On Thursday morning, cleanup crews, police and community volunteers were on hand at Dockweiler Beach to clear the sand from the homeless camps.
Police officers stood by as the campers were dismantled and packed away, while bulldozers loaded the rubble into dump trucks.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park led the effort, as notices were posted and handed out to people at the Playa Del Rey beach location announcing a cleanup scheduled for 7 a.m. Thursday. It is not yet clear whether campers will be able to return to the location or not.
Residents in the area complain about the increasing number of people setting up camp on the sand, as tents and apartment blocks border the beachfront cycle path.
According to a community member, the number of camps has grown from five to twenty in recent months.
“We’ve had homeless people here on the beach throwing rocks at people, threatening others… having needles, cooking in the sand…,” said Lucy Han, co-founder of Friends of the Jungle, a nonprofit that addresses issues in the Playa del Rey community.
A man said Thursday that he has lived on the beach for eight years after losing a lover and a job. He said he has left the sand for now, but plans to return.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles County leaders have opposed Order from California Governor Gavin Newsom that local governments clear homeless camps or lose government support.
The executive order came after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that governments could not force people to leave their camps if there were no shelter beds available.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently voted to ban the use of prisons for people arrested in the outpost camps where they live and who instead wanted to develop a province-wide strategy to address the homelessness crisis.
KCAL News reached out to Parks’ office for comment on Thursday’s cleanup of the camp, asking if campers will be allowed to return. No response has been received.
