Phoenix Cleanses Roosevelt Street Site After Clearing Out Homeless Camp
One day after the Phoenix Police Department arrested at least three people at a homeless camp downtown, a team from the street transportation department was busy removing any signs that the camp ever existed.
By a little after noon, there was hardly anything left to suggest that a dozen or so individuals had been sleeping at a small median on Roosevelt and Third streets just a few days earlier. City officials and advocates descended on the park this week to remove the people living there after concluding that it violated an ordinance.
Phoenix Police Sergeant Matt Butler and two other officers stood by on Friday as a group of workers on the scene picked up trash, raked mulch back into position, and doused the benches with a disinfectant spray. The traffic island where the encampment had grown over December has a metallic sculpture, "Shadow Play."
The city said that because of the median's location as a site for underground utilities, the camp was in violation of an ordinance prohibiting urban camping on city property and right-of-ways.
It sits next to high-end apartment buildings that rent for $1,200 per month and is across the street from a sleek coffee bar.
Read more: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/city-scours-roosevelt-street-site-after-clearing-out-homeless-camp-10015369
= new reply since forum marked as read
