Code Enforcement Division assigned this issue to Christina E., Community Services Section (CSS)

He is seen often in the dumpster at the Apartment Complex on the corner on Hichborn associated with address 230 Wilson Ct. leaving trash outside the complex and onto the sidewalk must me just keep putting up with this ?

We need the laws that can be enforced to the fullest. He is pushed from one encampment to another and never held responsible for the illegal dumping etc.. We the tax payers are left paying to clean up after him on a regular basis. They should clean up their own encampments including their feces etc.. We need to not be sympathetic to the law breakers which are through out Vallejo. These aren't law abiding homeless that strive for a better situation, these are bums, druggies etc. that create blight throughout the city because the city is lenient.

I live here in Vallejo too and, believe me, really wish we didn't have the homeless problem we do -- both here and throughout the Bay Area (and actually Vallejo has a significantly less intrusive and visible problem with homelessness than most other cities in the area). But think about a few things before blaming our city officials for this.

You say these are "These aren't law abiding homeless that strive for a better situation, these are bums, druggies etc." One thing to know, and this is an undisputed fact, is that over 70% of people who are homeless experienced some kind of severe childhood trauma. In all but the most unusually resilient individuals this often leads to serious mental health issues and / or substance abuse -- which in turn often leads to homelessness (especially in the kind of housing economy we have here now).

This is actually a national and state issue more than a local one -- the opioid epidemic nationally is orders of magnitude worse than even just a few years ago (close to 75,000 people died of OD last years and the number is growing), and the psychiatric hospitals and inpatient residential facilities were mostly closed in the late 1970's -- this problem has been decades in the making and we're now seeing the effects (much like the smoke we are experiencing now is a consequence of not taking climate change seriously enough). So how much of this is really a Vallejo issue rather than a regional issue? And other than getting the city to remove abandoned and illegally parked vehicles and maintaining public parks and spaces (which are legitimate concerns), what is the solution you see that a) doesn't involve even more $ than cleaning up after encampments, and b) is constitutional?

There are ways to make things much better, but none that don't cost, so what exactly are you advocating for?

Actually I'm going to agree with Watching Out that people on the streets be held responsible for cleaning up after themselves. But instead of the cops wasting their time trying to enforce this with existing encampments, a better approach would be to establish a shelter along the lines of the Navigation Centers in SF (pop-up shelters in vacant buildings with an onsite support team to work with people on whatever issues they have that have put them on the streets). This plus a small, well trained Vallejo Homeless Outreach Team could put a significant dent in the local encampment problem, although eventually a long-term investment in low-cost supportive housing will have to be made as well.

Holding people accountable only works if they have some investment in being accountable. No visible light at the end of the tunnel, then no reason to change in behavior.

I don’t have any problem with taxes being raised in order to solve these problems, but only if that money goes directly into solving homelessness.
But I do believe these folks need to be held accountable for their actions when they create blight, dump, litter, do drugs leaving needles in public spaces and commit indecent exposure, trespass and plague our streets with dangerous unregistered/insured junk vehicles.
Most truly down on luck homeless want help and want jobs/housing, etc. they try not to be seen, they don’t make a mess and impose on they way of life for everyone else.

Temporary shelters could be put in the abandoned post office or the abandoned high school. Unfortunately when I spoke with Christina at CSS, she informed me that the Fairfield Shelter is now closed due to loss of funding. And the planned shelter for Vallejo it’s a long ways off, considering they still need to demolish a building and get a whole lot more money than the 2 million(?) they have to build the new shelter. Closing the Fairfield shelter at the onset of winter, not so brilliant!

I just occurred to me that both the post office and highscool are probably filled with Asbestos and of course we can’t expose homeless people to that, just the elements and freezing to death.

Just children K-12, we only worry about asbestos when it comes to solutions to keeping the homeless from freezing in the winter.

Asbestos shouldn't be much of a threat if you don't disturb it.

True that non-friable asbestos (hard stuff like old asbestos tiles, pipes, etc) isn't really an issue unless cut into or broken, but the powdered stuff used long ago for certain types of insulation is truly dangerous left in place. And there are state and federal health and safety laws that prevent reopening a space to for any public use (including schools or shelters of any kind) without first doing asbestos mitigation even if non-friable. The reasoning for this was that you could easily at some point get a maintenance tech in there that didn't know about any of this and mistakenly cut into some of it, which would then be a potentially serious health and liability problem for the city. Vallejo as a municipality is bound by these rules too, like it or not, so really no choice but to pony up for the abatement if that's the issue. But maybe there are other sites that could be put into use sooner and cheaper. Unfortunately, lots of vacant buildings in Vallejo.

Sorry I even mentioned the "A" word, it's not the problem or issue.

Christina E., Community Services Section (CSS) assigned this issue to Code Enforcement Division

Code Enforcement Division assigned this issue to Christina E., Community Services Section (CSS)

Thank you for reporting! The Police Department's Community Service Section (CSS) has opened a case for this issue. CSS has one part-time and three full-time employees who are responsible for addressing all quality of life concerns, supporting Neighborhood Watch groups, and working with the Neighborhood Law Program and Code Enforcement to address distressed and dangerous properties. We work hard to investigate each report in a timely manner, and will investigate this report as soon as we possibly can. Please keep in mind there is a lengthy process to remove illegal encampments. If you have any questions, please call our office at (707) 553-7218.

If you witness any suspicious or criminal activity that requires an immediate response, please call 9-1-1.