SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – If you drive along the different highways in San Diego County, you’re bound to see an encampment either nestled into the hillside or under an overpass.
“We have a homelessness crisis and people are living not just on city streets, but also in Caltrans right of ways,” State Senator Catherine Blakespear said.
That’s what Blakespear is looking to tackle.
“The bill is saying that Caltrans needs to work with cities on managing and removing people living on the Caltrans right of way,” Blakespear said.
Blakespear’s bill also allows for Caltrans to contract with local governments to clear encampments on state roadways and reimburse them for it.
“So the problem is that people will call into the city of San Diego, for example, and the city will say, ‘Well, we can't deal with that because it's not on our property. It's not city streets, it's in the Cal Tran's right of way,’” Blakespear said.
ABC 10News spoke with Franklin Coopersmith, who is with the City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department, about the bill, which has been approved by the state senate.
“Unfortunately, we probably get that just as much as the complaints on city property, and the common thing is we don't care. We want it cleaned up,”Coopersmith said.
He said the bill is important to help break down those barriers to rid of the grey area where an encampment is and who is allowed to clear it.
“So that's what we're hoping out of this is those barriers will be gone. Residents can call a single number, file a Get It Done report, and it gets taken care of versus a back and forth. No one wants to hear the government bureaucracy,” Coopersmith said.
Cal Trans told ABC 10News it can’t comment on pending legislation. But, the last data we received from the agency shows crews returning to locations on multiple highways and roadways in the county multiple times to clear encampments.
Crews returned to 28 locations at least 5 times from last July to this May.
Blakespears’ bill still has to clear the state Assembly before it can become law.
“I'm trying to clearly identify the problem between the city, the cities, and the state agency, and then solve for that problem,” Blakespear said.
It will be heard next in the Assembly Transportation Committee next Monday in Sacramento. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.
