Lucas Park, Homeless Haven

Devon Baker

Urban Issues

Current Event 8/26/07

Lucas Garden Park, once a retreat for the wealthy, is now an attraction for the homeless. Recently many complaints have come in against the occupation of the park from business and home owners alike. The city has been under pressure to deal with the homeless for sometime but also finds its self under fire for its actions. New plans are being made to help the situation at Lucas Park.

One big problem from the homeless inhabiting the park is the aggressive panhandling. Many homeless pan handle for money, but some are becoming quite aggressive with it. One man laid in front of a business door demanding money before he would move. He remained there up to half an hour before police arrived and removed the man from the premise. Many people are afraid of being hassled while walking through the park.

The next problem that has been attracting complaints is the mass amount of litter and general uncleanliness of the park. The homeless have their makeshift beds scattered through out the park and charity meals brought to them are left littering the entire area. The left over food has been attracting many rats to the park. Because of this a local day care closed its outdoor play ground for fear of the children coming in contact with rat poison.

The mayor has come with three main plans to help deal with these problems without kicking the homeless out of the park. Enforcements on city ordinances will be stronger on public intoxication, drinking, urination, and littering. Additionally a 10 p.m. curfew will be further enforced for all city parks. A new proposition is to have a daily closing of the park to allow a cleaning crew come at 2 p.m. to pick up any trash. The third plan is to create a new 24 hour safe haven called new horizons to help the homeless.