleanup also comes after a Sunday morning fire at one of the encampments.
According to one man who was displaced from the encampment, police towed his truck even though it was running.
Another man said he was volunteering to help the homeless, but his truck was stuck in the mud from all the rain so it ended up being towed off the property. In total, the male said approximently 24 homeless people were living on the property. He also admitted some of the vehicles had come over after the Wilbur Cleanup last month. The same man also took issue with Antioch claiming they had an 82% success rate with the homeless hotel, he called it false and not working.
Antioch Police would not verify his statements at the scene.
At least 5 vehicles were observed being towed off the property Monday.
As of 1:20 pm Monday, the City of Antioch nor the Antioch Police Department have answered any questions on the cleanup nor would they let anyone inside the cleanup area to observe–including allowing assistance to help the homeless remove their belongings. Its not known when notice was given to those on the property to vacate or how many people have been impacted, total number of vehicles towed or if any services have been offered or alternative shelter options of where they could go.
One gentlemen, who is a business owner, parks his big rig at the end of Slatten Ranch Road and was given a notice to vacate, however, he claims he was given no timeline or where else he should park his big rig–knowing he could not park it at his house. He was seeking clarification, but Antioch Police on scene told him he had to contact the watch commander.
Tuesday UPDATE — from City of Antioch
The City of Antioch, along with our Contra Costa County partners, conducted an abatement operation that recovered stolen property and more than a dozen vehicles. The operation also allowed us to offer services to community members in a homeless encampment.
The encampment in the Lindsey Detention Basin has continued to grow over the past few months. In that time, officers recovered three stolen vehicles and located a stolen ATM.
On April 3rd, Antioch officers and the Angelo Quinto Community Response Team (“Care Team”) visited the area and met with nearly a dozen people at the encampment. Over the next few days, officers and the Care Team continued to check in and offer services.
During the operation, Code Enforcement, the Care Team, Public Works, and the County’s C.O.R.E. Outreach team worked together to conduct the abatement. 18 vehicles with expired vehicle registrations were towed. Officers located two striped motorcycles and an industrial floor sweeper, all suspected of being stolen.
Through this multi-faceted approach, we were able to clear the area of trash, debris, and abandoned vehicles. We want to thank our community partners for their support in this effort.
Kwame P. Reed
Acting City Manager/
Economic Development Director
Update #2: County Health
According to Contra Costa Health through Supervisor Diane Burgis Office, the County CORE team learned about the abatement on 4/4. CORE went out on 4/6 and engaged with around 15 residents. All were offered services and none declined (but an offering of services doesn’t necessarily mean a shelter bed as needed services vary).
Drone Video Posted April 3, 2024
March 22: Over 100 Evicted from Antioch Homeless Encampment
Wilbur Avenue has been an eyesore for many as it had become a makeshift homeless encampment area filled with RV’s, broken down vehicles, tires, trash, and other items. Residents for months have called for the camp to be removed, while others called for more services to be made available.
City of Antioch acting City Manager Kwame Reed added that there were over 70 vehicles parked and 48 were able to leave the premises on their own while 22 had to be towed. None of the vehicles were reported stolen.
“The 22 that were towed were done with the utmost consideration, safeguarding against any infringement of personal rights and confirming that no vehicles were previously reported stolen,” explained Reed.
This action, while significant, is just a part of our ongoing commitment to revitalizing Antioch, and we welcome the community’s involvement and feedback as we move forward together.
The cost of the March 21 cleanup or number of dump loads still has not been provided by the City of Antioch.
Related
- Feb 16 – Hoover and Patterson Introduce “Beyond Housing” Measure to Address Homelessness
- Feb 8 – City of Concord Publishes Homeless Strategic Plan
- Feb 6 – Bill Seeks to Compassionately Clear Homeless Encampments
- Feb 4 – Antioch Touts 82% Success Rate With Homeless Program
- Jan 25 – San Mateo County Aims to Push Homeless in Illegal Encampments into Services
12 comments
Public ridicule, factual media coverage and embarrassment of exposing numerous short comings continue to be only way to motivate.
A lot of us have only one paycheck keeping us from being homeless. I think it is a disgrace that the shot callers of Antioch found it necessary to take away the little the homeless has, and spend who knows how much money putting up a ridiculous row of no parking signs.
The money it took getting rid of those poor folks could have been used helping them. Antioch can afford an outhouse and a dumpster that’s in service. And lastly if you are so offended by the encampment why don’t you just drive down 18th street and mind your own bussiness ?Try walking in their shoes, that would help!!
Why dont you let them move into your house or backyard?
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Antioch has an outhouse and dumpstwr already, its called City Hall.
