Barriers surround area of former homeless camp
Barricades erected around a downtown Phoenix median where a small homeless community sought shelter over the holidays will stay up indefinitely as the city conducts “cleaning and repairs,” officials said Sunday.
The city had cleared out the triangleshaped median, nestled near high-end apartments and condos along the gentrifying Roosevelt Row, on Friday after declaring it an “illegal homeless encampment.” Waist-high metal barriers and signs prohibiting sleeping and camping followed.
As of Sunday evening, the parcel remained empty, except for a stray soda cup sitting on one of the tables covered by the angular shades that double as art.
City spokeswoman Tamra Ingersoll said officials would begin assessing the extent of the repairs needed at the site Monday in order to provide a timeline for the temporary closure.
Human-services advocates have bristled at the city’s actions, pointing to the clearing of the property just before the area’s monthly gallery walk. They say officials are trying to justify keeping out an unwanted population.
“The entire explanation that the city has offered (regarding the encampment) has been ethically and factually elastic,” JJ Johnson, Black Lives Matter-Phoenix vice chair, told The Republic on Saturday.
City officials maintain the area is governed by an ordinance against urban camping.
“The city will continue to focus our homeless outreach teams from PHX C.A.R.E.S. in the area,” Ingersoll said via email Sunday. “Those teams have made numerous contacts and several people have chosen to accept the city’s offer for assistance.
“The city will continue to lead with services and education about the ordinance posting to the area,” she said. “Police enforcement will be a last resort.”