‘We're gonna clean it up': Kern County runs multi-agency encampment clearing
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The sheriff's office and public works joined by code enforcement and animal control cleared multiple homeless encampments Friday morning.
Kern County District Three Supervisor Jeff Flores organized and joined the agencies in this feat.
The county started clearing homeless encampments around 7 a.m. and they hit spots around Oildale and east Bakersfield.
'We can't allow trespassing, we cannot allow drug use, we cannot allow these unsafe encampments, enough is enough, and everyone working together we can make a difference,' said Supervisor Flores.
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Five areas total, on North Chester Avenue and Roberts Lane, the on-ramp on Olive Drive, an empty lot on North Chester, and on Mt. Vernon Avenue and Niles Street.
Fernando Loaiza, a three-year Oildale resident walks down North Chester Avenue and Roberts Lane daily.
Loaiza sees the homeless and is very happy that the county is clearing the encampments.
'It's all cleaned up and the governor is doing a very good job, and kern county, and the sheriff's department are doing a very good job,' Loaiza said.
On the Olive Drive on-ramp to Highway 99, upset homeless watched as their belongings were picked up and put in trash.
'They told me I could grab one thing or two, but…oh my god he's gonna. That dollhouse he spent months trying to find me..to get me and they just threw it away,' said Melanie Armstrong, as she watched a dollhouse she owned get put in the trash.
Armstrong has lived homeless with her boyfriend, Adam Lewis for almost two years. She says she has mental health issues and Lewis has a mental disability, hindering them on finding steady work.
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'No one helps us, we just kind of get pushed on the backburner in a way, and it feels like they're always after us,' said Lewis.
KCSO has not released the results of the encampment clearings.
'Folks will get the message that help is available, you don't have to live like this, and we're gonna clean it up,' said Supervisor Flores.
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