No Joan Lerman that’s not how it works. You are offered services to help get you back on your feet and you refuse those services. Secondly we as property owners not only want to keep our property values up but we also want to keep our properties safe. Your the disgrace here with your comment and most likely don’t own any property in Antioch, so you could care less.
What are we supposed to feel sorry for? The ppl that we made contact with didn’t have any tragic stories. They just made terrible decisions on how to spend their money. And then stop trying. The attitude of well im in all this debt so screw it. How do I feel sorry for that?
They give homeless people a bad name. 👎 I just wish 🤞 they would go home.🤞
Yeah, how dare the City (society) take away (back) from these homeless people those things that they have rightfully stolen! Sure they’ve been offered countless opportunities to better their position in life and have chosen not to accept those offers. And sure they’ve outworn their welcome in society by stealing, attacking and harassing that very society that they and you say should pay to fix their problems. And sure if these were feral cats messing up our property and attacking our pets we would stop putting out free food and remove them off our property or trap them and have the shelters handle them. The fact is Joan, we the hard working, tax paying, law abiding citizens have “walked in their shoes” and we have had enough. We’ve tried compassion only to get robbed and assaulted for our efforts. We’ve scene people spit on, women and children harassed, our lands a creeks polluted and our property stolen and destroyed. Take note Joan, this time THEY got to walk in OUR shoes. With their things taken, their comfort assaulted and their livelihood threatened. I pray that they each find their way out of homelessness and addiction but we are all out of feeling bad for them.
The efforts put forward by the City and other agencies that participated in clearing out these sites must be commend. Thanks to all of you. Now, it’s time to keep these areas cleaned up. Time to install barricades and fences that prevent vagrants from entering the areas in the first place. Anyone familiar with the area can see what Brentwood did on the south side of Lone Tree behind the Chase Bank when they evicted vagrants from that location. They quickly installed a cyclone fence and installed no trespassing signs. It worked. Unfortunately those people evicted made their way across Lone Tree and yo the area just cleaned out. It’s doubtful we as taxpayers will ever be told what the cost to clean up Wilbur Avenue and the filth behind Slaten Ranch was, but one can speculate that barriers, fences and proactive enforcement might have been less expensive. Let’s no go down this road again, we’ve wasted too much money already. The City must remain vigilant this time.
The little that they have? Really? Left unchecked they take over whole side walks with junk and force dog walkers to walk on the road. One man was even bbqing meat on the sidewalk. You clearly forgot how bad it got at jc penny’s several months ago. And where did they get all the stuff from? You think they worked hard and bought all of that? REALLY? The “little” they own is a little too much if it’s all stolen. And it’s not a little. It’s a lot. They have carts full of stuff out there again… piled high full of stolen merchandise. Look at the neighboring businesses…. there are security guards now and boarded up businesses because there has been so much theft. That hurts the community and prevents people from wanting to move here or buy our houses.
Not to mention the sanitation issues. I was at least thankful for them being pushed into the field because the sanitation made me fustrated to walk my dogs there when they had overtaken the jcpenny sidewalks. Bloody pad, tampon, pile of human feces and underwear next to it, used condom, old rotting foods and broken glass routinely. A lot of homeless like to smash bottles on side walks which is frustrating to dog owners and also note that dogs will try to dive at some of those disgusting things to see what it is.
I see a lot of the homeless routinely. A lot of them appear in good physical condition and are pretty young( 30’s) . The difference is usually relating to drugs or alcohol. They never can consistently go to a job so they tend to get large gaps in work history that look bad to an employer. Often times drugs and alcohol can leave a sketchy work history because so it makes it extremely hard for them to find a job or they don’t want to find a job because they like to contiue the lifestyle of using substances. To say that most are a paycheck away from being just like them is a bit disingenuous. Yes most of us can loose our luck by getting laid off, getting sick etc…. we might have to move into our car but as long as we have the ability to keep showing up to work on time every day and do our job… homelessness for us would be temporary. And most of us wouldn’t be doing any smash and grabs either, or piling up junk to reach the heavens.
How dare anyone judge anyone or even talk about homeless people the why you guys do , just because they are addicted to drugs or have medical problems that are non of your business or other reasons that are not there fault. They try to hide from people like you but get removed every where they go they get removed with no where to go . The programs they offer are awesome but you only get help on their terms if you don’t do what they want the help stops showers, food, clothing so on .
If you can have a safe parking program why can’t this town have a safe place for homeless people can go all day without being told to leave or bathrooms they can use with out feeling ashamed or scared of non homeless people with judgmental attitudes
If you’re a taxpayer, you actually do have a right to judge, since taxpayers fund the “services” and monies that the homeless recieve.