From her hillside home in Grantville, Michele Addington says she is watching the San Diego Riverbed like it is about to erupt in flames. After two recent fires below her house, she went down for a closer look and says she found tents, shopping carts, bicycles, trash and even a barbecue scattered along the river. Seeing all that potential fuel, she worries the next blaze could race uphill and into nearby homes. She says she now walks the riverbed regularly and plans to keep pushing the city until the area is cleared.
What a neighbor found
As reported by ABC 10News, Addington filed a complaint through the city's Get It Done app after spotting what she described as "dozens" of encampments beneath her neighborhood. She told the station that the recent small fires were the final push that got her to hike down into the riverbed to see what was there.
According to the station, San Diego police and code compliance officers inspected the area and later reclassified her report as waste on private property. That label means the city says it cannot simply show up with trucks and crews to haul everything away, and will instead work through the owner of the land. Addington told the outlet she is not trying to target people experiencing homelessness, only trying to prevent another fire that could threaten the houses perched above the canyon.
How the city handles encampment reports
According to the city's Get It Done guidance, complaints that are flagged as waste on private property are routed to code enforcement. Those officers track the case, issue notices and schedule reinspections, rather than doing the physical cleanup themselves. The portal explains that a typical step is to mail a Notice of Violation to the property owner and give a short window to fix the problem before coming back to check.
That process can leave neighbors feeling exposed while the clock runs, especially if brush, trees and piles of debris remain in place as ready-made fire fuel.
Past cleanups and funding
City officials have previously moved in to clear large encampments along the riverbed and connect people to shelter, leaning on state grant money to help pay for outreach and housing transitions. The city and county together secured roughly $17 million from the Encampment Resolution Fund to focus on people living along portions of the San Diego River, according to ABC 10News.
Even with that support, outreach and cleanup efforts are costly and often come in waves rather than on a constant schedule, and some residents say the collections and removals have not kept up with encampments returning or spreading to new stretches of the riverbed.
River groups urge steady outreach
River advocates warn that the mix of dense brush, scattered trash and tough-to-reach terrain turns the riverbed into both a wildfire risk and a logistical headache for outreach teams. The San Diego River Park Foundation notes that its RAFT surveys show a large share of the mapped trash along the river is tied to people living in places not designed for habitation. That reality complicates everything from routine cleanup to emergency response.
Conservancy crews and volunteers regularly haul tons of debris out of the corridor during organized events, but organizers say what really works is steady funding paired with coordinated outreach so the same areas do not just cycle through cleanup and reencampment over and over.
Addington says she plans to keep speaking up until someone with the authority to act removes the brush and debris she believes could feed a fast-moving fire. For non-emergencies, residents can report encampments and related waste through San Diego's Get It Done portal. Anyone who sees an active fire is urged to call 911 immediately. Addington told ABC 10News she is not trying to push out unhoused neighbors, but she also says she will not stop pressing officials until the hillside above her home feels safe again.
