There have been fires in the park, but that isn't the reason San Jose social services moved in Thursday to help homeless people in the Coyote Creek area near the park transition to a safer place. The area is flat, open, and near a creek so a lot of people go to the area. They haven't been bothered until recently when the city of San Jose, for environmental, social, and health reasons put up signs saying they would be moving everyone out.
"We've been working very carefully with other partners, EHC LifeBuilders for example, who are involved with homeless services, so we can connect people out here in the encampments with alternative housing, other services that will help them get into a better path," said San Jose Communications Director David Vossbrink.
"I just know it was probably because of the fires and people, they aren't taking care of it," said Terry Renner, who is homeless. "We cleaned up the whole area over here on this side, but this side's disgusting. So, I see why they kicked us out."
They started clearing people and their belongings out of the area around 9 a.m. and were mostly finished by 11 a.m. San Jose police were present, but the process went off without a hitch.
