This week, Charlottesville city staff and a hired landscaping company completed the first of what officials say will be regular cleanup efforts at a homeless encampment along the Rivanna River near Free Bridge.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, crews removed trash and debris from the encampment, and installed portable toilets and “secure needle disposal containers.” They also hauled away piles of junk metal — even a washing machine.
The $2,400 cleanup will be the first of many, officials say. The city’s plan is to check conditions at the site on a monthly basis and conduct cleanups like the one this week “at least quarterly.”…