City trucks rolled into the levee-lined outskirts of Trinity Parkway in Stockton Tuesday morning, marking the end of what many unhoused residents called a community, and what city officials labeled “a threat to public safety.”
The encampment sits on land owned by San Joaquin County, but the city of Stockton has long asserted enforcement authority over the site under public safety codes related to critical infrastructure and wildfire risk, according to the eviction notice. While the property itself is not city-owned, municipal officials have led cleanup operations there, citing ongoing concerns from nearby neighborhoods and businesses.
The city conducted a full-scale encampment removal operation, displacing dozens of people and dismantling an almost a decade years-old community near McAuliffe Road, Bear Creek Levee, and the Pixley and White Sloughs. The operation, which began at 7 a.m., was announced just days prior with a formal notice.
For residents like Lucy Waterban, 55, the cleanup has been devastating…