Tent City

[Happy Mom]

Why isn't this against the law?

http://www.wndu.com/content/news/25-ten ... 19391.html


25 tents now part of homeless protest in South Bend



25 tents now part of homeless protest in South Bend

By Mark Peterson | Posted: Thu 7:04 PM, Oct 13, 2016 | Updated: Thu 8:24 PM, Oct 13, 2016

Home is where the tent is, for dozens of displaced residents camping out on South Main Street in South Bend.


“It was the tent right here behind me, guy took a knife and slit the door open on it because the guy wouldn’t’ answer the door,” said Edward Granzo, one of about 40 people living at the tent city under the bridge just south of the TRANSPO station.

The guy who slit the tent door was eventually arrested by police for intimidation—but never charged.

The conditions are a lot closer to hell than heaven according to Granzo who was among the first homeless people to move in. “We kind of put ourselves out there. We're trying I guess to kind of forcing ourselves out there to see if we can't get any help.”

Today, the symbolism was hard to miss. A total of 25 tents were set up along the sidewalks on the east and west sides of S. Main Street.

As for getting help in the short run, the number one, and number two priorities are exactly the same. “We need a bathroom, like a potty john, a couple of them, one for the ladies and one for the men,” said Terry Bolden.


The nearest restroom is now located at the TRANSPO bus station, but tent city residents say use of those facilities is now being restricted to those holding bus tickets. “A lot of people, I don’t know, they find some privacy somewhere it’s ridiculous,” said Granzo, gazing off at the great outdoors.

Still, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg dismissed the idea of bringing in portable toilets. “I think it’s probably a move in the wrong direction to do anything that encourages that, encourages them to be outdoors in the public right of way.

What you really want to have is a roof, heating, plumbing, sanitation, and most importantly of all, mental health and drug abuse recovery services.”
Tent city resident Allan Klein argues that mental health and drug abuse recovery services are more essential, than they are available: “Here's the deal, in the south bend of the St. Joseph you cannot starve. There is so much food you cannot go hungry. You cannot go hungry, you cannot go without clothes. You can go without shelter, unfortunately, if you have an alcohol problem or you have a drug problem or you are displaced because of mental problems and other situations.”

The pressing problem now is to find an acceptable solution before the arrival of threatening temperatures.

“My greatest hope is finding some housing, permanent housing where I can actually, you know take a shower every night, have, you know, privacy,” said Edward Granzo. “My greatest fear is that they’re going to come and we’re not going to have anything, 30 to 40 of us that are down here are going to be stuck outside this winter.”

“My biggest hope is to get back to work in construction where I normally do,” said Terry Bolden. My biggest fear, God staying with me. God staying with me. Being by my side.”

Mayor Buttigieg continues to research what can legally be done to address the situation: “I think there are a lot of good intentions out there but it’s also important to note that there are some unintended consequences when people provide services to effectively keep them where they are right now. That may actually divert them away from services from organizations that can actually provide the substance abuse and mental health recovery that these individuals in many cases really need.”

[Happy Mom]

Comments from WNDU story;
http://www.wndu.com/content/news/25-ten ... 19391.html

Independent view • 5 hours ago

WNDU- why did you title the article, "Tent Protest...?" What are they protesting? I only see that it is a tent city that believes and expects society to take care of them, when they are not willing to seek out the resources that will establish the three basic needs for survival (e.g. food, clothing, and housing). They choose instead to urinate and defecate in public areas and expect the city to place a port a potty near them? Clearly a sense of entitlement is occurring.

−

Independent view • 5 hours ago

Edward Granzo is correct that there is enough food in the area that nobody goes hungry. There are at least two places a day in South Bend that are offering free food. Makes one think twice when a person is standing on the corner with a sign stating that he/she is hungry...

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Michael H • 17 hours ago

The Mayor is dancing around the cause. If their were means for them, they would not be in a tent! Come on now. Sounds to me that you just want them out of sight, out of mind?

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Goff Heleical Michael H • 16 hours ago

Cause? Means? Go two blocks south to the alley behind Joe's Liquor, or whatever it's called now, and see how many of those dancing tent city people are looking for a job at 9 AM. (Hint: none. Too smashed)

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Nick Goff Heleical • 13 hours ago

I agree. They need assistance but that also comes with the price of getting alcohol and drug abuse help. The Center for the Homeless is a great program but you cant pick and choose the help or rules that you want to follow while being homeless and in need.

