The video was taken by cyclists on the popular Santa Ana River Trail – a bike path that runs from Angel Stadium in Anaheim to the Pacific Ocean in Huntington Beach.
In the span of just a few short years, sections of the trail have transformed from idyllic, family-friendly recreational terrain, to a dangerous causeway commandeered by vagrants, drug addicts and illegal aliens.
The number of people who are homeless in California continues to rise at a steady clip. Every year, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development releases a Point in Time count of the homeless population. This year that number reached nearly 554,000 — a 1 percent increase from last year, driven by the dramatic surge in West Coast cities.
More than one-quarter of the total homeless population nationwide lives in California, roughly 114,000. The vast majority are “unsheltered” — a more bureaucratic term to describe the thousands living on the streets, under freeways and tucked into grassy fields and parks in cities all around the state.