The Concord Park & Ride lot on Willow Pass Rd. and Market St. in Concord has been turned into a dumping ground and homeless camp, and many are refusing to park in the once easy-to-access lot.
The entrance to the lot is blocked by shopping carts and garbage, and several tents have been placed around the property, according to users of the lot.
“I won’t park there until someone cleans it up. I can’t trust that my car won’t get broken into again (it happened earlier this year in this same lot). I’d rather spend the time driving my own car then have to spend my time and money repairing a broken window. I’ve been using the lot for several years and I’ve never seen it this bad” one reader wrote.
Another reader included photos, and said “how did the city let it get this bad? This garbage has been scattered for the past week and there are two tents with garbage all around them. Why can’t people be cited at least for littering?”
QUESTION: According to several witnesses, the large amount of garbage has been in this Park & Ride lot for several days. Why do you think this is acceptable?
This seems to be the new norm now. Our do nothing leadership needs to do something.
Why is this acceptable? It’s because for as long as I can remember, the City focuses more on the area in what I call “Upper Concord” between Treat/Clayton up to the town of Clayton. If this was in that part of Concord, I’m sure you wouldn’t even have to write this article. Check out on how clean Upper Concord is and especially the parks.
Danville and Alamo have a homeless issue now. Anywhere close to the Iron Horse trail has a homeless issue. If it’s public land they can do whatever. Lime Ridge will have camps next.
@ Justsayin – I live in that area you’re referring to (near Clayton/Kirker Pass/Treat). Have you visited here lately? It’s a dump! MANY homeless around here in our creeks and at parks – it’s no better here than everywhere else in this town – it used to be so nice but has really gone downhill 🙁
Acceptable????? No.
Same folks who whine about taxes – then whine because there aren’t enough public employees to do everything…
Whey – I know – how about the folks who don’t want taxes raised to deal with it – go out and start picking up the trash as a volunteer 🙂
The people who vote no on taxes always get out voted because you guys think it’s worth it….you who voted yes should clean it up….
Maybe YOU should hold the politicians YOU elect accountable for the mountain of taxes they collect from us and then allocate them according to donors’ whims.
Well…. they were all kicked out of the creek by CarMax in Pleasant Hill so they have relocated.
Very Sad. Where is the City of Concord?
The fact that the Cities own residents fear of physical or property damage when parking in this area…….is down right embarrassing !
What about using the Court system trash units that clear debris on our Highways?
Thank You again Mayor….The more the information about these incidents that is broadcast, the better the outcome!
The sad part is you obviously haven’t been paying attention because the state of California just passed a law saying homeless can camp anywhere on public property and can’t be asked to move
This is yet just another example of what we tax paying citizens have to put up with due to the lack of good public officials being voted in and the laziness of city, county, state and federal government to do what they are supposed to do. I will no longer even go shopping locally if it has filthy garbage or people around the business. I am tired of being accosted by these bums, yes bums, asking for handouts.
Come on elected officials get you act together.
Those who are in need of assistance with housing get priority beds for contributing to clean up efforts
Give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach a man to fish feed him for life,
teach a man how to fish and He can reel in the suckers!
You can lead a horse to water,but you cant make them drink.
The Park and Ride lot is owned by Caltrans, not by the city of Concord. It would be up to Caltrans to pick up the trash, and issue a formal eviction notice to the encampment if it chose to do so, or allow the encampment to temporarily stay if it chose to do so.
The Concord homeless shelter is not easily accessible, given it’s location away from the main part of the city. Perhaps the city should open a homeless navigation center closer to the core of Concord, or set up a formally regulated tent encampment on a city lot somewhere which can be policed and maintained properly.
They put it out there for a reason,use your head.And that area is very high crime,just because of the shelter.
What is this “navigation center” thing I’ve been reading about? Is it a politically correct term for homeless shelter? Navigation from where to where?
Yes. Homelessness is a state & national epidemic. We should be able to solve this problem, with compassion.
The classic frog 🐸 in a pot of water waiting to a boil. Before you know it, it’s too late.
Wake up people.
That’s why I bag my produce when shopping.
Ship them to San Francisco, the city loves the homeless.
108RS
…. or Escalon or Oakdale.
