BALBOA PARK TENT CITY CLEARED OUT 30 YEARS AGO

Thirty years ago this week the city evicted more than 100 residents at an encampment in Balboa Park after agreeing to provide temporary overnight shelter beds in Balboa Park’s municipal gym and promising to work on more permanent solutions.

From The San Diego Union-tribune, Thursday Jan. 7, 1993:

CITY OFFERS SHELTER INSIDE NEARBY GYM WHILE RAINFALL LASTS

By Ray Huard and Dwight C. Daniels, Staff Writers

Police evicted about two dozen homeless people from an illegal camp in a Balboa Park parking lot yesterday, but city officials said those who were ousted could stay last night in a municipal gymnasium across the street.

“We did the best we could under the circumstances,” said San Diego City Councilman John Hartley, an advocate for the homeless.

The gym will remain open tonight if the rain continues, said Ross Mccollum, city community program administrator.

When the rain stops, Mccollum said, the gym will close and the people who had camped out in the parking lot will have to find somewhere else to stay.

“We do not support tent cities,” Mccollum said. “It is a policy call by the City Council.”

He said 287 homeless people spent Tuesday night in the gym. However, some homeless people were reluctant to go to the gym for fear that they would be forced to leave their belongings outside, where they could be stolen.

To allay their fears the homeless would be allowed to bring their belongings into the gym, including the shopping carts some use for storage, Mccollum said.

With room for up to 500 people, the gym is opened as an emergency shelter for the homeless whenever the temperature drops below 40 degrees in clear weather or below 50 degrees in rainy weather, Mccollum said.

Hartley, whose council district includes Balboa Park, said the eviction “really illustrates to me that we, as a city, haven’t dealt with the issue” of the homeless.

But the eviction has drawn public attention to the problem, he said.

Hartley has advocated building a 24-hour open-air homeless shelter. The Balboa Park parking lot is an ideal site for such a shelter, he said.

“This story has allowed people to understand what I’m trying to get across,” Hartley said.

As a result, Hartley said, within the next month the council Public Services and Safety Committee will review city policies on the homeless with a goal of reaching a permanent solution.

“I’m a little encouraged by that,” Hartley said. “I’m a little discouraged that on a wet, cold winter day people who were no problem, who were living peacefully out of the neighborhoods and out of the business area, were evicted.”

The evictions came with no arrests after two deadlines to shut down the illegal encampment had passed.

Four police cruisers drove up to the site just before 8 a.m. as campers awoke in the lot next to the old Naval Hospital near Park Boulevard and Interstate 5.

“The city wants you out of here,” police

Sgt. Jim Arthur told leaders of the group. “You can go hang out at the gym.”

Police had first issued an ultimatum to the group to leave the lot by noon Tuesday, but that deadline passed as city officials discussed how to treat the illegal encampment.

By the time police arrived at noon Tuesday, the camp, which had grown to more than 100 people in nearly 45 tents, was down to about 30.

The city backed off a second deadline Tuesday night because of rain.

The final eviction deadline came on a windy, rainy morning yesterday.

“We get kicked out wherever we go,” said Susie Ledesma, 20. “I’m used to it, but this really was our last place we could go and not bother anybody. Where else can we go?”

The gym and two other cold-weather shelters downtown are often ignored by the homeless, some who said they must choose between a night outside and sleeping inside while losing their property.

Hartley and City Manager Jack Mcgrory promised to find a place where those seeking shelter at the gym could keep their property safe from thieves. Mccollum said the city subsequently decided to let the homeless bring their property in with them.

Last year, police disbanded at least two camps similar to the one in Balboa Park.

The Parking Co. of America, which leases the 8-acre parking lot from the city, had asked police to evict the squatters. The owner, Mark Battaglia, said he feared losing his liability insurance if the squatters were allowed to remain.