5 • Reply•Share ›
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Michele R Boone • 13 hours ago

Also, they have been there way more than a month. People started gathering there when the road construction started months ago. It wasn't until some kind man started buying tents for them that it became a tent Village. The people were sleeping directly on the pavement before that. Also these are not new residents... they've been on the streets of SB for a while ... it's just now they have "shelter". Many of them suffer from mental illness, alcoholism or drug addiction.

[saywatanayo]

Years ago when I worked a downtown walking beat and rode a bicycle on patrol along the eastrace, I would regularly come into contact with numerous people who were homeless setting up wherever they could. Most all of them were not even from Indiana. That's right! They were not even residents of the state much less the city of South bend. In speaking with them over the years, many of them told stories of being from neighboring states and some as far away as New Mexico relocating to South Bend having been told of the Center for the Homeless and Notre Dame. All believed if they just could make it here, they would be housed and fed. Unfortunately, most all were chronic alcoholics and drug abusers. They would resort to breaking into businesses, cars and steal just about anything they could get their hands not to eat, but to get stoned and drunk. THAT is exactly what is going on under the bridge. so all these so activists and the mario's and Jesse's of the world who are trying to make everyone believe their doing God's work and simply enabling a group of people who don't want to help themselves in most cases. Are there truly some who need the help? Yes of course. Especially those with small children and nowhere to go. I'm all for giving my own money for them. But these other opportunist down there who would rather get high and drunk and crap in the parking lot, I got nothing for.

[Happy Mom]

Years ago when I worked a downtown walking beat and rode a bicycle on patrol along the eastrace, I would regularly come into contact with numerous people who were homeless setting up wherever they could. Most all of them were not even from Indiana. That's right! They were not even residents of the state much less the city of South bend. In speaking with them over the years, many of them told stories of being from neighboring states and some as far away as New Mexico relocating to South Bend having been told of the Center for the Homeless and Notre Dame. All believed if they just could make it here, they would be housed and fed. Unfortunately, most all were chronic alcoholics and drug abusers. They would resort to breaking into businesses, cars and steal just about anything they could get their hands not to eat, but to get stoned and drunk. THAT is exactly what is going on under the bridge. so all these so activists and the mario's and Jesse's of the world who are trying to make everyone believe their doing God's work and simply enabling a group of people who don't want to help themselves in most cases. Are there truly some who need the help? Yes of course. Especially those with small children and nowhere to go. I'm all for giving my own money for them. But these other opportunist down there who would rather get high and drunk and crap in the parking lot, I got nothing for.

Completely agree.... I also don't see why this is not illegal? The poor Police are damned if they do anything and damned if they do nothing... these 'bleeding hearts' are just perpetuating the situation. There are many churches and places to go for shelter. I would think the hygiene situation alone would be an emergency situation....so gross....

[bdcbbq]

There was a request by the group of do-gooders to stop helping.

[Happy Mom]

Tent city solution upsets South Bend businesses
Mayor: 'I wish ... these people would call me'
By Jeff Parrott South Bend Tribune Updated Nov 7, 2016 (9)
Tent city solution upsets South Bend businesses







A man sleeps Friday outside a former Studebaker building that is slated for redevelopment as a technology park. Tribune Photo/SANTIAGO FLORES
Financial adviser Leo Priemer, whose downtown South Bend office is a block away from a tent city for the homeless that’s developed under the Main Street viaduct, said he already locks his doors during regular business hours.

A couple weeks ago, in the middle of the night, someone shattered his front door window. There’s a bullet hole in another window.

“We’re not happy,” Priemer said. “I have an older client base and they do quite a bit of investing. People are drifting through, knocking on the door and wanting in, beggars wanting money. How long do we stay here?”

Those people living in the tents, many of whom are ineligible for the array of homeless programs in that part of the downtown because of their behavior or drug and alcohol abuse, could soon move much closer to Priemer. The city plans to give Hope Rescue Mission $125,000 to buy the former Kraz building on Monroe Street, next door to Priemer’s office, to shelter people living in the tents this winter.

The city’s Board of Public Works has approved the expenditure, to come from Economic Development Income Tax money, which still must still pass the city’s legal review. If that happens, Priemer said, he will consider moving out of the location he has operated for 25 years.

Fred Ferlic, a retired surgeon and former city Common Council member, said Priemer isn’t alone. He said a handful of other nearby businesses also oppose the Kraz building plan because they believe it will result in a permanent expansion of the homeless services infrastructure in that area. That would reverse progress the city has made in revitalizing the downtown, Ferlic said.

But Mayor Pete Buttigieg stressed Friday that the city wants to have a more permanent solution in place by next winter, such as a plan to convert the former Olive School in the Rum Village neighborhood to housing units that would serve such individuals.

