Sweep Report: Staying dry on Valencia

On Monday morning around 11 a.m., as the sky began to drizzle, David G. was packing bike wheels and baby wipes into cardboard boxes under the overpass at Valencia and Duboce, where he has been camping for the last year or so.

“They never used bother us here,” David said, explaining that that police and Department of Public Works crews started coming around more frequently two weeks ago.  He keeps the sidewalk clean and clear of his tent during the day, but he noted that the tents had increased and Public Works noticed.

“When we started having more tents, they started coming,” he said, pointing to some other campers across Valencia, some of whom had come because of recent storms.

Last month, District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen said that the number of tents in the Mission has decreased 75 percent, from around 200 to 50. The reduction, she said, coincided with the opening of a new Navigation Center at 1515 South Van Ness Ave in late June. Ronen is working to put two more Navigation Centers in the Mission.

“After the 1515 shelter opened, a lot of the tents and encampments were taken out of the Mission because people have an alternative place to go,” said Rachel Gordon, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Works.  

But as winter approaches — and, with it, storms like those of the past few weeks — the Mission’s homeless population is still searching for places to stay, and still being told to move elsewhere, wherever that may be.   

On Monday, the first warning from police came around 9 a.m., David said. A squad car rolled up, gave a blare from its siren, and a cop on a loudspeaker told David and some six other people camping under the overpass to pack up and move along.

After 45 minutes, David said, the police were back, but this time they got out and told the campers they needed to leave. He also said, around that time, Public Works staff came but were very quick.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Campbell, 33, had been buying some snacks at the store. When he came back to the overpass, his tent was gone, and his friends told him that a Public Works crew had taken it.

He also lost his sleeping bag, mattress, blanket, clothes, and some medication, he said, and that two weeks ago, while staying on Division Street, a Public Works crew had taken another tent.

“I’m broke and I have no money to buy another tent,” he said. “The feeling sucks.”

Nelson Wison, 36, said he came to the overpass five days ago because of the rain. He said that, generally, overpasses become more crowded on rainy days. “Mostly people like to spread out, but when it’s raining you don’t have much of a choice,” he said.

A 39-year-old man who went by E.K.O. was also packing up his belongings, although he said he had nowhere to go. “I spend all day chasing my tail, from one spot to the next,” he said.

David G. said he saw the outreach team come on Sunday, although he said he didn’t get a chance to talk to them. “I’d like to check on the Navigation Center,” he said.

“It’s a good thing,” said Taylor Heath, David’s friend, who had walked over from the Navigation Center on 1950 Mission St., where he has been staying, to lend David a hand. “I hope they get us into housing and back to work.”

David G. said that he’s waiting for a Social Security check, and that hopefully the Navigation Center wouldn’t be necessary.

“I’ll hopefully not be on the street anymore,” he said. But “to be honest, I’m gonna keep coming back here.”