Tent City 2 grows

Last week, SN&R counted 118 tents at the newly sprouted Tent City west of Highway 160 along the American River. This week: 137 tents.

Brother Eli, one of the first individuals to set up camp earlier this year, was brewing coffee Tuesday morning when two tinted-window SUVs crested the levy. A delegation of sharply dressed men and women in black coats and polished shoes, plus a handful of city cops, emerged from the vehicles: a surprise visit from Councilman Steve Cohn, River District executive director Patty Kleinknecht, Sacramento Steps Forward executive director Ben Burton, and staff.

“Don’t go up there to talk to them,” Eli advised a friend, who goes by “G.” “Let them come down to us.”

But the group never ventured off the levy banks during its 20-minute visit. Burton, whose Steps Forward is charged with finding beds for those in need, said he’d walked the camp before. He’s expected to testify in front of city council Tuesday evening on how many extra beds are needed to fill this winter’s shelter gap.

This includes beds for the hundreds living at Tent City 2, because while growing in residents, it seems that the camp’s days are numbered.

Councilman Cohn seemed unmoved by the homeless camp and said the police “have a plan” on how to clear Tent City, although the department has yet to disclose when or how this will go down. He also cited the patches of toilet paper along the river bank—Tent City’s makeshift restroom—as unacceptable.

Meanwhile, Eli says the city must step up now with a real and long-term solution. And he has an ally: Councilman Jay Schenirer, who visited the encampment for a “long while,” according to Eli, last week. The councilman once operated the food bank in Oak Park, so he’s no stranger to need. And it was his call to put Steps Forward on last week’s council agenda.

“We have to work on not just building a sports and entertainment complex,” he told SN&R, “but also taking care of people who are in need of help.”

Wells Fargo stepped up this week with a $75,000 donation, which will go toward funding a winter shelter, but Schenirer reminded that there is no one “silver-bullet solution.” Meanwhile, there’s pressure from city officials to move the camp sooner than later, with the argument that it impacts investment in the River District and north Sacramento.

Schenirer insists there have to be viable alternatives before the police move in. “So where are they going to go, right?” he asked, mirroring statements by Safe Ground Sacramento.

“I’m going to do what I think is right,” he added, “and we’ll go from there.”