Residents tackle Fresno River trash
April Molina/For The Madera Tribune
Collin Molina and bags of trash.
Tired of waiting, Molina family wades into action
Frustrated by the large amount of trash still in their neighborhood, a north Madera family spent hours cleaning up the banks of the Fresno River Saturday, and say they were disgusted by what they found.
The piles of discarded debris were concentrated in small camps hidden in the shrubbery, as the homeless apparently had tried to gather the necessities and some of the comforts of a normal life. Furniture, shopping carts, mattresses, kitchen utensils and lawn equipment, electronics and mail, likely pilfered and belonging to nearby residents.
Much of the other scattered debris was left behind after a recent code enforcement sweep.
It included clothing, shoes, foodstuffs, and empty alcohol and prescription drug containers, even though residents serving in the community service program have also been working on trimming brush and cleaning the riverbed area.
Resident April Molina said she and her family have lived in the area off Raymond Road adjacent to the large homeless encampment for many years. She has spoken out recently at city and county meetings about all the homeless debris, drug deals, violence, prostitution, and drug use she has witnessed in or near the riverbed, near their home.
Molina said she was tired of waiting so she and her husband John, and their two teenage children spent their Saturday morning filling the orange trash bags provided to her by code enforcement. “24 bags and we barely put a dent in it. It’s floating in the water, caught in the trees, buried in the mud. It’s polluting our river and it’s sad and just disgusting,” Molina said.
Molina went on to say she hoped other residents would step up and help clean up the debris in many other areas of Madera.
