Sacramento covered in used needles as homeless population grows

Used needles and other drug paraphernalia were found littered on a baby changing table at a public park in Sacramento — sparking furor among residents over the city’s growing homeless encampment.

Amy Gardner, a local community advocate, says Stanford Park has grown dangerous to the point where residents have to clean the park’s three public bathrooms themselves to keep needles away from children.

“To think a little kid who might not know could pick up that needle and stab themselves inadvertently, that’s very frightening,” Gardner told CBS 13 about the latest incident Monday.

With the more than 100 homeless people currently living in the park, neighbors have called on their city to do more as officials say they cannot force the homeless to leave.

Gardner said the city’s inaction has led to her keeping a container in her car solely to pick up the needles littered not only in the bathrooms, but throughout the park where children play.

Neighbor John Frias Morales said the needles are a constant source of irritation for families who just want to watch their kids playing soccer in the park.

“For them to stop the game in order to remove a needle is disgusting,” he told CBS.

Morales added that the rampant drug use is paired with soaring “lawlessness in the neighborhood,” saying he’s caught two instances of homeless people trespassing in his neighbor’s home.

Sacramento’s Department of Community Response reported that in the past year, it has collected more than 24,500 needles citywide, with about 135 collected from Stanford Park between March and May alone.

Officials said in a statement that it responds to reports of homelessness in the park weekly by providing the people their resources on local shelter, but as per the law, it cannot forcibly remove those living on the streets.

The growing encampment in the park comes after Sacramento’s Measure 0 took effect last month, mandating that the city address complaints of homeless encampments within 20 days of when they’re reported.

Gardner said she and her neighbors are in a campaign to repeatedly report the situation at Stanford Park to get the city to act and provide real help for residents and the homeless individuals.

“Drug addiction, alcohol addiction, mental health. If we can’t start working on those, nothing is going to happen,” Gardner said. “This is not one person’s problem. This is not one community’s problem. This is citywide and countywide.”