“I wouldn’t even call it a shelter, I would call it a roof,” Buttigieg said of Hope’s plans for the Kraz building. “This is a resource that, in the grand scheme of things, is fairly minimal. But we know that it’s better for the individuals, better for the community, and for that matter, better for area businesses, to have them somewhere other than under that bridge for the months ahead. This is not a facility for the long run. This problem in the long run is going to require a whole different package of solutions and approaches.”

As soon as the Kraz space is ready, the city will force the tent city to disband, Buttigieg said.

While Priemer would welcome elimination of the tent city, he said, he was skeptical that Hope will stop using the Kraz space after this winter.

“Will they put that in writing?” Priemer said.

Ferlic said the businesses are frustrated in their perception that the city administration has largely ignored their concerns about the tent city — where people are openly using drugs and relieving themselves in public — and hasn’t sought their input regarding the Kraz building plan, so they asked Ferlic to intervene because of his former role on the council.

Buttigieg objected to that characterization.

“I wish some of these people would call me instead of calling you,” Buttigieg said. “All of those people have my cellphone, they have my email, and they’re in dialogue as we speak, with the city, so I don’t think there’s any problem with communication or access. The business community has always had an easier time getting the administration’s ear than, for example, people that live under a bridge in the downtown area. We get it. Nothing could be worse for business than having untreated people wandering the streets living under a bridge.”

Other businesses that Ferlic said oppose the Kraz building plan declined to be identified by The Tribune when contacted by a reporter because they fear negative public reaction. Ferlic said the businesses are planning a meeting Nov. 16 to discuss possible solutions.

Buttigieg said whomever takes on the problem of how to serve the “chronically unsheltered,” whether it’s the existing Continuum of Care or a new group, will likely need input from a wide range of people, including the business community.

“These are hugely challenging issues but I do have a lot of confidence that as a community we can move further than we are today in how we deal with them,” the mayor said. “We’re committing more attention and resources from this office to lead what we think will need to be a community-wide conversation and action. But that’s a very different conversation from, how do we get folks out from under the bridge at a time when their lives are in danger from the cold.”

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/lo ... 9ca6a.html

[jroyale]

Nothing says it better for downtown development than having three separate and distinct homeless shelters in the DTSB. Great Job Mayor Pete.

[OldFud]

There are many churches and places to go for shelter.

Yes, many churches. Eighteen Catholic churches in SJC the last time I counted. However, churches got out of the "widows and orphans" business about the same time they withdrew from helping the dispossessed such as these. Notice that the discussion here centers around government solution(s).

Importantly, the government did not assume this ministration by force, but rather churches disengaged the "heavy lifting" of our culture, and our government took over that turf by default. The "huddled masses", previously wards of the community of faith, are now wards of the state.

[Happy Mom]

South Bend tent city disbanded, campers say they were asked to go
by Hilary Powell, WSBT 22 ReporterSunday, February 19th 2017




SOUTH BEND — There's a countdown for the owners of a red tent in downtown South Bend to find a new home.
The wooded area off East Tutt Street has been home to dozens of homeless people at one time, but now campers say they've been told to go.
“It’s a vicious cycle,” community activist Jesse Davis says.


Sunday morning he shot an online livestream showing residents packing up to go. The camp is on private property that is loosely bordered by the railroad tracks, South Michigan and East Tutt. The South Bend code enforcement department says the property owner is working to evict the homeless from the property.
“It's not a solution, it's kind of like kicking the can down the road because these folks are still going to be homeless,” Davis says. “If they pick their tents and belongings up tonight and they move they're going to move somewhere else."
It's unclear what started the push to go. Some say there was a dispute over how campers were clearing out trash. But police say if the private property owners there want to pursue a trespassing case, they are within their rights to do so. Davis says many residents relocated to the camp after the Main Street Bridge encampment was torn down last year.
The encampment is just steps from Center for the Homeless. Many of the camp residents say, they'll choose to move somewhere else on the street. Most of them have already relocated.
“Unfortunately by moving them out of here, they’re just going to move somewhere else, so it’s doing nothing to solve the problem,” Davis says.

http://wsbt.com/news/local/south-bend-t ... sked-to-go

[Happy Mom]

South Bend mayor talks legal options regarding homeless encampment
by WSBT 22




Homeless in downtown South Bend// WSBT 22


Homeless people are back at their encampment under the Main Street railroad bridge. South Bend is looking at new ways to deal with the recurring problem. WSBT 22 had South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg on set Tuesday morning to discuss the issue.

http://wsbt.com/news/local/south-bends- ... encampment