ESCONDIDO, Calif.—A day after city workers cleared out a creek bed homeless encampment, some homeless people lingered on nearby sidewalks with carts loaded with their belongings on Dec. 17, attempting to return.
Police secured the site as public work crews continued cleaning up trash and waste left behind at the site.
On Dec. 16, the city council voted unanimously 5–0 to ratify a local emergency declaration regarding a homeless encampment in the city’s Harmony Grove creek bed area, citing a 166 percent increase in regional fire department calls to the area from 2023 to 2024, water and soil contamination, and increased crime in surrounding neighborhoods, among other reasons….