10 Oct 5th–Oct 11th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | music | cafe | film | culTuRe | NighT+Day | feaTuRe | NeWs | OPiNiON | feeDBacK | cONTeNTs | — helping the homeless,” Blaney wrote. “But in their zeal to assist homeless individ- uals occupying the Zone, City personnel appear to be utterly indifferent to the plight of the City’s constituent property owners, their families, and small business owners that are attempting to make a living.” Bill Morlan owns Electric Supply Inc., a business in the Zone. He is also the board chairman for Central Arizona Shelter Services, Arizona’s largest and longest- serving emergency shelter program. Morlan told New Times that the concentration of people is increasing on the streets that have yet to be cleared. On Madison Avenue, the tents have become so numerous that they fill the entire sidewalk. When Morlan walks from work to meetings at the Human Services Campus, he is forced to walk in the roadway. “It’s definitely getting more compacted,” he said, adding that after being cleared off of one street, some people pick up their tents and move to a block that hasn’t been cleared. “There are going to be numerous people on those blocks who have moved two or three times because of prior cleanings.” Phoenix City Council approves new campground Blaney’s ruling also pointed to a potential solution: structured campgrounds, or spaces off the street that allow homeless people to set up their tents in a confined area equipped with sanitary facilities, including bathrooms and showers. The city has spent months planning for more campground spaces, with one South Phoenix plot falling through in June after methane was reportedly found in the soil. On Sept. 20, Phoenix City Council voted to rezone a 5.5-acre plot of state-owned land on the corner of 15th Avenue and Jackson Street for a structured campground. The land will provide space for up to 200 tents and 300 people. The campground is expected to open as soon as October. Venable said that while having showers and bathrooms will be an improvement for the area’s unsheltered people, she is concerned the conditions for eligibility may keep many people out of the campground, including behavioral or drug use issues. “I think it’s too easy to say that people are not ready for shelters, when it may be the other way around: that shelters are not ready for them,” she said. The unsheltered people who have declined to stay in the city’s shelters have done so for various reasons, including concerns about privacy and wanting to live with pets or partners. Morlan said he can understand why some may be opposed to living in a shelter and hopes the new campground will be a good space for those people. “You still have the privacy, you still have your little area. Which I think for a lot of people is going to be preferable to being in a dorm-style bed where the next person is 3 feet above you or 2 feet away from you,” he added. In addition to clearing the right of way on the street and providing better access to bathroom and shower facilities for unhoused people, the campground will allow the city to maintain security on the premises. But several councilmembers have voiced concerns about security and policy, even as the measure was approved in a 9-0 vote. In a discussion about the campground’s code of conduct on Sept. 20, Councilmember Ann O’Brien told city staff they should require people entering the campground to sign an agreement recog- nizing the rules. The councilmember’s chief of staff, Derrik Rochwalik, told New Times that O’Brien is focused on increasing the number of people the city transfers out of the campground and into more stable envi- ronments, as opposed to how many people are moved out of the Zone. Ansari, who has protested that her district has borne the brunt of the home- lessness crisis in Phoenix, said during the council meeting that despite not agreeing with the location, she was “looking forward to making this outdoor space as humane as possible.” She also added that the campground needs to be a temporary solution, not a long-term one. Councilmember Laura Pastor suggested placing a deed restriction on the camp- ground that would require the city to use the area for different purposes after three years. It’s a measure the council could take up in the future. Judge Scott Blaney’s ruling accused Phoenix of creating a public nuisance by, in part, transporting unsheltered people to the Zone. (Photo Katya Schwenk) ‘Utterly Indifferent’ from p 9
