Frustrated over miles of homeless encampments on the Santa Ana River Trail, more than 11,000 citizens have signed a petition demanding back their national recreation site, and officials are considering a state of emergency.

The emergency task force, Anaheim Councilwoman Kris Murray states, would become effective immediately after approval and stipulate a 30-day deadline to relocate the homeless.

The “massive community triage,” as Murray describes it, would be designed to include volunteers, the County of Orange, nonprofits, the faith community, as well as state and federal agencies.

Early Monday morning, a jogger runs westbound on the Santa Ana River Trail at Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim Hills in December 2013. (FILE PHOTO BY BRUCE CHAMBERS/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

A man on a bicycle chooses to ride on the service path, avoiding the homeless encampment in Orange. Cyclists and walkers fear and avoid the recreational bike trail due to the homeless along the Santa Ana River. (FILE PHOTO BY KEN STEINHARDT/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

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A couple walks along the Santa Ana River Trail near Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim early one morning just after sunrise. (FILE PHOTO BY MARK RIGHTMIRE/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

A man on a bicycle rides the recreational bike trail through the homeless encampment in Orange, on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. Cyclists and walkers fear and avoid the bike trail due to the homeless camped along the Santa Ana River. (Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A bicyclist rides down the Santa Ana River trail on early one morning as a storm passes at Imperial Highway in Anaheim. (FILE PHOTO BY KEN STEINHARDT/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)



Brian Eldridge of Placentia, left, rides the Santa Ana River Trail over the bridge with his friend Michael Mellor of Fullerton on their 22-mile ride near Imperial Highway in Anaheim. (FILE PHOTO BY KEN STEINHARDT/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

A family travels south through the homeless campsite in Orange, on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. Cyclists and walkers fear and avoid the recreational bike trail due to the homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River.

A man joins the recreational trail after choosing to avoid the homeless encampment while walking on the service path in Orange. Cyclists and walkers fear and avoid the recreational bike trail due to the homeless along the Santa Ana River. (FILE PHOTO BY KEN STEINHARDT/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

A cyclist rides the Santa Ana River Trail near Imperial Highway in Anaheim Hills at dawn. (FILE PHOTO BY BRUCE CHAMBERS/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

Becky Mudd of Laguna Beach runs past a mural along the Santa Ana River trail early one morning near Angel Stadium on the first day of her nine day run from Huntington Beach to the boarder of Arizona to raise awareness for pediatric cancers in April 2014. (FILE PHOTO BY MARK RIGHTMIRE/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)



Bicycle riding partners travel through the homeless campsite in Orange, on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. Cyclists and walkers fear and avoid the recreational bike trail due to the homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River. (Photo by Ken Steinhardt, Orange County Register/SCNG)

On a warm afternoon cyclists pass through fields of California bush sunflower along the Santa Ana River Trail between Imperial Highway and Lakeview Avenue, in Anaheim Hills. (FILE PHOTO BY BRUCE CHAMBERS/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

Bill Rouzer, 73, of Yorba Linda, has cycled the Santa Ana River Trail for decades and reports safety has drastically decreased because of the exploding homeless population. Here, he rides near Yorba Linda. (File Photo by David Whiting, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A bicyclist rides on the Santa Ana River bike trail in Anaheim. The trail is a 12-foot wide path following the cement-lined river between Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach and the Corona Freeway. in April 2014. (FILE PHOTO BY JEFF GRITCHEN/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

A woman cradles a pet during the homeless vet clinic at the Santa Ana River Trail.



Bikers are silhouetted by clouds as they ride along the Santa Ana River trail in Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim, CA Tuesday, August 29, 2017. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A cyclist is framed between the trees during an afternoon ride along the Santa Ana River Trail in Anaheim. (File Photo by Mark Rightmire/The Orange County Register/SCNG)

Becky Mudd of Laguna Beach runs along the Santa Ana River trail one morning near Angel Stadium on the first day of her nine day run from Huntington Beach to the boarder of Arizona to raise awareness for pediatric cancers in April 2014. (FILE PHOTO BY MARK RIGHTMIRE/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

A man on a bicycle rides through the homeless camped in Orange. Cyclists and walkers fear and avoid the recreational bike trail due to the homeless encampment along the Santa Ana River. (FILE PHOTO BY KEN STEINHARDT/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/SCNG)

A cyclist rides east along the Santa Ana River Trail near Weir Canyon Road in Yorba Linda. The trail (File Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)



A cyclist passes under the 17th street bridge as he rides along the Santa Ana River Trail in Santa Ana. (File Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Murray vows that at the Sept. 12 Anaheim council meeting she will call for a citywide State of Emergency. “It’s not compassionate to allow the homeless on the riverbed,” Murray explains. “Nothing is safe, nothing is secure.”

