Victoria Park tent city vacated without fines being laid
County Warden J. Murray Jones pleased with co-operation and vows to restore park ‘to its former glory’
Victoria Park was unoccupied by Wednesday afternoon, a bit more than 24 hours after roughly 100 homeless people who’d been living there all summer started dismantling their tent encampment.
Faced with an eviction order from Peterborough County, which owns the park, occupants took down their tents on Tuesday and moved.
Meanwhile, city police said Wednesday they didn’t hand out any trespassing fines as the socalled tent city was cleared from the park.
Officers were seen on the edge of the park Tuesday, but didn’t mete out fines (which can run between $200 and $10,000 under the county bylaw).
The homeless campers moved on their own after eviction notices were posted in the park, city police spokesperson Lauren Gilchrist wrote in an email to The Examiner.
Many went a block north to the property of Emmanuel United Church, where clergy gave them permission to stay (provided they don’t drink, smoke or do drugs there).
There were 20 tents at Emmanuel United Church on Wednesday.
Early Wednesday afternoon, there were eight tents still at Victoria Park, five were garbagefilled and unoccupied.
The other three were also free of campers by Wednesday afternoon, said Sheridan Graham, the county’s corporate projects director.
By late Wednesday afternoon, just one tent remained.
Now the park is closed to the public for 30 days so the county can do a cleanup. Graham said the closure is occurring because the cleanup may require the use of heavy equipment.
About a week ago, there had been 45 tents at Victoria Park. The so-called tent city was established after the Warming Room shelter closed for repairs at the beginning of July.
In mid-August, Peterborough city and county both adopted bylaws to ban camping in parks, but no one was evicted from tent city right away.
Instead, a notice was posted in the park on Aug. 23 stating that the park would be closed to the public on Tuesday as of 9 a.m. and anyone found there after that deadline could be fined for trespassing.
County Warden J. Murray Jones said Wednesday that the homeless campers “deserve a lot of credit” for complying with the county’s order to clear the park.
“We’re quite happy everyone co-operated — and now the park can be restored to its former glory,” he said.
The cleanup begins with the removal of the abandoned tents and garbage, Graham said, and any belongings such as bicycles will be given to city police.
Graham didn’t have any more details Wednesday regarding the exact cleanup measures to be undertaken or the cost.
The park will be closed with wooden barricades at the entrances (the paved footpaths off Water Street, for example) during the cleanup, she said.
Jones said he hasn’t heard anyone complain about not being able to use the park for a month.
“I think everyone understands it needs cleanup,” he said.
Jones also said the summer of tent city underscored the need for affordable housing, and that he’d be reminding the provincial and federal governments that municipalities need help in this area.
Mayor Diane Therrien hasn’t commented this week because she’s away on vacation.