Armed with trash bins and backhoes, authorities swiftly removed a series of homeless encampments along Dockweiler State Beach in Los Angeles on Thursday.
On Wednesday, signs posted and distributed to people experiencing homelessness at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey stated that a massive “cleanup” was set to ensue at 7 a.m. the following day.
It wasn’t an idle threat, and the removal occurred as promised.
At the scene, KTLA’s Annie Rose Ramos noted that the “encampments” at Dockweiler were unlike similar spots that have been torn down by officials in recent weeks, like in Long Beach. That’s because rather than tents and people populating centralized, concentrated areas, the encampments were spread out across the beach with considerable distances between them.
One man living on the beach for the last month, identified as Jim, told Ramos that the cleanup didn’t come as a surprise and that officials have been cleaning up the areas of the beach around his setup for weeks. He said he didn’t know what his next steps were.
Another man said that whenever the beach is cleared, which is every couple of months, he spends the day across the street waiting in the shade for the crews to leave, only for him to return to the beach at night.
Playa del Rey residents said the number of tents has increased in recent months. One employee of the Department of Parks and Recreation told Ramos that as of Thursday, there were as many as 50 to 60 encampments on the beach.
“It’s lawlessness,” said Lucy Han, a resident and community organizer who accused nearby cities like Santa Monica of relocating their unhoused population to Playa del Rey. “We’re scared … [People experiencing homelessness] have been pretty aggressive, so we’re really trying to see if [officials] can prohibit them from being in our public spaces and away from our kids.”
Han said that the unhoused population has thrown rocks at passersby, left syringes around and yelled at people to “stay away” from their tents and encampments.
The push to clean California’s public spaces comes from an executive order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom in July. In it, Newsom encouraged local governments to follow established guidelines for clearing encampments and to also supply the unhoused population with alternative shelter options.
Unhappy with the initial response from local governments to his order, Newsom earlier this month said he would withhold state funds from cities and counties that failed to take action.
“This is not about criminalization,” Newsom said on Thursday. “What’s criminal is neglecting people who are struggling, suffering and dying on our watch. We need local government to step up. This is a crisis. The state’s unprecedented billions of dollars of support? I’m not interested in providing that support and not seeing the results. I’m a taxpayer, not just the governor. It’s not complicated. We’ll send that money to counties that are producing results.”
Councilperson Traci Parks, who represents Playa del Rey, said the operation on Thursday was “coordinated.”
“Our beaches are jurisdictionally complex, involving the State, County, and City. The area is scheduled for a coordinated operation on Thursday morning, including our Coastal CARE+ Team—a new resource we secured for our beach and coastal communities in our City budget,” Park said. “I have called upon the State and County to step up and provide long-term solutions rather than band-aids for addressing this and other State and County-owned or maintained sites throughout CD11.”
As of 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, it was unclear if any citations had been issued to any people experiencing homelessness at Dockweiler.
