Dealing With The Homeless #1

Today is the start of a new feature on the blog: "DEALING WITH THE HOMELESS." Let me tell you a bit of a backstory. Last July, my family and I moved into a older house on a street that borders the venerable, Roeding Park. Since the day we moved in, we have had to deal with various homeless individuals. We have also had homeless individuals start fights, start fires, etc. Now...I do feel some sympathy for the homeless, mainly because twice in my lifetime, I could have been living along-side them.

The homeless around here are known for:
- Going through your garbage cans and leaving a huge mess.
- Littering the ground they walk on or sit on.
- Vandalizing personal and public property.
- Letting their dogs run off leash.
- Letting their dogs intimidate people and other pets in the area.
- Letting their dogs defecate on others' properties.
- Yelling and\or whistling at all times of the day and night.
- Going on your property to defecate or to open water faucets.
- Setting up camp on private property.
- Total disregard for municipal laws and park rules.

Since they do not have any respect for the land and property around them (including those that rightfully live in the homes near them), I do not respect them. Near my place is what I call a "no stay zone." I put up a sign that basically tells the homeless that they cannot set up camp in a certain area near my place. I even water (on the city's watering days) for both my commercial neighbors and make it less appeasing for the homeless to set up camp, unless they like sleeping in wetness. If they are set up in the watering zone at the time I water, they will get wet...and the police even like my plan.

The "Dealing With The Homeless" blog will chronicle the stuff I have to deal with, or that I see. Let's go back a bit.

JULY-NOVEMBER 2014
After we moved in, there were a few times that the police had to come out. One afternoon, a man was trying to "egg" on another to fight. The aggressor even had a chain wrapped around his fist, and a city employee even tried to put his vehicle between the two parties, and called in the police. Later that Fall\Winter, emergency crews were called out a few more times for fight calls at the end of the street. The final time, someone got bashed upside the head with a bat\tree branch, and had to go to the hospital.

DECEMBER 2014
A homeless woman that I call "Stroller Psycho" (found out that her name is Bonnie) sets fire to a cement pipe planter near the Roeding Park Tennis Courts. Police and fire were called. After being let go by police, she spews foul language and throws some belongings while leaving the park.

JANUARY 2015
Around 11:30pm, a homeless individual decides to set a fire at the Roeding Park Tennis Courts. A plastic back drop (placed in-between a chain-link fence) and two wooden benches destroyed.

MARCH 15, 2015\APRIL 18, 2015
A group of homeless individuals basically took over the northwest side of Roeding Park (the corner of Olive & West, and down West toward the new Dog Park).

Some of the homeless do have dogs...large breeds, including those that have the reputation to be vicious, such as Pit-Bulls, and frequently let them roam off their leashes. These dogs also intimidate citizens that want to enter the park on foot from the Olive & West gate, and the gate along West Avenue south of Olive Avenue by barking loudly, and snarling.

Some of the homeless individuals have moved a garbage can from the "corral" on the western most access road on the west side of the northern-most tennis courts, and placed it closer to their "area" by a tree. For a bit, they were using a cement pipe (old drinking fountain or planter?) as a trash can.

As of the morning of March 21, it seems that they removed a sign at the northwest (Olive & West) gate that tells the rules of the park, and they have placed a pair of shoes on the pole. {Now, I am not sure how true this is, but I heard from someone, somewhere, a long time ago that shoes on power lines means that "drugs are sold in the area." This has stuck in my head, because I would not want to go into that kind of area, and I do not want it in my neighborhood.} On the afternoon of March 22, it looks like the shoes on the pole are gone. One of the homeless individuals that frequents this area, and does enter the park often on foot, is an Asian male, who has a very large backpack on his back does do drugs. I caught him in our bushes "shooting up," and after I chased him off, I found two drug needles. They were properly disposed of.

The night of March 20, someone left a shopping cart full of women's shoes by the dumpster. The next morning, someone dumped the shoes out onto the ground in front of the dumpster, and took the cart. As of the night of March 22, the shoes are still there.

Those that have taken up residence on the northwest side of the park also have littered the park grounds, and one or more of the individuals seems to have set up a bicycle repair shop inside (and sometimes outside of) the park.

Outside the park fences, along West Avenue at night, the homeless have set up tents and makeshift shanties. Now, I know that they have to take these down in the daytime...but sometimes, the tents are up until early afternoon (sometimes they're up all day). One tent is very large, and can fit a family of 3-5. Since March 25, a lot of the homeless have moved on, but there are a few that have remained.

APRIL 7-8, 2015
On April 7, I caught one removing a 6ft. x 5ft. gate from the northwestern-most tennis court area, and carried it over his head to a tree about 100ft. away (west of the dumpster, close to the West Avenue fence-line) to use as a shelter from the rain. That, is a classic case of vandalism. Police were called when this was happening, and they did drive by the area...but apparently could not find the area in question despite the directions I gave them, and a description of the individual that removed and carried it to the tree. On April 8, I called the city Parks Administration, and told them. A park employee promptly arrived, and took the gate back.

APRIL 19, 2015
On the morning of April 19, 2015, the Homeless Task Force came and cleared out the area. I thanked the H.T.F. Police and the inmate cleaning crew that cleaned up the area. Two city vans with long trailers were loading down with a couple dozen black garbage bags full of junk that the homeless individuals accumulated. After a couple days, the "Bike-Shop Guy" and a couple others came back into the area...but had a lot less stuff with them.

APRIL 26, 2015
On the afternoon April 26, I had to call the police a couple times (for two incidents). I witnessed four homeless individuals sitting on the grass in the park near a garbage corral. When I noticed that three of the four would take turns putting a blanket over their heads, and concealing their arms\hands, I decided to get my pair of binoculars. I then saw one of the four with a small glass item...that I later identified as a crack pipe. It seems that three of the four sitting there were taking turns taking "hits" on the pipe. Police did arrive in the area, and the four scattered after they saw the police. I followed from a distance two of the individuals, and directed the police to the two. One of the two had the crack pipe on him, and the police arrested him. Later that night, another homeless individual was seen carrying something over to the side of the road in the park...and it was putting out smoke. A put in another call to the police, who then transferred me to the fire department. Truck #19 arrived, and identified the smoking item to be a bunch of sage. The firefighter kicked the sage into some water in the gutter, and left...but not before the Captain on the ladder truck gave a lecture to the individual that placed the burning sage. The homeless individual placed the smoking sage on a cement curb...but it was within reach of the dry grass, which could have spread to nearby trees, including a palm tree.