Jimenez: County will begin process to remove sidewalk squatters
Mason Supervisor Andres Jimenez has outlined the actions his office is taking to address the problems caused by the unsheltered individuals hanging out on Patrick Henry Drive in Seven Corners.
Residents have complained about trash, harassment, crime, public drug abuse, safety for people who use the bus stop, and the safety of children who have to walk on that sidewalk to catch a school bus.
Jimenez said his office was first notified about furniture and trash around the bus shelter at Patrick Henry Drive and Brook Drive about five months ago, he wrote in an Aug. 1 email to residents who had lodged complaints.
“Our office asked the Maintenance and Stormwater Division of Fairfax County’s Department of Transportation (FCDOT) to begin routinely checking this site and cleaning out the bus shelter,” Jimenez said. FCDOT responded multiple times through April. “The department reported that the shelter was power washed, but no furniture or occupants were present during that time.”
Related story: Residents concerned about sidewalk squatters
“Shortly thereafter, we began receiving additional calls from residents related to homeless individuals congregating in this area,” Jimenez reported.
At his request, the county’s Office to Prevent and End Homelessness sent staff to the area multiple times to urge these individuals to seek shelter and obtain other county services. At the same time, FCDOT continued its maintenance of the bus shelter and surrounding sidewalk, removing personal items and power washing the bus shelter.
“Recently, the Hollybrook Condominium Association filed the necessary paperwork with the Mason Police station to allow them on their property to enforce loitering and littering,” Jimenez said. “The condo association is responsible for removing any debris or furniture on their property (grassy area behind the bus shelter).”
“Additionally, with concerns around public safety and gathering additional information from the Mason District Police Station regarding calls for service at this location, I directed my staff and county entities to explore other efforts,” he said.
The county asked the Virginia Department of Transportation last week “to allow the county to initiate the process of removing the homeless encampment.”
“VDOT, not Fairfax County, maintains the area the homeless individuals are occupying,” he said. “If permission is granted, there is a four-to-six-week process that must be strictly followed to legally remove the homeless from the VDOT right-of-way.”
The Mason Police District will assist in that effort. The Office to Prevent and End Homelessness will continue outreach efforts to the unhoused individuals in this area to offer them shelter and other county services.
Jimenez encourages residents to contact his office if they have additional questions or wish to receive periodic updates as this process continues. He advises anyone who experiences or witnesses criminal activity to call the police.
Meanwhile, the group of unsheltered individuals congregating at Toll House Park on Little River Turnpike in Annandale seems to be growing every day. We’ll have more on that situation in a future blog post.
14 responses to “Jimenez: County will begin process to remove sidewalk squatters”
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They should change the name of “Office to Prevent and End Homelessness” to the “Coordination with VDOT for Unhousedness”
Remember when we used to refer to them as bums or vagrants and then it was homeless? And now we’ve “evolved” to the utterly ridiculous terms of unhoused and unsheltered.
Jimenez says he learned of this 5 months ago, and kicked the can down the road for so long trying to absolve himself of responsibility that he just submitted a request to VDOT (?!) that will take 4-6 weeks to begin the removal process, if it’s even approved.
Many of his constituents have raised this issue over several months through multiple channels, to no avail, and often no response.
It’s now August 2 and school starts August 18. So the kids will be exposed to this danger at the bus stop that is right in the middle of multiple condo and apartment complexes.
If anything happens to a kid, I hope parents will consider bringing a lawsuit against Jimenez and the county. If this isn’t the function of local government, what is?
You get the government that the voters elect. Don’t like it, then make sure you vote and work to educate your friends, neighbors, and other voters of what needs to change and can be done so with them voting. With off year elections in VA (non-Presidential years), being organized to get out the vote is dominated by interest groups, activists (partisans), and most people at the extremes. Note, some may say that includes me as I see it as a duty to vote because people die and died to ensure that privilege (even when I hate the choices presented or know the amateurs or poor candidates will win).
Yeah, I know, thanks for enlightening me. I didn’t vote for these people, and I have a mortgage to pay, kids in college, jail to avoid, and the wokest of self-actualized globalists at my work.
You’re not alone. I realize sane people are outnumbered here in Mason, but we’re here.
Apparently FCPD spokesperson Sgt. Jonathan Epperson is in the business of criminalizing displaced people, after all.
This article is based on the belated email response to many frightened neighbors from the Office of the Mason District Supervisor. What? VDOT might “get permission” in a month and a half? To do what? On public, private, AND watershed properties?
