It took three days and more than 24 trips to the Santa Maria Regional Landfill for a group of collaborators to clear a half-mile stretch of the Santa Maria Valley Railroad.
The railroad corridor, which borders some businesses and residential neighborhoods between West Depot Street and Blosser Road, has repeatedly been a site for homeless encampments and vandalism over the last several years, Santa Maria Valley Railroad President Rob Himoto said.
But Himoto hopes the recent cleanup, which occurred from March 29 to 31, and a new, ongoing partnership between the railroad, neighboring businesses, nonprofits, and the city of Santa Maria will finally “nip things in the bud.”
“We have homeless in other parts of the railroad, but this is by far the worst situation,” Himoto said of the site.
He said that the railroad has hosted cleanups on the property in the past, but the site consistently returns to being a homeless encampment “within days.”
One of the differences between the railroad’s previous solo efforts and the collaborative cleanup is that the city Santa Maria paid for that the latter’s budget—approximately $16,000—through American Rescue Act Plan funds. The latter also marks the first joint effort between the railroad and neighboring businesses and apartment complexes to help maintain the corridor and keep it clear in the long run.
“All the adjacent property owners helped with the cleanup. Everybody came together on this,” Himoto said. “Instead of just doing the cleanup and sort of walking away, we did the cleanup, and now everybody’s sort of pitching in, trying to figure out ways to keep them off that area.”
Planned improvements include stronger fencing, keeping the corridor walls clean with a more immediate response to graffiti than in the past, and “putting down a material that’s hard to walk through,” to discourage people from using the private property as a walking path or bike path, Himoto said.
He added that park rangers and police officers “have been doing more frequent patrols” in the area, which he hopes will prevent another encampment.
At least 72 hours before to the first day of the cleanup, the city of Santa Maria posted signs with a warning for people to vacate the encampment. On the reverse side of each sign was a list of resources about where to find shelter, food, and counseling.
Mark van de Kamp, public information manager for the city of Santa Maria, wrote in an email to the Sun that the encampment was abandoned on time and that the cleanup proceeded “without incident.”
Prior to the cleanup, individuals at the encampment were offered shelter services by representatives of CityNet, one of the nonprofit organizations that Santa Maria has partnered with in its approach to supporting those experiencing homelessness.
By the end of the cleanup, a total of 62,000 pounds of trash was removed and trucked to the landfill, according to the city.
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2022.