Police to clear homeless from campus park

Services have been offered Following community-wide complaints that People's Park has become unsafe and unsanitary, University Police said they will remove the homeless from the area tomorrow. "Physical Plant will be removing all the temporary structures in People's Park, and the area will be cleaned," said University Police Lt. Susan Holmes. "The fence will be removed permanently, and the benches will be temporarily removed." But the homeless won't be left out in the cold. "We will be there on Friday when the University is planning to clean up the park," said Alice Herzon, the director of planning and development for Horizon House. "Our workers will be there to offer support to the University Police Department and to offer to provide services to the homeless there." Homeless people have been staying in People's Park, which is near the corner of 40th and Walnut streets behind the Free Library of Philadelphia, since late summer. City Health Department inspectors visited the site but did not file a report. The University assured the inspectors that the problem would be taken care of, Health Department spokesperson Jeff Moran said. "The department representative went out, looked at the site, and has been working with the University to see that whatever unsanitary conditions [are cleaned up]," Moran said. "In a situation like this we'll work as much as possible to get the situation cleaned up without penalizing people." David Lynn, executive director of the University City Hospitality Commission, agrees with the Health Department's policy. "It's really sad when you have to move, for sanitary reasons if no other," he said. "And if they have to move, it's important that you provide the proper services and then do it." Physical Plant workers hope they can soon transform the park into a pleasant place to sit or pass through, according to the Physical Plant's director of maintenance and utilities, Lou Visco. "We'll take it a step at a time to bring it back to a park atmosphere," Visco said. "We'll trim the bushes, and plant flowers, and clean it up to give it more of a park atmosphere." "We want to make it a presentable area for people to go into and use." All week, workers from Horizon House, a city-funded agency that provides services for the homeless, have been focusing on the park. They are trying to convince the remaining homeless to enter shelters, take advantage of drug and alcohol counselling programs and programs to offer high school equivalency degrees, if necessary. Over the last few weeks, Horizon House workers have taken 37 homeless people off campus and into their network of assistance, Holmes said. Lynn is impressed with the commitment the University and Horizon House have made to helping the homeless in the area. "It was important to address that we need plenty of time to do this, and we need a place to put these people," Lynn said. "And the University and Horizon House addressed that. If you're going to move people, this is the way to do it." Holmes said the number of complaints to University Police about the homeless on campus has decreased since Horizon House has been in the area. In September, there were about 84 complaints, Holmes said. The park's homeless people have set up an encampment with everything from umbrellas to a large barbecue. Recently, they pulled out the wiring from a lamp post and hooked it into a television. Students have also complained about some of the homeless in the park. The manager of the Wawa across Walnut Street from the park, Ken Dobbins, said he has not had problems with the homeless in the store, "but a lot of people are intimidated about coming in the store because of [the homeless in the area]." Holmes said those homeless remaining in the park have ignored the help they have been offered. "Those people were given options and those who decided to stay rejected those services," she said.

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