| NEWS | Crisis in the Zone Phoenix spars with business owners in court over massive homeless encampment. BY KATYA SCHWENK encampment of unsheltered people — often called “the Zone” — filed into the Maricopa County Superior Court for a day-long hearing on October 27. It was the latest face-off in court over A the encampment, prompted by a lawsuit from property owners who are attempting to push the city into action. Missing from the hearing, though, were the more than 1,000 people who now live semipermanently on the streets of the Zone. What happens to them — and the neighborhood — is now in the hands of a judge who could respond by ordering the city to clear the encampment, as the prop- erty owners want, or throw the case out of court, as the city has requested. “We are not asking you, your honor, to solve this crisis,” Ilan Wurman, an attorney for the plaintiffs and a professor at Arizona State University, told the judge in his opening remarks on October 27. “Good,” Superior Court Judge Alison Bachus replied softly. “What we are asking you to do is to tell the city what it can’t do. And what it can’t do is violate the law,” Wurman continued. “They don’t get to choose to violate the law. That’s not a choice.” The legal battle began in August, when 15 people who own homes or businesses in the area between 9th and 13 avenues, south of Jefferson Street and north of Grant Street, filed suit. They alleged that condi- tions in the neighborhood had deteriorated to such a degree that the city of Phoenix was breaking the law. They requested a judge intervene. Over the course of the hearing late last month, the city and the property owners made their case to Bachus. The plaintiffs testified about conditions in the Zone, and their attorneys argued that the city had created a public nuisance and must do something to fix it — whether displacing people and moving them elsewhere or beefing up enforcement. The city, meanwhile, made the case that it is putting resources toward Matt Hennie homelessness — and fixing issues in the Zone — and that a judge could not force the city to change its policy simply because the property and business owners were aggrieved by it. People have slept on the streets in this area of downtown for decades, though their numbers have increased significantly in recent years. There are multiple home- lessness service providers located in the area, including the Human Services Campus, which operates a shelter, and Andre House, which provides meals and other services. But now, unlike in the past, tents and other structures line the streets, even through the Valley’s scorching summers. The conditions are grueling: a single spigot, installed by the city last year, provides the sole source of potable water. The restroom facilities are meager. Despite the influx of federal funding that Phoenix has received to address homelessness, and despite plenty of lip service to the issue, the city has struggled to provide a path to housing for many people on the streets. The number of shelter beds available in Phoenix has decreased since 2015, dropping from 3,624 to 3,219, according to testimony during the court hearing. ‘We Are Talking About People’ Represented by Wurman and Michael Bailey, a former U.S. Attorney in Arizona, the property owners argued that the conditions in their neighborhood constitute a “public nuisance” under the law, which the city is obliged to correct. It is the city’s own policy, Wurman argued, that has created the conditions of the Zone, including biohazards on the streets, obstructions in roadways, and frequent property crimes. Because it’s illegal to maintain the conditions, the courts must step in and force the city to take action, the attorneys argued. What that action would look like, though, is less clear. The city presented a two-pronged defense during the hearing. First, the city argued, the encampment has sprung up on the streets thanks to service providers locating there and not as a result of direct action by the city. The city does not encourage people to sleep there, and it does — at least sometimes — enforce city ordinances in the area, attorneys said. Second, attorneys argued that Phoenix is taking action on the issue and “attempting to go above and beyond” by building shelters and funding service providers, attorney Aaron Arnson said. But the problem of homelessness was not the kind of public nuisance that the city could come in and clear out, he added. “We are talking about people, not concrete. People, not a sewer plant,” Arnson said. The city has discretion over what policies it chooses to adopt to fix the issue and that’s not a matter for the courts, he added. Bachus said little during the court Some estimates put the population of the Zone in downtown Phoenix at about 1,500 people. hearing, interjecting only occasionally to ask a question, and giving little insight into her own thinking on the issue. The judge has 60 days to issue a ruling in the case. But after the hearing, Bachus recused herself from the case and a new judge was appointed. That will likely delay the proceedings. ‘I Don’t Feel Safe’ Freddy Brown was the first witness to testify for the property and business owners during the hearing. He owns a casket manufacturing company on Jefferson Street, which his family has operated for decades. “There is waste — human waste, paper waste, trash, everything — being dumped on the streets,” Brown said. “My employees don’t feel safe. I don’t feel safe.” Brown was followed by Ian Francis Likwarz, who runs a mattress company in the area, and Michael Godbehere, who owns several vacant warehouses on Madison Street. Each walked through the issues that have intensified in their neigh- borhood over the last three years. All have experienced vandalism and attempted break-ins. All say that urination and defecation on their properties is frequent and that condoms and drug para- phernalia are left behind, too. >> p 9 ttorneys for the city of Phoenix and for a group of downtown property owners who live in the middle of the city’s largest 7 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES NOV 10TH–NOV 16TH, 2022