Drug paraphernalia including used needles is common, Murray notes, and human waste leaches into the groundwater and down the river channel into the ocean.

“The neighborhoods,” she points out, “are under siege.”

Murray is in the process of initiating discussions with all cities adjacent the river including Santa Ana, Orange, Fullerton and Fountain Valley. “I know this will cost money,” Murray admits. “I’m going to council to ask that we match the county.”

Homeless people would be offered alternative living. If they decline, the plan calls for removing hundreds and restoring the 30-mile trail to its intended purpose — a designated National Recreation Trail that offers a pollution-free commuting path for the general public.

During a lengthy and sometimes spirited Anaheim city council meeting Tuesday night, Aug. 29, dozens of residents and homeless advocates squared off on how to handle what has become a post-apocalyptic scene for more than six solid miles.

Councilman Jose Moreno suggested installing portable toilets to help relieve the unsanitary conditions. Others argued such a move enables homelessness and encourages others to relocate to the river trail.

In an interview as well as in writing, Murray countered, “The time for action is now. Our residents are demanding action and they deserve our assurance that their neighborhoods are safe and their families are secure.

“Providing amenities along the riverbed that create a sense of permanency to these encampments is not the answer.”

Kevin George, an Anaheim resident who lives in a neighborhood impacted by the trail, says he launched the popular petition after reading a column I wrote in July. It reported that hundreds of walkers, runners, cyclists and equestrians have been forced to abandon the 30-mile ribbon of asphalt because they fear for their safety.

The division director for a national bank labeled his Change.org petition “No More Homeless Encampments: We Want Our Santa Ana River Trail and City Parks Back!”

George expected support. Still, he remains shocked at the huge turnout as well as the detail from petitioners.

“I no longer can ride my bike with my children down the riverbed and take a pit stop at the grassy area across from Angel stadium near Honda Center,” wrote Daniel Olson, an Anaheim parent. “The benches used to be a nice break for me and my daughter. Now it’s a point of fear and we stay out of the riverbed for biking.”

“We want our riverbeds back. It’s that simple,” Aleha Barraza wrote when he signed the petition. “I’m tired of feeling unsafe. I’m tired of homeless casing our homes so they can benefit from our hard work.

“There are those who truly want their lives to improve and are willing to do what it takes to make their lives better,” the Orange resident continues, “and there are those who are content where they are at and benefit from stealing our BBQs from our backyards to enrich their encampments along the riverbed.

“Let’s make a plan and make it happen. I am willing to help in the clean up.”

“My home is 12.5 feet from the river trail in the heart of the encampments,” wrote Jeanina Cole in signing the petition. The Fountain Valley resident says she’s lived in her home for 15 years and “now it’s a Mad Max movie!

“The conditions are deplorable,” Cole states, “unsafe and hazardous.”

George says it is common to hear and see strangers walking or riding bikes and skateboards at 2 a.m., checking car doors to determine if they are unlocked.

I have run and cycled the trail from Yorba Linda to Huntington Beach. With hundreds of tents and makeshift shelters, unleashed dogs and people wandering aimlessly, it feels like running a gauntlet.

I have seen compassion between homeless people, help from selfless volunteers. But I also have seen fistfights suddenly break out for no apparent reason and pathways blocked for unknown reasons.

As a community, we have to decide if we want the Santa Ana River to be an ever-growing squatters encampment with drug dealing, stolen bicycles and little law enforcement or a recreational crown jewel stretching from the mountains to the sea.

Various signs dot the river trail stating camping, loitering, littering, polluting along the river trail is illegal.

“This mass defiance of the law undermines the law’s ability to protect all of us,” the Change.org petition states. “ We demand the vigorous and sustained enforcement of these anti-camping ordinances.”

Make no mistake, no one I’ve talked to is out to attack the homeless. “We are compassionate to those living in homelessness,” Murray emphasizes, “and we must take swift action to address this escalating human health crisis.”

At the same time, the councilwoman calls for strength and will. “Our message must be clear: Those who want help will get it; those who refuse help must leave; our laws will be enforced.

“The city,” she declares, “has a moral and legal obligation to engage.”

What Murray calls Operation Home Safe will neither be simple nor easy. While the homeless population has skyrocketed, our city and county officials have tried a Band-Aid approach.

Murray needs four votes for the “massive community triage.”

We will soon discover if our leaders possess the courage for lasting and effective change.