New bill aims at American River Parkway homeless clean up, safety

After the brutal slaying of a 20-year-old autistic woman along the American River Parkway back in January, local lawmakers are now calling on the Legislature to approve a new bill that could help in clearing parklands and open spaces from homeless encampments and improving user-safety ahead. After leaving her Rancho Cordova home to take a walk in the early afternoon of Jan. 27, Emma Roark vanished along the Parkway, a 32-mile paved pedestrian trail that runs along the river and connects various parks between Sacramento and Folsom, where the access then extends along Lake Natoma and segues to the Johnny Cash Trail in Folsom. Millions of people use the parkway each year. But like most vast public spaces, it's become a popular spot for homeless people to camp, from the far reaches of the Sacramento Valley all the way up into the areas of Folsom where such encampments are fewer in size and numbers but have been present in some areas. Authorities eventually found Roark's body in a secluded area not far from a large homeless encampment near the El Manto access area of the Parkway. Investigators later arrested a 37-year-old homeless man who remains in Sacramento County Jail facing murder and rape charges in what authorities described as a brutal sexual assault and homicide. Last Friday, near the area where Roark tragically lost her life, several lawmakers held a press briefing where they called for the Legislature to pass Assembly Bill 2633 protection of parklands: removal of un-permitted campers and campsites. The bill is designed to make it easier for local governments and agencies to remove encampments from parklands and other open spaces, While local governments already have some power to remove these camps. Assemblymember Kevin McCarty explained that many are afraid to do so after a 2018 federal court ruled that cities can't enforce anti-camping laws if they don't have enough available beds at homeless shelters to house everyone. Those stipulations put in place by the court ruling have posed a difficult challenge statewide, with an estimated 160,000 homeless individuals currently residing in California. Locally, on the American River Parkway, it is estimated that nearly 2,000 individuals now have campsites, according to Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness "We need to draw a line in the sand. We certainly have a homeless crisis in our city but there are certain places you can't camp," said McCarty. "Residents that don't have the money to go to Yosemite and go to Tahoe every year, they go to the river. But they can't go because it's not safe." The camps also aren't safe for the environment. Trash and human waste often end up in the river and campfires sometimes spread out of control. Last year, there were 156 fires along the American River Parkway, which was three times the amount of fires in 2019. The bill was scheduled for its first public hearing on Tuesday afternoon and would designate unique areas such as the American River Parkway to be considered "special parklands," due to the vast environmental risks encampments impose. Lawmakers are also requesting to set aside $50 million in the state budget for local governments to spend on alternative housing options for those who are camping in regional parks. The bill is just several state proposals to help get the homeless population out of public areas. In November, voters can support or oppose a measure that would make homeless encampments on public property illegal and would force cities to have enough shelter beds for 60 percent of its homeless population. Gov. Gavin Newsom has also presented a proposal that could require some homeless residents into treatment for drug addiction and mental health disorders. Many advocates for the homeless oppose these ideas because they would violate people's civil rights. But the political momentum for them has been growing as the state's homeless population becomes more visible, along with an increase in reported crimes following a decrease during the pandemic. "Someone has to be the adult in the room and make adult decisions that haven't been made until now," said Assemblymember Jim Cooper. "It takes courage." Mikilo Morgan Rawls was the suspect arrested in the murder of Roark and remains in Sacramento County Jail awaiting his second appearance in Sacramento County Court on May 20. Roark's disappearance and the subsequent arrest rattled many in the communities of Rancho Cordova, Gold River and Folsom that have used the American River Parkway and the recreational trails that connect with it. Rawls was a known local transient to the area with a criminal past. Rawls pleaded no contest in 2018 to burglary and was sentenced to a year in custody and five years of probation. Online court records show he violated his probation twice, once in October 2020 and again in June 2021. He also pleaded no contest in June 2021 to a misdemeanor count of resisting an officer and was given a 105-day sentence, records show. "We don't know when a crime like this is going to occur. This individual was transient. The Sheriff's Office is sympathetic to the transient population; we understand people are experiencing hard times. But there is evil amongst them and that's what Mr. Rawls was," Sacramento County Undersheriff Jim Barnes said following the apprehension of Rawls. "We have to be honest with ourselves; there's a population down there that will victimize people when there's an opportunity."