Let’s get the Mayor of Chico to come to town and show our “leaders” (hiding under their desks) how to kick some homeless butt.
https://krcrtv.com/news/butte-county/chico-police-arrest-22-people-over-winter-break-to-improve-quality-of-life-within-the-city
I hope you’re joking. Randall Stone has done NOTHING to clean up Chico. He’s even gone so far as to claim that crime is so low that people are fabricating stories to make it seem worse than it is. Fact is, Chico has gone from a nice, safe town to an unsafe dump on his watch.
Chico PD is fantastic, as is the Butte County Sheriff, but Randall Stone is worthless.
The issue I have with what Chico did, and what Las Vegas is going to do, is jail them. Basically jailing them just creates/perpetuates a cycle. My guess is that if I am homeless and hopeless, I would just keep going back to jail to have a warm bed and a meal. Taxpayers pay for that too. It’s a crappy cycle.
Chico has become a real dump. If you do visit Chico take a look at the student to bum ratio and you will be shocked. Also notice the bicycles the bums are riding: Cannondale, Gary Fisher etc., all high end bikes obviously stolen from students. So if you are a bum and prefer to ride a nice bike, Chico is your place….
.
It won’t be much longer before we start seeing poop on the sidewalks folks. I’m already finding discarded syringes. Keep your kids inside, unless you want them to get cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, or one of many other diseases.
Keep voting for the do nothing Democrats and this is the result. All the Dems out there that want to argue and say it’s not just the Dems, are as blind as a bat if they can’t see that it’s the liberal policies that is turning Concord into a trash heap, just like San Francisco, Oakland, and L.A.
I am tired of the old excuse, “they are mentally ill,” it’s not mental illness, it’s alcohol and drug addiction that has fried their brains. Most mentally ill people will clean up after themselves.
Agree 1000%
Much longer? I see feces on the sidewalks now in both Concord & Pleasant Hill. It’s disgusting.
With the Supreme Court refusing to hear the Boise case, expect a lot more of this in public spaces. Apparently, free housing is a constitutional right now.
There’s currently a case in Oakland where three “homeless” woman and their children are squatting in a vacated home and have been ordered by the city to leave. They now have an attorney (can’t recall if it’s an ACLU lawyer or ?) attempting to sue the city on the grounds that “housing is a basic human right” and a necessary component of our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Heard this on one of the NPR segments, I believe the California Report last week. Know your enemies folks…
The women in Oakland are protesting that many single family homes in Oakland are owned by corporations rather than individuals and sit empty for many months. This particular home is owned by Wedgewood Properties and has been vacant since the summer. The women have jobs, some more than one job, and are drawing attention to the crazy housing situation. One woman grew up in Oakland and helped start a high school there. She wants people from the community to have access to housing people can afford, these particular people are not asking for housing to be free.
Lots of these corporations bought large segments of neighborhoods during the foreclosure crisis under a government program that gave them incentive to foreclose on owners instead of restructuring loans to keep people housed. The government had to take over loans from lenders that shut down and then allowed corporations to buy those loans for reduced price and also promised to make up the difference between the amount owed on the loan and the amount the corporations sold the houses for at foreclosure. Of course the companies would foreclose! Quite a racket for the wealthy – sounds like it can’t be true but it is. Giving taxpayer dollars to fund wealthy corporations’ foreclosing on individual buyers. That’s how Steve Mnuchin made most of his money.
It’s a tragic situation on all sides. Owning property is a long held legal right but when the system keeps eliminating opportunities for the average person and handing more and more to corporations, you have to expect individuals to start fighting back. “Let them eat cake” is never going to be a workable public policy.
Once again, Hope Johnson’s post carries the day. Agree or disagree with her politics and positions, she is far and away the most well-reasoned, articulate, and circumspect contributor on Claycord. She is adept at integrating minutia with the bigger picture, and she does her homework.
The women in Oakland DO have jobs, which means they should be PAYING for housing like the rest of us. Not squatting for FREE.
I don’t agree with her reasoning at all. She’s making excuses for these women living there (for free) when they’re employed, and should be paying for housing.
Give me a break.
