Two groups of people assembled Friday morning on a dirt hill overlooking a freeway.
On one end were more than a dozen individuals in reflective vests. They stood holding shovels and rakes and eyed several mattresses lying on the ground. Closer to the bedding were Maria Garcia, 55, and a man in his 20s. Garcia ignored the crew as she picked up a jug of water and poured it on the man. The flow ran off his bare chest and dripped down toward disintegrating shoes. Garcia used her hands to scrub his back.
When Garcia began sleeping at that spot around a month ago, on the northern edge of San Diego’s Grant Hill neighborhood, she was somewhat insulated from encampment sweeps. Camping bans and other ordinances barred her from living on sidewalks in San Diego, yet city crews weren’t allowed on state-owned land near freeways…