To prevent homeless people from taking over bus stops, Anaheim has removed several benches in a high-traffic area around the Disneyland Resort.

Since October, the city has taken out bus benches at the four stops at Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue, and another bench further north in front of the Captain Kidd’s restaurant.

City spokesman Mike Lyster said having benches had “outlived its purpose.” Some homeless in the area, he said, often used the covered stops as a makeshift shelter and the benches as beds. Illegal activity was common, he said.

“It pains us to have to remove bus benches,” Lyster said. “We know many people use them to get to and from work, or to visit the resort. But the reality is bus riders lost use of these benches a long time ago. Bus riders would end up standing in the sun waiting for buses as the benches were taken up.”

He said the city is doing its best to assist people who are homeless to get access to “shelters, healthcare and long-term housing as part of our efforts to address homelessness.”

“No one should have to stay at a bus shelter, and we can help.”

There are about 800 homeless people living in the city, and hundreds more have set up tent cities along the Santa Ana River near the Honda Center down to past Angel Stadium.

Tourists stand and wait and some pass by a bus stop Tuesday, July 3 on the corner of Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim. The city, since October, has removed several bus benches in the area to prevent homeless from taking shelter at the bus stops and sleeping on the benches. (Staff photo by Joseph Pimentel, Orange County Register)

Jeff Raulino, 53, (right) stands under a bus stop on the corner of Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard. Raulino, who has hung out in that area the past four years, says he understands why the city removed the bus benches. (Staff photo by Joseph Pimentel/ Orange County Register)

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Transient Cynthia Mena, 41, (right) has lived under this bus stop in front of 7/11 on Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard since January. Mena says she used to sleep on one of the benches before the city removed it two months ago. “They told me they were going to powerwash it. Yeah right,”(Staff photo by Joseph Pimentel, Orange County Register)

Transients hang out at a bus stop on Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard Tuesday, July 3, 2017 in Anaheim. The city, since October 2016, has removed several bus benches to prevent homeless from using the bus stop as a makeshift shelter and sleeping on the benches. (Staff photo by Joseph Pimentel, Orange County Register)

Tourists walk by a bus Tuesday, July 3 on the corner of Katella Avenue and Harbor Boulevard in Anaheim. The city has removed several benches on bus stops to prevent illegal activity and homeless from sleeping on the bus benches. (Staff photo by Joseph Pimentel, Orange County Register)



City workers power wash a bus stop on the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue Monday, July 3, 2017. The city, since October 2016, has removed several benches on that corner to prevent homeless from taking over the bus stops and sleeping on the benches. (Staff photo by Joseph Pimentel, Orange County Register)

On a recent morning, several homeless people living in the area said they understand the city’s plight. As hundreds passed by walking toward Disneyland’s entrance, Linda Henriquez, 64, stood underneath a bus stop subtly asking for change. She said she has been sleeping off-and-on in a bus stop on Harbor and Katella for the past two years.

The bus shelter felt safer to her, she said, than The Courtyard, the shelter the county created at the old downtown Santa Ana bus terminal, or along the riverbed.

“I think they got frustrated with the homeless people sleeping on the benches, but you know, they are doing it anyways,” she said. “Now, we’re sleeping on the floor.”

Henriquez said the benches had become filthy, “It had stains from soda and alcohol, food. Some had urine on them.”

Jeff Raulino, 53, said he has hung out in the area for the past four years. He figures the main issue is the “young homeless adults.” The corner has five convenience stores that serve alcohol.

“What happens is at night, the kids buy the alcohol and hang out at the bus stops and get rowdy,” Raulino said. “Some of the cops have said it’s OK to sleep around here – just do it late at night and wake up early.”

Several people resorted to sitting on nearby concrete fencing or standing and leaning against the bus stops as they waited for a bus. Raveena Lal, 19, waited for a Lux Bus to take her and her family to Downtown Los Angeles. A tourist from New Zealand, she said it’s an inconvenience for her mother and grandmother to have to stand to wait for a bus.

“They should figure out a way to bring benches here especially for the elderly guests,” she said.

Raulino said the city should look for other ways to regulate the area, but he understands why the city removed the benches.

“We deserve it,” Raulino said. “But the tourists don’t deserve this.”