I’ll have to admit, I was wrong about the lawyer and the number of moms involved, sorry. I was going by memory and it’s getting rusty.
Hear it for yourself. It was from December 17th on NPR California Report. The talk regarding many homeless issues starts at the 3 minute mark. My concern is with the argument that housing is an unalienable human right. In the end, I believe that to mean free. Thanks for your input Hope, it gives everyone much more to consider. I’m curious, if everything you say about this situation is true, why did NPR leave all that information out? Maybe it doesn’t quite fit their agenda? Enjoy!
https://od1.kqed.org/anon.kqed/radio/2019/12/1217TCRPodcast2loudnesscorrected.mp3?siteplayer=true&dl=1
So…instead of pro-actively preventing bums to filth up an area, the government (mayor, council, public works, police, sheriff) allow it to fester until it becomes crime and vermin ridden until they take action. The majority get what they vote for…the rest of us have to watch history repeat itself again and again…..and again
You need a hazmat team to clean this up there will be needles and human waste in the mix.
This doesn’t surprise me this is what leftism policies get to you…. this is what happens when you let low IQ low enthusiasm people run the show. I get the feeling the immigrants that have been Weaponized against the native Americans here are a root cause because they are voting in the leaders that don’t seem to put any effort or energy into their jobs.! We all know that most of these people would be fired in the private sector relatively quickly. Do your job and clean it up or find yourself unemployed
@Bill Cutting, wherever I see a comment like that about the private sector, a have to think to myself, “here is someone who has clearly never worked for the private sector.”
In my long working life I’ve worked briefly for the government, and currently work for a huge corporation. From where I’m sitting, the public and private sectors are running about neck and neck for ineptitude, corruption, and flushing millions down the toilet on projects to nowhere.
Not the first time, and won’t be the last time. Your transportation and flood control tax dollars go to providing ‘housecleaning services’ to the homeless, so if you like your pot-hole, you can keep it!
Have you seen the movie, “Soylent Green”? Do you remember the scene where the food riots were broken up with large bulldozers that plowed into the crowd and scooped up all the rabble? There you go!
jus’ don’t eat the cookies
Just the green ones. Soylent red is okay.
Yeah, you and the politicians both. 😂🤦🏼♀️
As long as I can remember the canal has always had a homeless population. That population has since grown, the city is too full of “not my job” type of people. There is more homeless today than ever. The only solution every city does is push them off to the next city. Not that I have a solution but we do have base housing that’s been empty for years. If the city started a rehab program I’m sure the homeless population would go down. At least the ones who don’t want to be there would be off the streets.
Sad how Concord looks now. Gross and disgusting to see all that trash all over Concord
It’s not just Concord. Almost every city on the planet has this problem. Humans have a propensity for converting natural beauty into artificial habitats, where those who cannot make the grade, end up as refuse. It’s how we are. It’s okay though: nature takes care of species that overpopulate and exceed the capacity of the land to support them.
Disgusting! This is such an embarrasment to the city of Concord. I avoid that area in general and will certainly continue to do so after seeing this. No more excuses- clean it up!!!
I’ve lived in Concord my whole life and still work for the city of concord for 20+ yrs I can tell u the homeless population is only getting bigger and bigger! Its soon to be like SF homeless problem….
If you ‘build it’, more will come. Until drug addiction, mental illness, and a lousy public education system are effectively addressed…this is the new normal.
All this trash and shopping carts should be blocking the entrances to each and every politician’s office entrance whose district presides over the park-n-ride. They need this to be directly under their noses in order to get their attention.
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It is acceptable because this is California and Gavin Newson is in charge. As long as the rich liberal hypocrites are safe everything is okay.
Wonder how much the stolen shopping carts cost?
The city of Concord really needs to clean up this town. It’s totally discussing.
Oh let’s just help these people………….like they help us.
Just walked by today and saw a cleaning crew and news van.
I reported a large tree branch down and tree-trimming overdue via the website and the answer back was that the right department couldn’t touch it until the person living in the vacant lot was moved. So if you’re parking on Mt. Diablo Street near BART, don’t pick a spot under one of those overgrown trees.
So the person living in the lot has rights to what happens to the tree in the lot? As though they are a homeowner and they have to give permission? That is crazy thinking.
