SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A Grantville woman is demanding action from the city after discovering dozens of encampments along the San Diego riverbed just below her property. She says the fire risk they pose could cost her everything.
Michele Addington lives at the top of a hill overlooking the riverbed. After two fires in the area in mid-June and just last week, she walked down to assess the situation herself. What she found was tents, bicycles, shopping carts, trash and even a BBQ.
"The more you go in, the more homeless camps you found, and sometimes there are no tents, there's just garbage everywhere," Addington said.
The discovery left her worried, particularly given the recent fires nearby.
"If we have a fire and we don't have the fire department here, we're going to burn down. I'm done. My property is done. The whole place is gone," Addington said.
Addington reported the encampments to the city on the Get It Done app. The city reclassified the report as "waste on private property," and a spokesperson said police and code compliance officers visited the location and confirmed the waste is on private property, meaning the city says it cannot step in to remove it. The city says, a code compliance officer will instead work with the property owner to address the situation.
ABC 10News is working to find out who owns the property.
Addington says her concern is not with people living along the river; it is with the fire danger.
"If homeless people want to be here and it's safe, fine with me. Once they start fires, that's when I get involved, and then I don't give up," Addington said.
She says she plans to keep a close watch on the riverbed and will continue checking for fire risks until the area is cleaned up.
"I'm going to make enough noise that they're going to have to address it. I'm not, I'm not giving up," Addington said.
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