Sausalito Orders Homeless People Living In Tent City On Waterfront To Move
SAUSALITO (KPIX) -- There's a fight brewing over a homeless encampment in Sausalito. Nearly two dozen people living in Dunphy Park have until 9 a.m. on Tuesday to get out.
The tent city located at Bridgeway at Napa Street, sits near some of the most expensive property in the Bay Area. Those who live in the waterfront encampment say they are trying to stay warm, stay dry and out of trouble. The city says at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning, public works is coming to clean out the park.
Michael Arnold lives inside a tent here.
"We are not just homeless people, we are real people and all lives matter! Peace out," says Arnold.
Sausalito is offering Arnold and others who will be displaced, Marin Ship Park, a site with real bathrooms.
"There's a lot of people using the word, 'evict.' I don't really think that's appropriate because we're not. We're telling them you can't camp here, this is a place better and more appropriate for you," Sausalito Mayor, Jill Hoffman explains.
Recent rains have reduced the Marin Ship Park to a muddy bog. Campers don't want to move.
Homeless Housing Activist, Robbie Powelson isn't sure what to expect on Tuesday.
"You know, I don't know how belligerent the police may be tomorrow, I don't know how belligerent the city may be but, you know, the important thing is that we stick together and make sure people are safe," says Powelson.
Many at the tent city used to live 'anchored out' in what they call Rainbow Bay, like Sandra Bonds.
"I was out there 12 years, almost 13," she says.
Authorities are seizing boats they consider abandoned and dilapidated, destroying them as marine debris. Bonds is staying in the tent camp for now.
"After my husband passed away, I came out here and my boat was gone and so I didn't really know what to do. It was our life and so I have just been meandering around the streets ever since."
"I mean, people need to be shocked about what's going on cause it's violence," says Powelson. "It's violence being perpetrated against people whose only crime is not having a whole lot of money."
Mayor Hoffman says they are doing the best they can.
"Professionals already know this is a very difficult problem to solve," says Hoffman.
