Residents gather over vagrants in Graceada, Enslen parks

More than 100 college-area residents packed the Boy Scout Club House at Enslen Park last week over an issue that concerns all of Modesto – the vagrants and homeless who have taken over city parks.

The College Area Neighborhood Alliance meeting also drew top city and police officials, as well as four City Council members, including Kristi Ah You, whose district includes the area.

Enslen and Graceada parks and the bad and illegal behavior that takes place there were the focus of the meeting. The behavior includes drinking and drug use, drug deals, vandalism and people living in the parks. Some audience members talked about not feeling safe taking their children to the parks. The residents’ concerns spilled into the neighborhoods near the park. One man spoke of a recent party in which, while the guests were in the backyard, someone entered the home and stole the women’s purses.

Police briefed residents on the trends they see. The message from police and city officials is they understand residents’ frustrations and concerns, but it will take the entire community to solve the problems. Police Lt. Rigo De Alba – who oversees a command area that includes the college area – said officers will continue to hit trouble spots but added that just arresting more people will not fix the problems.

The meeting also focused on potential ways to lessen the problems, including looking into having nearby convenience and liquor stores stop selling single-serve cans of beer.

Officials also talked about Focus on Prevention, the communitywide effort Stanislaus County launched about 1 1/2 years ago to find lasting solutions to homelessness. Those efforts include plans to open by the end of the year what is called a low-barrier shelter and one-stop center for the homeless near The Salvation Army’s Haig and Isabel Berberian Shelter and Transitional Living Center at Ninth and D streets, near downtown.

Unlike traditional ones, low-barrier shelters take in homeless couples and pets. The plans call for a shelter consisting of 20 to 25 converted sheds, each with two beds. The one-stop center would help the homeless access services.

The meeting came as Dave Leach – who lives across the street from Graceada Park – submitted an online petition to city and police officials with 469 signatures and calling for stepped-up enforcement at Enslen and Graceada parks. Leach attended the meeting and he still wants more enforcement. But he said he also came away with the understanding that he and other residents need to get more involved in reclaiming their neighborhoods and parks.

As part of that, Leach said he joined the College Area Neighborhood Alliance and signed up with Rank Investigations and Protection, which contracts with residents to provide neighborhood patrols. Rank also has a contract with Modesto to patrol city parks.

In an interview, Leach emphasized that being homeless is not a crime. His concern is with the homeless, vagrants and others who commit crimes or engage in bad behavior in the parks. He also urged other residents across Modesto to exert pressure on the city over concerns about vagrancy in their parks and neighborhoods. He said that will make dealing with these problems a higher priority for the city.

But this is a thorny issue. Before the CANA meeting, I spoke with about a dozen homeless people in Enslen and Graceada parks. There are no easy answers for their lives. Some had been drinking, others struggled to tell a coherent story about the circumstances that led to their being homeless. They said they could not rely on family – in some cases, family members also were homeless – or were too proud to ask for help.

Fifty-three-year-old Tommy said he has spent about half of the last 20 years being houseless, a term he prefers to homeless. He and his 48-year-old girlfriend, Colleen, declined to give their last names. Tommy said he’s been to jail and prison because of drugs and receives about $900 a month in disability payments.

Tommy said they stay a few days to a week in one park before moving on to another one in order not to draw attention to themselves. He said they find dark places where they will not be seen by the police or anyone else to sleep.

Tommy and Colleen – who said she works as an on-call janitor for $13 an hour at Levi’s Stadium (she said a co-worker drives her to work) – said they have not been able to rent an apartment because of their pasts. They expressed little faith that social service agencies would help them.

“Where else are we supposed to go?” Tommy asked.

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Residents gather over vagrants in Graceada, Enslen parks."