A homeless encampment located under Highway 41 in Atascadero has led to conflicts between recreational trail users and those who live in the Salinas Riverbed.
Anthony Vasquez, 68, and his wife, Sandra Obermeyer, were participating in the Toys for Tots Ride on Nov. 12, an annual event hosted by the Atascadero Horsemen’s Club, when a group of the encampment’s occupants approached the pair, yelling in an attempt to scare the horses. Vasquez said his horse responded to the commotion by violently bucking throwing Vasquez on the ground and knocking him unconscious.
“When I came to, I discovered I was face down in a patch of yellow star thistle and there was something very wrong with my shoulder,” Vasquez wrote in a letter to New Times. “I could feel the bone protruding and the pain was indescribable.”
Amid the chaos, Obermeyer was trying to control both horses as she watched her husband lying unconscious on the ground.
“I couldn’t get near Tony because they [the horses] would trample him. So all I could do was yell at Tony, ‘Can you move?'”
Obermeyer told New Times. “These people didn’t try to offer to help. They were right there. And they’re laughing at me trying to catch the horses, and the dogs are in a frenzy, barking.”
Despite wearing safety gear, Vasquez sustained a separated shoulder and a sprained thumb.
The couple said it isn’t their first encounter with the homeless encampment’s residents. Four months ago, Obermeyer said, their dogs had tried to bite her horse.
Valerie Stern, another Juan Bautista De Anza Trail user, said that she and her daughter have also had similar experiences with those dogs while horseback riding through the area.
“I don’t go there as often and have been telling my kids that they can’t go right there because I’m worried something bad’s going to happen,” Stern said. “And it’s a shame, you know, as the host community we [have] always been squeezed by urban development. And it’s getting worse and worse now that the homeless people are squeezing us out of the riverbed, and it’s just very sad.”
Previously, the homeless encampment only occupied the east side of the riverbed. Now, Obermeyer said that she’s seen the encampment grow, spilling over to the west side of the riverbed, closer to where the trail is located. Both Vasquez and Stern said that they have filed police reports, attended City Council meetings, and called Animal Control, but they feel like the response has been slow.
“We’re half afraid to say anything because we’re afraid that the city will just shut down the trail,” Vasquez said.
The Atascadero Police Department told New Times that after Vasquez filed a complaint, the Community Action Team cleared out the encampments located on the city’s side of the bridge on Nov. 30.
“Our CAT team routinely checks these areas and conducts extra enforcement. We cannot determine what action people may take when they are moved out of a location,” the department wrote via email. “We can ensure that we will keep monitoring these areas and take whatever enforcement action is appropriate for a given situation.” Δ
This article appears in Dec 1-11, 2022.
I can’t with this “reporting”. Human beings, that are displaced and must live UNDER A BRIDGE, are making it difficult for us to go our and ride our horses!?
Story seems embelished…not worth dedicating an article to either.
Do better SHWETHA SUNDARRAJAN