I contacted the city and Cal Trans because of the huge pig sty. The Director of Public Works also called Cal Trans and within in 3 days it was cleaned up. There was 10 shopping carts.
Throwing the homeless in jail sorts out the crazy’s from the addicts. The relatives of the crazy’s are notified and can make them wards of the states. The addicts get clean and are sentenced to pick up garbage around the city. I personally know 2 addicts who have stayed clean after being jailed. The majority is being effected for the worse with this do nothing attitude. Common sence always works.
How about if you are homeless you get picked up and are given 2 choices . Work doing assigned jobs for food and shelter or you get put in the crazy house.
This is the best plan I have thought of yet.
It’s not a homeless/transient problem, it’s a meth problem. I grew up here and knowing how Concord was 40 Years ago, it was good. It started changing when the crank use started and then the crime started, then increased in this city and county. The dope is making them crazy and more and more violent and the bleeding hearts want to lighten up the laws. So what will our society be in the next 10 to 20 years??? Scary and so sad to think.
Omg Thank you I was passing by there like 2 days ago and I seen how the homeless were having a fire near there and all those carts full of trash look hella bad
When I got to Concord in 1978 from Canada,the first time in my life I ever saw a “cart person,”was on Market street before they filled the side in with dirt,you could go under the market st bridge,and carts were there and there first homeless person I ever saw .41 years later,they havbe done absoutlely nothing.Why not just enforce the law,as I guess Las Vegas is doing.
Ugh
Ok one more time for the easily offended
The politicians have lumped in bums with actual people who are living on the street due to circumstances
So your term homeless
or better yet the new IN term for the millennials …unsheltered
Is still a politician theme to stir you up and direct you to what they want you to do
You have been brainwashed by democrat politicians lol
Now on to better things
The people wanting to shame others because they are fed up with trash and crime need to listen
Your so called homeless or unsheltered or whatever your all up in arms about
The actual people who can’t find a place to live
Well let’s see so the politicians have made you embrace illegals and all their needs and wants
So the politicians house them and supply them medical and dental and for the ones who abuse the system even further they receive free money
ALL 18million of them
Let that sink in
so where do the politicians house all those illegals ……????
That’s right in all the low income housing using our tax money of course and when that ran out they pilfered the education funds
Essentially placing illegals over American citizens
Which leads to American citizens on the street or in their cars
For what you may ask or why
Well for the sensus of course since the sensus numbers will be locked in for 10 years …
yes 10 years of fed money flowing in to help the bums yet this money will never see them
Because the more bums on the street lead to more federal money for the politicians to funnel for their own wants and needs
because once that money starts flowing who is in charge of watching and distributing that money
That right the pay to play democrats themselves so no one is watching really
Now the best part is
The same thing goes for the population
The higher the population the more delegates the democrats get to have
Which means yes more bartenders and Panera workers will become house lackeys in Congress
So you have willingly been pawns in a grand scheme of ripping you off and your family and your children and their families
Wow stand up and applaud yourselves well done
Now wade through all the garbage and criminals and crumbling roads and sidewalks to get home Lol
Best part is any dem will tell you or rather scream at you
that this state has a better economy than most countries
And yet squaller and corruption and crime and high taxes dominate the landscape
Where is all that tax money going that is meant for roads anyways ????
Again you have voted well for politicians
What have you gotten ???
It’s happening in Walnut Creek too.
Claycord just got mentioned on KPIX5 for posting about this issue. The mess got cleaned but it’s a matter of time before it happens again.
And if you go half a block south you will see them coming in and out of the area below a large palm tree. This whole area has gotten disgusting. I only shop in Concord as a last resort. And half the time I dont feel safe turning left at a light because of the meth head standing on six inches of concrete. When one falls off and gets killed will the City take notice?
Random Task, they wont listen. Your right as can be but the Dems just keep voting for dems because they dont use common sence and the rest of us suffer.
I work for a public agency who was tasked to clean up a large encampment ,not far from here, in the ‘90’s. The residents were all (seemingly) in their mid 20’s to mid 30’s and able bodied. During the process of the cleanup the city provided both a bus to transport them to a shelter and a truck to move their belongings. Not one of them chose to go. Before you call them victims the police found an amount of stolen property at the camp during the cleanup. What’s the answer to this? I don’t know but we vote people into office who claim to have answers to the problem and obviously do not.
