Two homeless encampments near Spreckels Park retail stores have been cleaned out by city crews and transients ousted by Manteca Police.
Streets and parks department workers on Monday morning cleaned human feces and debris including wine bottles, syringes and discarded clothing from the bushes behind the Spreckels Historical Plaza just south of the Chevron gas station. It is located on Spreckels Avenue just south of Yosemite Avenue.
Some of the transients have reportedly been aggressively panhandling customers as they enter and leave the Chevron convenience store.
Solid waste supervisor Rexie LeStrange said the city hopes that if the site is cleaned up, and not so well hidden by shrubbery, maybe the transients won’t be loitering there night and day in the future. City workers said they have cleared the site every two weeks taking out six to 12 yards of garbage.
The plaza cost AKF Development $300,000. Its basic maintenance is covered by a private landscape maintenance district. It was designed as a monument to Spreckels Sugar and for the public’s enjoyment. Plans eventually call for an adjacent office building.
The area, though, has been used over the years by homeless living in vehicles and most recently living in the bushes.
Manteca officers Kirk Doty and Bill Walmer rousted a Manteca transient out of her camp tent about 10 a.m. Monday from the dumpster enclosure used by the Staples store on East Yosemite Avenue. The woman told officers that she had been staying there with her male friend where they spread plastic covering across the overhead chain link fencing.
With the gates to the enclosure closed and the dumpster set in front of the area, police found it difficult to notice that anyone was living inside the enclosure. City street crews said the “camp” had been there for over a month. Officers said the city code requires that the dumpster be kept inside the gated area.
Streets and parks department workers on Monday morning cleaned human feces and debris including wine bottles, syringes and discarded clothing from the bushes behind the Spreckels Historical Plaza just south of the Chevron gas station. It is located on Spreckels Avenue just south of Yosemite Avenue.
Some of the transients have reportedly been aggressively panhandling customers as they enter and leave the Chevron convenience store.
Solid waste supervisor Rexie LeStrange said the city hopes that if the site is cleaned up, and not so well hidden by shrubbery, maybe the transients won’t be loitering there night and day in the future. City workers said they have cleared the site every two weeks taking out six to 12 yards of garbage.
The plaza cost AKF Development $300,000. Its basic maintenance is covered by a private landscape maintenance district. It was designed as a monument to Spreckels Sugar and for the public’s enjoyment. Plans eventually call for an adjacent office building.
The area, though, has been used over the years by homeless living in vehicles and most recently living in the bushes.
Manteca officers Kirk Doty and Bill Walmer rousted a Manteca transient out of her camp tent about 10 a.m. Monday from the dumpster enclosure used by the Staples store on East Yosemite Avenue. The woman told officers that she had been staying there with her male friend where they spread plastic covering across the overhead chain link fencing.
With the gates to the enclosure closed and the dumpster set in front of the area, police found it difficult to notice that anyone was living inside the enclosure. City street crews said the “camp” had been there for over a month. Officers said the city code requires that the dumpster be kept inside the gated area.
