Phoenix declares Roosevelt Row homeless camp 'illegal'

In between new high-rise towers filled with high-priced apartments and condos in downtown Phoenix sits a residential enclave of another sort: a camp set up by at least a dozen people in a triangle-shaped median.

The group has grown steadily over the past weeks at the concrete patch near Third and Roosevelt streets with sculptures that provide shade. It has filled with shopping carts and wheelchairs stacked with blankets, sleeping bags and backpacks.

On Tuesday, the city seemed flummoxed about how to respond to the problem, offering uncertain answers about whether the camp violated the law before deciding at day’s end that it was “illegal.”

UPDATE: Roosevelt Row homeless camp clears out

Earlier in the day, police showed up to talk to those camping out in the parcel. But an officer on scene said there was no apparent violation of city ordinance, so police could not roust them.

But by about 5 p.m. Tuesday, the city had apparently decided the area was governed by an ordinance against urban camping. In a statement, the city called the gathering an “illegal homeless encampment” that threatened the public health and safety.

Officials did not say how the violation would be addressed.

Too good to be true?

Chris VanGundy, 40, said he started living in the parcel just before Christmas. As officers walked the area on Tuesday, VanGundy said he didn’t feel forced to leave, but might anyway.

“If I’m a nuisance, I don’t want to be here,” VanGundy said. “There’s plenty of places I can go where I’m not considered a nuisance.”

VanGundy said he served four years in the Marine Corps but became homeless after a series of “bad roommates.”

SEE ALSO: Phoenix to crack down on homeless encampments

VanGundy said he heard about the spot from friends. It seemed too good to be true: a parcel of city property that wasn’t marked with any signs warning against trespassing. VanGundy called it a “loophole,” saying he was more than happy to make camp within it.

VanGundy pointed to a bare section on a structure that serves as both public art and shade where he said a "No Trespassing" sign could go.

“All they have to do is put it up there,” he said. “It’s a no-brainer to me.”

Not always cut and dried

For the city, it was not as simple.

There was confusion throughout Tuesday about what the parcel was and whether it is governed by the city ordinance against urban camping, according to Tamara Ingersoll, a city spokeswoman. The land is not designated a park, nor is it considered a right-of-way, she said.

Officer Jeff Howell, one of at least four Phoenix police officers who showed up at the scene on Tuesday, referred to the parcel as a median. He said the people in the camp were being talked to and offered services. One man was taken away in handcuffs. But officers did not run the names of everybody who was in the space.

“It’s not always cut and dried,” Howell said.

By the end of the day, there was some certainty. Ingersoll said the city attorney had ruled the camp was against city ordinance. She said she was not sure what steps would be taken to enforce that ordinance.

The triangle-shaped parcel, two sides of which are one-way sections of Third Street, was initially dedicated as part of a “streetscape” project. It features a public artwork and shade structure called “Shadow Play.”

When the parcel was opened in 2015, Mayor Greg Stanton and Councilman Michael Nowakowski took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating what would become a growth spurt along Roosevelt Row, a string of art galleries on the north end of downtown.

At that same ceremony, Greg Esser, the executive director of the Roosevelt Row Community Development Foundation, called the spot “the most important intersection city of Phoenix, the most diverse and the most beautiful intersection in the city of Phoenix.”

Reached on Tuesday, Esser said he was hoping for a “humane solution” to the problem. “If it is not addressed, I think it is a growing issue and a concern,” he said.

'This is what $2,000 gets you'

It has become a major concern for Gabriel Valencia, 41, who lives in the recently opened Iluminate apartments across the street from the camp. Two more high-rises are south of his building; another recently completed one is opening to the east.

Valencia said that what began as a few homeless people living in the parcel mushroomed into the larger camp of people who have become aggressive.

Valencia pointed out his second-story window toward his view of the urban campground.

“That is what $2,000 gets you,” he said, citing his monthly rent. He and his girlfriend, Melissa Lovato, have seen drug use and fights over alcohol. Both said they can spot patterns and power shifts in the camp, pointing out the woman and man they believe run the area.

Valencia, who works shifts as a surgical technician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, said he worries about Lovato walking their dog at night. And because he has shouted for the homeless people to quiet down and has called police, the campers have made him a target, shouting back that he is a snitch and, he said, often taunting his dog when it is on the balcony.

Valencia talked his girlfriend into moving out of the Kierland area of north Phoenix and coming with him downtown. The Phoenix native and fourth-generation Arizonan grew up in and around downtown Phoenix neighborhoods, including for a time in public housing. He said he lived in the area when the homeless population was rampant, but thought it had been cleaned up and was excited to take live in the rejuvenated central city.

“That’s not going to work with having this type of problem,” he said.

Ed Dipple, 70, who lives nearby, rode his bicycle through the area and stopped at the parcel to watch as police walked the camp. Dipple, a retired steel worker, said he lived on the street for a while before finding public housing.

“I have compassion for homeless people, but is it my responsibility to have them in my yard?” he said.

Dipple said he knew how hard it was to get people living on the street to go into a shelter.

“One thing I know all these people have in common is they’re not going to accept any structure whatsoever,” he said.

Asked what the solution would be, Dipple shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”

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