Caltrans cleans up Concord Park & Ride: https://abc7news.com/society/caltrans-clears-homeless-out-of-concord-park-and-ride/5799909/
The above pictures are the new Concord…Get used to it.
The people who keep voting Democrat in to office are equally to blame for the state that California is in currently! Those who vote in the Democrats have No right whatsoever to complain!
And the democrats firmly believe that it’s “unfair” to blame the democrats.
My former boss would always tell the story of his continuing efforts to help the homeless. When he’d see one panhandling and there was a fast food place
nearby, he’d tell them he wouldn’t give them money but he’d buy them lunch. He’d tell them to meet him across the street at the Burger King, or whatever, then he’d pull in to park and wait. Not one ever came to accept the offer of free food. They just want money for drugs and alcohol.
Those pictures are of one parking lot. Now imagine if they brought in a cruise ship to house them. Can you imagine the condition of an entire cruise ship turned into a floating dumpster?
There is no quick fix here. California has a huge budget. Start asking these people what state in the U.S. they prefer. Give them a bus ticket, a suit of clothes, and a stipend for meals along the way. They can have a fresh start and a new beginning in states where the cost of living is more reasonable.
The people that are living on the steets these days are people who couldn’t get away with doing what they do at their parents house at their age,so now they do it on the steet,They aren’t looking for improvement,just no responsiblilties and free everything,including but not limited to night time thievery,which any time ive ever caught someone stealing stuff at night,its always street person.You can lead a horse to water but cant make the, drink.
Including when they smashed out the window of my truck while I was sleeping in it,when I had no place to live but worked 3 gas station jobs 100 hours a week and never stole when I was homeless.I left socal because it weas so crime ridden and less than a month later the homeless crowd that would hang around jack in the box on CC blvd was using the canal tails as cover to sneak around at night on their bicycles and burglarize.They still use that trail to facilitate their crimes,,hello,CPD?Had I not just woken up and been so groggy,I would have run them over with my truck.
I’d never noticed the lot before. This “Park & Ride”, is that where you park your car and then willingly get into a stranger’s car and let them drive you away? Do women do this, or is it just a guy thing?
Silva, I agree with your comment, and I feel the same way about Uber and Lyft!
Carpooling,so you can collectively quiver in fear of your fellow man.
Maybe carry pepper spray?
Antler, I don’t I blame you one little bit.
James, that was cute, but I quiver in fear of nothing. If I did I would not likely have lived for four decades in West Oakland during the times I did (late 70s through 2010s). I’m just careful not to purposely place myself or anyone else into risky situations if I can help it. My “fellow men” haven’t always had good intentions. I’ve had some good reasons for quivering in fear on occasions but suffered nary a quake, not even a little one. You’d likely have wet yourself if you’d been there. It turns out I have nerves of steel, my heart rate won’t even noticeably rise. My brain just goes to work on how I’m going to live another day. Thanks for your usually thoughtful answer though. ;D
if youre so wordly and life experienced,why are you “what is this park and ride” charade?its been around for years and you’re just trying to belittle it by giving it your own description via your emotions.
What is a bus,taxi,or Uber/Lyft?Hitchhiking?
No, I wouldn’t claim any particular wordliness(?) or life experience. I was curious and asked an honest question. I’m sorry if my phrasing rubbed you or anyone else the wrong way. If someone who’s done or does it or knows someone who has or does would care to comment and dispel my preconceived assumptions or not, fine. I’m not looking to bash anyone. Have you done it?
I would solve it statewide in less than a year.
So easy, just need leadership and creative solutions by strong leadership.
1. Double luxury and fuel tax for 1 year (by state vote) (easy pass)
2. Finance task force with real leaders.
3. Build detention centers with humane basics for living. Police the centers. Staff centers with mental health, vocational training/job placement, etc etc.
