A handful of citizens standing in support

Along with a handful of others, I stood for 12 days in support of the homeless camp on the Triangle, bounded by Pine, Cypress, Humboldt. Far from ideal, the site was at least proven minimally “functional.” As a community, we had plenty of warning the site was to be swept.

There was faint hope the community would arrive in numbers, in support of the Triangle. We had no such numbers. On the day of eviction, complete with heavy equipment and a heavy police presence, a convoy was assembled and roughly 20 campers were transported to a city owned lot in Chapmantown, bounded by Little Chico Creek, Boucher and Wisconsin Streets.

Reading the 2/13 paper, it appeared this new location was being promoted as a legally defensible space — a place to make a stand with the homeless. But, contrary to statements made by supporters, there are numerous municipal and state laws making the lot essentially no more legally defensible, for the purpose of homeless sheltering, than any other city owned property. Of greater significance, unlike all other “spontaneous” homeless camps, this lot provided zero buffer to the residents on Wisconsin Street, who were living with a sizable homeless presence over their back fence.

Again, with faint hope, I can imagine numbers growing and that we’ll see “critical mass” community support for the homeless in other locations now in the crosshairs: Humboldt Community Park and Comanche Creek Greenway. Locations with exponentially less impact on residents.

— Patrick Newman, Chico