Petaluma PD, Community Clean Up Schollenberger Park

From Lieutenant Tim Lyons, Petaluma Police Department:

Several people gathered Saturday morning at Schollenberger Park to clean up the park and surrounding wetlands of garbage.

A majority of the garbage and other materials were the remains of transient camps along the Petaluma River.

One camp had separate rooms and large support beams to support the structure. With the help of 2nd District Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt’s Office, the Petaluma Police Department was able to coordinate with the County Probation Department to respond with a crew to assist in the clean-up.

There were also volunteers from the Mary Isaak Center, Petaluma Wetlands Alliance, City of Petaluma Harbor Master’s Office, the Petaluma Sea Scouts, City of Petaluma Public Works and many other residents of the City.

The largest camp was cleaned up also with the help of the homeless individual who had resided in it.

He was able to get residency help at the Mary Isaak Center. Over 2 tons of material was cleaned up. Workers had to use boats from the Harbor Master to ferry the material from the banks of the park back to the Petaluma Marina to be off loaded into large debris boxes. Workers started at 8:30 AM and finished around 3:00 PM.

The police department has seen an increase in transient-related calls for service at the park. Also the amount of trash left in the wetlands had been increasing and regular park users had started themselves cleaning up the park.

After officers from the police department surveyed the area and contacted those living in the park, a plan to clean up the park was created and resources were brought in to those that needed transient services.

The police department wishes to thank all those who volunteered their time to help restore the park.

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