4. Stiffen up law enforcement to enforce law; vote out or fire leaders who drag their heels or have other agendas.
5. Promote the hell out of the new system throughout media.
6. Help these people to want to find work and affordable housing on their own. Humane humane humane.
7. First violation = warning! … 2nd violation = mandatory arrest 24hour jail … 3rd violation mandatory arrest 30 days jail or register at homeless detention camp for rehab in all areas, health, finance, housing, education/training etc etc.
8. Make this filthy rich rats in tech industry help in BIG ways, or kick them out of the state. Make it a win-win demand.
9. Problem solved.
Thank you very much.
Good luck Golden State, prayers for you my friends
Sounds like youre just moaning about your own fantasy.
Learn math and economics,and continue being a comedian because you’ve never been taken serious about your delusions if liberal grandure.
You describe a dictatorship btw.It’s juvenile and just a form of venting and trying to show you’re upset.
All they need to do is ban any liberal and jail those that display any symptoms of this illness.
Problem solved,society now clean and smells good.
End of any bad story
Wait a minute”stiffen up law enforcement to enforce laws?”
That means arresting all illegal aliens….thank you.
Or is this just pertaining to laws only you subscribe to?
Watch what you wish for…
Can’t wait for an answer to this.
Remember you said this
Make them enforce ALL laws.Great idea,homeless illegals,etc.
@Gerald – you are wrong about “the state of California just passed a law.”
What happened was a couple of years ago the city of Boise in Idaho started a program where they were proactive in kicking the homeless off out of parks and off their sidewalks. You would not think that Boise would have a homeless problem but apparently there’s between 50 to 100 homeless there.
Homeless advocates sued the city on the grounds that if a city or county did not have enough shelter space that it was cruel and unusual punishment to keep punting homeless people from one spot to another. The lawsuit made its way to the federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit which covers the nine western states. That court ruled that prosecuting people for sleeping on the sidewalk when there are not enough shelter beds or housing was unconstitutional.
See http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2018/09/04/15-35845.pdf for this ruling.
The Ninth Circuit ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). On December 16, 2019 the SCOTUS ruled that they would not hear the case meaning the Ninth Circuit ruling stands.
See https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/19-247.html for details of this case.
Thus, for now we in the western United States are stuck with the Ninth Circuit ruling. However, we are not quite at the point where the homeless have free reign to camp anywhere on public property.
Cities have already adapted to the Ninth Circuit ruling by claiming there is shelter space. Every time an agency punts a homeless person they also advise the person to go to the shelter. The homeless person declines. The offer and denial are recorded and is used as evidence that the agency is operating legally per the Ninth Circuit ruling. The disingenuous part is that there is a waiting list for permanent shelter space. I suspect a city will get sued for not having an immediately available permanent bed at the time an offer was made and cities will then need to adapt.
The Concord park-and-ride lot is on Caltrans land. Caltrans procedure is that they post a 72-hour notice to vacate. The Contra Costa County CORE Outreach and law enforcement teams starts making regular visits to the encampment. At each contact, law enforcement informs the subject about shelter space, the deadline for vacating, and that the subject will be arrested for trespassing if they remain in the encampment.
The homeless nearly always move their stuff. Three or four days after the 72-hour notice was posted a Caltrans cleanup crew arrives, again accompanied by CORE Outreach and law enforcement.
As most homeless do not want to be arrested for trespassing the sites vacated usually remain clear for about a month, sometimes more, before the homeless start drifting back in. Caltrans is also now putting up large “no trespassing” signs in and around the cleared encampments. That also seems to be causing the homeless to keep a lower profile.
Google up “Santa Rosa” “homeless” as the homeless have been successful in fully taking over a portion of the public Joe Rodota walk/bike trail which is similar to our Iron Horse Trail. In that case, the city had not been able to clear the encampments as they don’t have enough temporary shelter space to absorb the Joe Rodota encampment’s population.
Most cities are likely aware of what’s happening in Santa Rosa and are active in breaking up encampments before they get larger than the available temporary shelter space. That allows agencies to legally evict the camps.
Wow. Just last week we read a story of the city coming in and displacing the people there. Just why the very next day it looked status quo. Tents, shopping carts and trash strewn all about? I just passed the place, even more tents and trash with a smoke billowing bonfire. A sad day time for those poor commuters who no longer can trust parking their vehicles there! WHAT NEXT CONCORD?