BAKERSFIELD, CA. — The amphitheater at Beale Park in central Bakersfield was considered home for some who said they had no where else to go.
"This is not good. This is not a good way to live having no home, waking up to no home. Waking up to see where you are at?" said Hopie Garcia.
Garcia said she is homeless and that she had been living at Beale Park for three weeks.
But Wednesday, she was asked to leave when the city's Code Enforcement Rapid Response Team was called out to the area to clean up the illegal encampment.
Code Enforcement Supervisor, Steve Rodrigue, said they recieved multiple reports of the encampment through a new feature on the Bakersfield Mobile App.
Residents can now take pictures and report encampments, shopping carts and illegal camping through the app.
The new addition went live last week. Rodrigue said reports have been flooding in.
"Over the lunch period yesterday, we had about 15 to 20 new complaints and overnight we had another 30 to 40," said Rodrigue.
Funding from the Public Safety and Vital Services Measure has made these resources possible.
Garcia was offered help on Wednesday to help get her into temporary housing through the Flood Bakersfield Ministries' services.