Fairfax County does not take ANY responsibility while RAISING OUR TAXES to live here? Who is accountable? As someone else asked, what will it take to end this nightmare? Many of us have witnessed aggressive behavior from the self-identified drug addicts and former convicts. We should not have to endanger ourselves to remove condoms, broken whiskey bottles, debris, household furniture, and FECES from trespassers on private property that neighbors can no longer walk by to go shopping or take the bus. The people who comment about compassion can clean up the mess made by the invaders.
As a Lee Boulevard Heights’ resident who lives within approximately 2-3 blocks from the site of this encampment, I have become privy to the various empirical problems presented by the so-called ’squatters.” To those who want to trivialize the situation or accuse those advocating for an end to this encampment of wanting to criminalize ‘displaced’ persons, how about making your residence location known so that these folks can be relocated to your neighborhood. As should be clear from the initial article, the individuals residing in this encampment include addicts and convicted felons and not the kind of people with whom you would want to share a bus shelter with or would want your children within close proximity of as they wait to board a school bus or walk to a nearby retail store or restaurant. Whether they are displaced or unhoused and how much their plight is simply the result of bad choices, they have had numerous opportunities to relocate to available shelters. More importantly from discussions with the property managers of adjacent housing complexes, I have become aware of at least one undocumented immigrant who was robbed of a significant amount of cash when he pulled out his wallet to give one of the squatters a couple of dollars he requested and yet due to his immigration status he was too afraid to report the event to Fairfax County Police. As stated by Supervisor Jimenez’s office and discussions with local police patrols, we know that the encampment has attracted more illegal drug dealers probably owing in part to the fact that the squatters are reliable customers and users. In fact, I was informed that one of those suppliers in a van parked in a nearby parking lot or street was caught dealing drugs and after the search of the van arrests were made. We have observed what we believe to have been other drug transactions when suspected dealers pull in to nearby neighborhoods adjacent to the grassy area near the encampment and are met by parties walking to meet the dealers. Unfortunately, the transactions are too brief to be caught by police who have been summoned from time to time. The squatters use the grassy area nearby and adjacent to the bus shelter to defecate close to the nearby stream which is in the Chesapeake watershed. As one who has joined neighborhood litter clean-up days, I have personally uncovered human feces in that area. In sum, this encampment is by no means a benign situation. It has caused several neighbors who had routinely walked to the bus shelter or shopping centers in Seven Corners to feel unsafe thereby forcing them to discontinue these walks. To the extent this increase in criminal activity or the encampment generally in close proximity to our previously safe neighborhood becomes commonly known, it is certain to have a negative impact on sales of homes (i.e., among the single largest investments many of us have) and, in turn, lower real estate tax assessments and tax base. These encampments in public spaces pose public health and safety issues not only to the nearby neighborhoods and users of the public spaces but to the squatters themselves. The squatters are subjected to extreme weather conditions, crime to themselves and substance abuse, all very evident to those whose lives and uses frequently require passing through the area regularly and who have witnessed physical fights between and among the squatters that need to police intervention to stop. In fact, other government leaders addressing similar issues in their communities posit that not acting to move squatters from public encampments who are unable to recognize the dangers to themselves due to physical and mental health issues could arguably be more humane that permitting the status quo to continue.
Well done, sir. Just to encapsulate what it means to be alive today – an illegal was mugged by a homeless citizen, and the cops refuse to get involved on any level. Ok, check. Just making sure I wasn’t going crazy.
Correction to my earlier comment: Last sentence should have read “In fact, other government leaders addressing similar issues in their communities posit that not acting to move squatters from public encampments who are unable to recognize the dangers to themselves due to physical and mental health issues could arguably be more INHUMANE THAN permitting the status quo to continue.”
Finally an indication of action. We must keep up the pressure on all Fairfax County agencies and demand accountability. Seven Corners is low hanging fruit for the candidate that promises to address crime, including vagrancy of this type.
What about the individual(s) who have occupied the median at the intersection of Beauregard St. and Little River Turnpike for years. I’ve spoken to FCPD several times about these individuals pan handling and sleeping on the median. FCPD says that there is nothing they can do. Yet our taxes increase every year. I thought Penny was useless but Jimenez is worse. I guess he’ll push the blame on VDOT instead of speaking to VDOT on our behalf.
I hope they do something about the homeless encampment at the CVS on Little River Turnpike at Backlick Rd, across from the ABC. Speaking of that CVS, the encampment is next to the bus stop and I was inside the store when a woman was hit and killed while jaywalking to the stop. I see jaywalkers there all the time. Actually there are jaywalkers up and down 236, especially at night, that seem to have no regard for their lives or the people in cars.