Everyone follows a path through life; some paths are littered with traps and dead ends, others with an easy ride/walk/run and nothing but positive outcomes.
In Lompoc, the city used a transportation grant to build a paved path with all of those things wrapped up into one project. Dubbed the Riverbend Bike Path it was built for a little less than $1 million. It doesn’t just serve bike riders, there are scores of walkers, joggers, and the ever-present homeless who use it every day of the week.
The city does very little to maintain this walkway. They mow part of the wild grass growth a couple of times in the late spring to reduce the fire hazard as the grasses dry, but other than that and emptying the trash cans, it is a “low maintenance area.”
In the past year or so, one woman who walks the trail has taken it upon herself to sweep portions of the trail as plant litter, doggy residue, and gravel accumulates. Many of the walkers are senior citizens, and they don’t need the added hazard associated with this type of litter under their feet.
Every day I see several people, young and old, walking or biking along the trail. It’s always “good morning” or “what a beautiful day.” As we see the same folks, you get to develop a casual acquaintance and inquire about their health or pet their dogs.
For some reason there is a traffic circle at an intersection in the trail; why it’s there is anyone’s guess—I suppose it’s to keep people from running into one another. In the middle of this large circle is what’s known as a fried egg plant; its correct name is the matilija poppy. A beautiful plant, it has large white flowers with what looks like an egg yolk in the middle. I have seen a few near homes in the area, but this plant is easily 20 feet around and 10 feet high and is full of flowers in the spring.
The walk I take, about a mile and three-quarters, is peaceful in the early morning chill. At one point, my wife and I counted more than 30 quail roosting in a large clump of bushes and more than two dozen rabbits munching on the goodies left by regular walkers on the trail. We discovered the rabbits by accident as we stopped one day to chat with other regular walkers and turned around to notice them at the edge of the path.
But a couple of years ago, the city spent a half-million dollars to “clean up the homeless problem” in and near the river. You see, the homeless have found the “traps and dead ends” of life and live largely off the goodwill of others and whatever they can shoplift from local merchants.
The project included picking up several tons of trash, drug paraphernalia, shopping carts, construction materials, old clothing, and garbage left by the homeless when they were “evicted” from the area. They were told to go to River Park where they could stay until “temporary” housing could be located, mostly in the older motels in town.
Another part of this project was to remove vegetation in various areas of the trail so that the homeless wouldn’t camp there any longer. The contractors clear-cut the area and eliminated the bunnies’ and quails’ homes; it’s been a couple of years since the project was completed and very few—well, almost none—of the critters have returned.
The little bunnies and birds were a soothing beginning to the day, especially for one lady who we have seen walking for the last few years. She just celebrated her 90th birthday and still walks almost 3 miles every day with a bag of carrots for the few bunnies that are left.
Another gentleman, easily in his mid-70s carries a bag of mixed bird seed; he leaves little piles, and if I see him ahead of me, by the time I get to the pile he left, most of it is gone as the small birds quickly devour it. Another couple brings a bag full of carrots, dog treats, and other goodies for the wildlife and dogs they see along the trail. They seem to know every owner and dog’s name as they walk along.
As for the homeless, they moved right back in the week after the “cleanup” and haven’t left yet. One was so bold as to erect his camp in clear view at the side of the trail. Others can be seen as they “commute” to their panhandling stations along H Street.
We still walk the trail several times a week—the doctor says it’s good for our health. I guess it is, but it’s good for both our physical and mental health to walk this quiet path and look for the birds and bunnies that used to be rustling through the brush. But the city in its misguided effort to clean up the riverbed took that away from all of us.
Ron Fink writes to the Sun from Lompoc. Send your thoughts, comments, and opinionated letters to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 3-10, 2020.