SB County Homeless Camp Cleanup Efforts Get Boost from Formerly Homeless Man

John Palminteri, KEYT News

“GOLETA, Calif. - A man who was once homeless is now leading an effort to clean up camps that are an environmental risk in Santa Barbara County.

Already there have been cleanups in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Lake Cachuma and Goleta.

At each site, hundreds of pounds of trash, debris and leftover camping areas have been removed. Already nearly 16,000 pounds have been hauled out.

There are more than 20 sites currently on the target list.

The environmental non-profit, Heal the Ocean (HTO) has been surveying the sites, and assisting with funds. They are coordinating with Brian Borgatello of MarBorg Industries and HTO advisor Harry Rabin CEO of On the Wave Productions.”

Debunking the Simplicity of Transforming Montecito's Water Woes

Hillary Hauser, Montecito Journal

In Bob Hazard’s guest editorial (MJ 1-8 April 2021) he offers the quote, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there,” as argument for supporting the road he is on personally, to combine water and wastewater districts, connect groundwater basins across the South Coast – extend pipes hither and yon. 

This quote applies to journalism that leads readers around in circles with misstatements and wrong facts. 

Taking Hazard’s points one by one:

“End the Dumping of Treated Wastewater into the Ocean”. . .

Heal the Ocean

Steven Libowitz, Montecito Journal

Heal the Ocean (HTO) has enjoyed a remarkable record of success, particularly for how the nonprofit that was founded barely more than 20 years ago to address contamination of the waters off Summerland from coastal septic system runoff has turned comparatively smaller donations into big projects. HTO smartly and enviably has leveraged modest sums to fund research, gather data, and then reach influential people and governmental agencies to effect massive accomplishments, often through legislative efforts. 

That was how HTO turned a $10,000 investment into a $2 million per year project to cap old oil wells and remove other major environmental hazards along the Central Coast and elsewhere along the state’s shoreline. Just last fall, the HTO-inspired partnership with the State Lands Commission led to the plugging of two more leaking oil wells, Treadwell and NorthStar, with two more such projects planned for the remainder of 2021. . .

Heal the Ocean to the Rescue

Gary Fall, Santa Barbara News-Press

“Last year, an abandoned homeless camp surrounded by trash, bicycle parts, car batteries, flooded tents and other materials became an eyesore on a Montecito beach.

All of that stood on the Graveyards beach at the base of the cliff below the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

On Thursday, Heal the Ocean got a call about the eyesore from a concerned citizen. It took all day that Friday for the organization to figure out what to do about it legally, since you can’t remove a homeless camp in use. . .”

Abandoned Homeless Camp Below Santa Barbara Cemetery Removed Ahead of High Tides

Jade Martinez-Pogue, Noozhawk Staff Writer

“Heal the Ocean leaders worked over the weekend to clear an abandoned homeless camp at a Montecito beach before unusually high tides hit on Monday morning.

The camp had formed on the beach at the base of the cliff below the Santa Barbara Cemetery, filling the area with trash, bicycle parts, car batteries, and flooded tents, according to Hillary Hauser, executive director of Heal the Ocean.

The organization received a call about the camp from a concerned citizen on Thursday, Hauser said, and spent Friday trying to figure out what legal action could be taken.

Heal the Ocean later learned that a king tide, which consists of tide levels about a foot or two higher than average, would be hitting on Monday, along with surf warnings coming on Monday and Tuesday.

Harry Rabin, Heal the Ocean advisory board member, alerted Hauser on Saturday knowing that something must be done to remove the camp before the massive tides swept all the abandoned items into the sea, Hauser said.

“Being Saturday, it was difficult, if not impossible,  to reach any official permission to clear out the wreckage,” she added.

Rabin got to work making calls to the county Fire Department and Sheriff's Office seeking approval to clear the site, while Hauser spent the day trying to find a cleaning crew or junk hauler that could help remove the camp. . .”