Homeless protesters move camp to Roseland district in Santa Rosa

More than 20 homeless activists camping out on a county-owned parking lot in west Santa Rosa met a deadline Tuesday to vacate the property and immediately set up a new encampment in the heart of the city’s Roseland district.

The group, which is protesting what they say is local government’s inaction on homeless issues, said county officials blocked their plans to move to a vacant property in the shadows of the county’s administrative complex and invited them to set up camp at the Roseland site as a temporary alternative.

A senior official with the county Community Development Commission, which controls the Roseland site, acknowledged that he instructed the group to stay away from the county administrative center but said he had no advance knowledge the group was moving to the Roseland property.

The new location is directly behind the large building that houses the Dollar Tree, an after-school program of the Boys and Girls Club of Central Sonoma County and a new branch of the Sonoma County Library.

The site - home of the long-awaited Roseland Village neighborhood development - was selected after camp organizers were unable to secure agreements around two other possible locations, including private property in west Santa Rosa belonging to a local religious organization and county-owned property on Mendocino Avenue near the county’s administrative complex.

“No matter where we go, we’re going to get opposition,” said Mikeal O’Toole, co-organizer of the camp.

“I just pray that people give us the opportunity, as they have in this neighborhood, to show what we are,” O’Toole said as residents vacated the former Sonoma County Water Agency property at 2150 W. College Avenue, where they’ve been living for more than two months.

The tent village, called Camp Michela by its residents, was originally erected on Labor Day by organizers from Homeless Action to protest the scarcity of homeless services in the county and local cities. It was named in honor of Michela Wooldridge, a homeless single mother who was murdered just days before she was to receive a space at the Sam Jones Hall shelter in 2012.

Camp organizers said they were trying to reach a deal with a local religious group that would allow them to set up their camp on private property in west Santa Rosa. That site, however, ran into opposition from the parents of a neighboring child care center, O’Toole said, and more time was needed to try to reach an agreement.

O’Toole said protesters asked the Water Agency to extend the Nov. 15 deadline to leave the West College Avenue property. The group was given a two-day extension, allowing them to stay until Tuesday.

Protesters and county officials offer differing accounts of what happened next.

O’Toole said Jim Leddy, a special projects director with the county Community Development Commission, offered up the Roseland site as a last-minute option on Monday evening.

But on Tuesday, standing in the gravel lot behind the Dollar Tree, where tents were being set up and the new camp was taking form, Leddy and CDC Executive Director Kathleen Kane said they had no prior knowledge the camp would be relocating to Roseland Village.

“I found out about it this afternoon,” said Kane, adding that she and other CDC officials have not had a chance to notify local residents or businesses.

Leddy said he discouraged camp organizers from moving to a location near the county administration complex, which county officials have slated for a tiny-home affordable housing project. However, Leddy said he did not suggest the Roseland Village site.

“We just said stay away from the county complex,” Leddy said.

Leddy said he expected some members of the Roseland community to raise objections about the new camp site. Both Leddy and O’Toole characterized the move as a temporary one while a more permanent location can be found.

“We appreciate the concerns,” Leddy said. “Whatever this is, we will continue to look for private property somewhere else to find a safe and secure location that pilots what this model has shown.”

Even as the tent camp went up Tuesday afternoon, several local residents shopping at the Dollar Tree said they knew nothing of the new encampment. Some were sympathetic.

“They have to live somewhere,” said Patty Pimental of west Santa Rosa. “Maybe it would give the homeless people around here the opportunity to get organized.”

Pimental, who works near the Roseland Village site, said she wouldn’t have “much of a problem” with the site as long as the camp is organized.

O’Toole said the residents of Camp Michela have proved they can govern themselves without many problems. He said the camp residents were good neighbors at the West College Avenue property.

They’ve embraced us in this neighborhood,” he said, referring to West College Avenue residents. “They’ve brought us meals, they brought their kids over and played in our lot.”

By 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Tom Gartin, 46, had already put up his tent in the gravel lot behind the Dollar Tree. The location was very close to where the old Continental Lanes bowling alley used to stand, and Gartin recalled bowling there in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Gartin, who grew up on West 9th Street, said he has poor health, as well as “mental disorders” and is probably “suicidal.”

Camp Michela, he said, gives him a reason to live. He works security at the camp three nights a week.

“This gives me a sense of family,” he said. “We look out for each other.”

Leddy emphasized that the camp would only be at the Roseland site temporarily.

“This will in no way delay the redevelopment of Roseland Village,” he said, adding that the long-term plan is to revitalize the site and bring, among other features, permanent affordable housing, a public plaza, a library and a community center.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.