9 June 8th–June 14th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | Where to Now? Police in riot gear finish Phoenix’s latest effort to clear the Zone. BY KATYA SCHWENK O n the morning of May 31, yellow caution tape closed off a stretch of Ninth Avenue between Washington and Jefferson streets as Phoenix city officials prepared for the second cleanup effort in recent weeks in the Zone. By the afternoon, though, the one- block stretch of the massive homeless encampment was swarmed by police vehicles and officers in riot gear after one man living on the block refused to leave. Facing a court order, the city of Phoenix began to clear out the encampment in May. As with the first cleanup on May 10, city workers and social services teams arrived on the block at sunrise on May 31. The day began without incident as officials assisted people there with packing up their tents and belongings. “We’ve been working with people for the last three weeks out here,” Scott Hall, the deputy director of the city’s Office of Homeless Solutions, told press as the sweep started. “We’ve had the opportunity to offer everybody here indoor shelter today.” Not all had accepted the services, Hall noted. Police presence Despite a lack of available shelter beds, a March court order has forced the city to evacuate the Zone by July 10. As the last sweep progressed, most people on the block allowed their posses- sions to be tagged and stored. However, one tent on the corner of Jefferson Street and 12th Avenue remained. By 1:30 p.m., police descended on the area as the tent’s occupant refused to move. The city claimed in a later statement on May 31 that the man was armed with a knife and had threatened an outreach worker. Officers approached the scene with shields, rifles and other riot gear as a negotiator spoke with the man. After some time, officers deployed a “chemical irritant” before pulling the man out of the tent, according to the city’s state- ment. Officers handcuffed him and led him to a patrol car. He did not appear to struggle. “The Office of Homeless Solutions team spent several hours today working with [the man], offering indoor shelter and providing multiple additional notifications that the block would close to camping today,” the city said in the statement. The man was arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing and threatening. He was the last of the 40 people living on that block to leave. Some of his belong- ings were put into the city’s storage bins, and some — including parts of his tent — were disposed of in a dump truck. “The Office of Homeless Solutions is storing that man’s belongings and will continue to work with him to obtain the resources needed to help end his home- lessness,” the city said in its statement. By 2:30 p.m., the block was completely clear. But there are still hundreds of people living elsewhere in the sprawling Zone. It’s not clear when the city will clear the next block — or where the displaced people will go. City conducts sweep under scrutiny The latest cleanup was watched closely as the city currently faces dual court battles over the encampment. One lawsuit, brought by 15 property owners in the area, asked a judge to declare the downtown encampment — which stretches several blocks between Ninth and 15th avenues — a public nuisance. The city also faces a lawsuit brought by the Fund for Empowerment, a local advocacy organization for unsheltered people, and the ACLU of Arizona. The federal lawsuit was filed in November over the city’s alleged practices of seizing and destroying the property of unsheltered people. During the city’s first cleanup on May 10, 35 people were displaced from another block of the Zone. Most accepted shelter. Hall said he did not have information available on how many of those who accepted shelter are still housed three weeks later. On May 16, the ACLU accused the city of destroying the property of unsheltered people during the sweep and violating a federal court order in the case. The city did not tag all abandoned property that it encountered on the block, despite require- ments that it do so, the ACLU alleged. Attorneys for the ACLU asked a judge to hold the city in contempt of court. The city has said that it had the consent of the people living on the block to seize and destroy the property. And some of the property was simply moved to storage as people were provided shelter beds or hotel rooms, city staff claimed. In a hearing in the case on May 26, U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow was unconvinced by the evidence put forward by the ACLU, which included photos from the scene and declarations from witnesses. “There is reason to be concerned that the city is violating this plan,” Snow said. But, he continued, the evidence | NEWS | Katya Schwenk A Phoenix police officer stands in front of the last tent remaining in the Zone during a standoff. >> p 11 Katya Schwenk A man was arrested by police in riot gear and charged with trespassing after he declined to leave the Zone on May 31.