NCTD Board,
This email relates to items C6 & C7 on your 6/15/23 Board meeting agenda. I request that the NCTD Board pull these items and discuss the issues addressed in this email I am sending on behalf of myself and my neighbors.
First, thank you for your dedication and efforts related to improving transit services. As a frequent user of your system, I have firsthand knowledge of its value and the fruits of your efforts.
Second, I wanted to bring an ongoing concern to your attention that I, as well as many riders, residents and businesses have seen and experienced in and near the Oceanside Transit Center (OTC).
Over the past 10-day period, I have experienced 10 encounters with unhoused vagrant individuals who have been aggressive and unruly. In each of these instances, these individuals are new to the neighborhood. Some have threatened physical violence and, at a minimum, most of them have used offensive language including but not limited to racial slurs. I have attached a few pictures to indicate some of the encounters/issues.
I have discussed these aggressive incidents with representatives of the City of Oceanside, Gatekeepers, NCTD staff, Oceanside Mainstreet, Oceanside businesses, Oceanside Community Neighborhood Association (OCNA), Oceanside Police Department (OPD) and the Sheriff’s Department. In my conversations it has become apparent there are at least two major issues at play.
1. The Gatekeepers are doing a good job of moving the unhoused/transients out of the area they patrol and residents and businesses in the area in which I and my neighbors live and work is just outside that boundary, which is displacing this population to our area and;
2. All who I have talked to, advise that NCTD is not working with other agencies to keep their properties free and safe of violence, drugs, vagrants and the unhoused generally, thereby creating a magnet for these problems specifically in Oceanside on their property and those businesses and homes near their property. In addition, law enforcement has advised that since the recent point in time homelessness count, the transit center issues have increased significantly with most of the issues related to a relocated out of town homeless population. It is important to address this quickly, so this new population doesn’t establish a residency claim in the OTC, thereby creating a longer-term safety and cost burden for NCTD and the City of Oceanside.
As someone who has directly worked on many similar matters, I’m more than glad to assist NCTD and others with developing solutions. These could include increasing the scope of the Gatekeepers’ area of patrol, increasing outreach services to those experiencing homelessness/mental illness/addiction, and having NCTD come to the table and work with the other agencies on a 24-hour, 7 day-a-week proven solution.
The currently let NCTD Request for Proposal (RFP) for security services is not sufficiently robust enough to address the issues and does not tie into the existing Gatekeepers activities thereby creating additional gaps in NCTD’s response and missing an opportunity for a cohesive and consistent plan to address the issues.
Please help us as Oceanside businesses and residents nearby the OTC, by increasing the scope of the Gatekeepers services to include S Cleveland and S Tremont from Missouri to Wisconsin Ave. and contract with Gatekeepers to provide resources to patrol and mitigate these escalating issues, at and near the transit center on a 24-hour, 7 day-a-week basis.
At this time when NCTD and Toll Brothers are trying to redevelop the OTC site, it seems at the very least you can demonstrate how you can be committed to work with the community on mutually beneficial solutions. In my estimation, the OCT must have the highest level of OPD service calls and is a major drain on other agency budgets where this should be a responsibility of NCTD.
Unfortunately, we and others view the way NCTD has responded to these issues, as a possible harbinger of how NCTD may fail to keep their commitments regarding the OTC redevelopment project. It would be beneficial to the community and NCTD if we can address this in a win-win way now, so when the looming fiscal cliff hits NCTD, we can be ahead of the curve to reduce the currently escalating violence, drug use and crime on NCTD property and the nearby areas that has become all-too-common for you and other transit agencies.
We appreciate your attention to this urgent matter and hope to hear from you soon regarding a solution.
Thank you.
