Homeless in Arizona

If you ask me the homeless pay taxes and should be able to hang out on Mill Avenue like everybody else.

The only group of people I have a problem with in downtown Tempe are the tyrants on the Tempe City Council.

Last time I said something negative about Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell he sent some of his goons on he friends of Mark Mitchell group to insult me.

Wonder if I will be receiving more insults from Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell's goons.

Source

How Tempe might change the way it handles sidewalk campers on Mill Avenue

Chris Coppola, The Republic | azcentral.com 12:22 p.m. MST February 29, 2016

Sidewalk sitting might be banned in Tempe (again).

New ordinance won't seek to criminalize homelessness, city manager says

He wasn't at all concerned about anyone asking him to move — he seemed to know the rules.On a recent weekday afternoon, Sulvan Ellington was camped near a corner along Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe with two other men, passing the time in conversation and playing with a small dog in their midst.

"We have to be at least 15 feet away from a parking meter or business,'' he said, with an air of street-savvy confidence that comes with moving from town to town, street to street, without a home.

"The cops are really cool here. They're awesome,'' said Barak Gills, another man camped on the sidewalk at Fifth Street and Mill, who was holding his dog, Jackie. "You get (to Tempe) and everyone is fine to you. We're fed.'' [Barak Gills, must be on drugs!!!! The Tempe Police are seasoned criminal thugs, not cool guys]

City officials are considering a new ordinance that, in effect, would allow police to continue that "cool'' approach while also providing an enforcement option to discourage camping on sidewalks downtown. It would allow police to cite violators, but only if they do not respond to police warnings and information about the ordinance.

The decision made earlier this month to pursue a new ordinance comes a little more than a year after the City Council repealed a previous law designed to do the same thing.

Under the new proposal, police first would be required to inform a sidewalk camper about the law and ask them to move. If a person does not respond after a reasonable time — the ordinance would leave the time frame to the discretion of police — officers could cite them with a ticket of up to $100 for a first offense.

Ellington and Gills are among dozens of people — many homeless and in their late teens or 20s — who camp for extended periods along the sidewalks on Mill and nearby side streets each day. On the Tuesday afternoon that Ellington and Gills spoke to The Arizona Republic, at least 12 other campers were on each side of Mill between First and Sixth streets, a pedestrian-friendly stretch with restaurants and shops that has become a Valley destination for locals and visitors.

The presence of sidewalk campers, though not new to downtown Tempe, has received renewed attention in the past year. Several business owners and managers said they have seen growing numbers of campers along the sidewalks near storefronts, often discouraging patrons from walking in.

City Manager Andrew Ching said the city will take a measured approach.

“The object here is education and warning and not enforcement,'' he said, in describing the new proposal to the council. Police still would have the authority to cite a person who does not respond to a warning to move elsewhere after a reasonable time, but that would not be the first option, he said.

In late 2014, the council repealed a 1999 ordinance that prohibited sitting on sidewalks in the downtown district unless there was a good reason, such as being ill, disabled or participating in a legal demonstration. The repeal came after the council faced widespread criticism from homeless advocates when members amended the ordinance earlier to include streets and alleys outside the downtown area. Critics claimed the law essentially criminalized people who were homeless.

The new ordinance would specify that a person could not be cited because of their status as homeless, Ching said.

Lucas Borncamp is well acquainted with the sidewalk campers along Mill Avenue. He's a manager at Hippie Gypsy, a 1960s-style boutique and smoke shop at the corner of Sixth Street and Mill, a popular area for the campers to hang out. He has mixed feelings.

"It's one of those things — they like sitting in front of the store because we have good music and that vibe,'' he said. "But sometimes, we do have to call the cops. They can scare off customers.''

That usually happens, he said, when larger groups begin to congregate. He's seen up to 13 at one time, he said.

“It's one of those things — they like sitting in front of the store because we have good music and that vibe. But sometimes, we do have to call the cops. They can scare off customers.” Lucas Borncamp, manager at Hippie Gypsy As Borncamp spoke to The Republic, Vanessa Eley and Austin Webber sat on the sidewalk in front of the store, holding a sign saying they were homeless and asking for assistance. The pair said they rarely get asked to move when they sit on the sidewalks during the day. At night, they head to a nearby church that offers a place to sleep.

"We had heard they were going to prevent us from holding a sign,'' Eley said. "They never called the cops on us ... as long as we're not in front of the store.''

At U.S. Fries, at 414 S. Mill Ave., a manager who identified himself as Phil "Frenchie'' P., said he and neighboring shops gently encourage the campers to move elsewhere.

"All I can do is see if I can give them an uplifting word. I do it with prayer, and if they're hungry at a given moment, I give them some food ... treat them like human beings,'' he said, noting that none of the campers was near his store. "The shop owners on this side work together to ask them to move along.''

Peter Crocoll, a leasing manager for Mill Avenue Shops, located next to U.S. Fries, told the council during a Feb. 18 hearing that the city needs to revisit the issue.

"We've noticed over the past several months a preponderance of people camping out in the street,'' he said. "Individuals who are bringing all their gear, and their dogs and cardboard boxes and spreading them out on the sidewalk and parking there for most of the day.

"This is pretty much all the corners in the downtown area,'' he added. "For us, as property managers, it's getting out of control.''

Recognizing a larger issue

The Downtown Tempe Authority, which represents several hundred businesses on various issues, has been working with city officials to develop the ordinance to encourage campers to sit elsewhere while making sure they are educated about services available in Tempe.

The authority's Executive Director Kate Borders said member businesses have joined in raising supplies and funds to assist people who are homeless in the area, and educate themselves about the issue.

"We recognize how incredibly challenging the situation is. We in no way believe (an ordinance) is the solution to a larger problem,'' she told the council. "We are responding to a behavior that we repeatedly get concerns and complaints (about) from our stakeholders."

Borders said there are 53 seating locations around downtown where campers can legally sit throughout the day.

“They don’t have to sit on the sidewalk. They can sit on items that are there for that purpose. They can sit in public parks. There are public gathering spaces. Any of those places are readily available," she said.

Ching said that, under the previous ordinance, very few citations were given and he expects the same result with the new one.

A formal proposal will be brought before the council in March, with a final vote expected in April.