San Bernardino begins clearing encampments in city parks

The City of San Bernardino is making good on its promise to remove homeless encampments from city parks. Early Thursday morning, police officers and city staff began the process of removing a homeless encampment from Perris Hill Park.

The cleanup effort should come as no surprise as San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran, in a press conference last month said that cleaning up the encampments “would be the city’s No. 1 priority” now that the injunction had been lifted.

Previously the city had been barred from addressing the growing homeless problem due to a lawsuit that charged the city with disregarding the constitutional rights of three homeless people when those people were ordered to leave a city park. The injunction was lifted last month after the city and the American Civil Liberties Union – one of the parties that filed the original lawsuit – reached an agreement under which the city will take better care of homeless people’s personal property when seeking to move them.

To honor that agreement, the city, in partnership with San Bernardino County, has been conducting outreach events at the park in an effort to connect the homeless community to stable housing and supportive services. More than 30 people have been placed in temporary housing or received other services since the outreach began.

“The city of San Bernardino is deeply committed to addressing homelessness by providing housing, resources, access to healthcare and mental health support,” said Ashley Esquivel, homeless solutions manager for the city.

Representatives of the ACLU was present for Thursday’s clean up, monitoring the situation and making sure the city complied with the terms of its agreement.

Park staff will now begin the task of cleaning the grounds, laying down mulch and making repairs to the sprinkler systems for the public to enjoy the park.