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发帖数: 11530 | 1 Crews break up homeless camp in Silicon Valley
Associated Press
By MARTHA MENDOZA 42 minutes ago
The Jungle
With AFP Story by Veronique DUPONT: US-Poverty-Homeless-Technology
The words "welcome to the jungle" are inscribed on the post of a flooded
dwelling at the Silicon Valley homeless encampment known as "The Jungle" on
Wednesday, December 3, 2014 in San Jose, California. More than 300
residents of the shantytown have been given notices to leave the area by the
morning of Thursday, December 4, 2014. Many of have nowhere else to go. (
Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Police and social-workers on Thursday began
clearing away one of the nation's largest homeless encampments, a cluster of
flimsy tents and plywood shelters that once housed more than 200 people in
the heart of wealthy Silicon Valley.
Authorities have been trying for years to resolve problems at the camp known
as the Jungle, including violence and unsanitary conditions.
By Thursday morning, about 60 people were left at the muddy, garbage-strewn
site where crews started dismantling the crude structures.
Al Palaces, a former truck driver who moved in about eight months ago, was
among those ordered out before dawn.
"I just grabbed whatever I could because I don't want to go to jail," he
said, standing next to an overloaded shopping cart stuffed with muddy
plastic bags.
On Monday, people living in the camp were given until Thursday to leave or
face arrest for trespassing.
Nancy Ortega sobbed as she watched tractors load garbage into trash trucks.
Then a passing motorist shouted at those who had just been evicted.
"People drive by and look at us like we're circus animals," she said.
Many people had trouble dragging their belongings out of the camp through
ankle-deep mud.
"It's junk to everyone else. But to us, these are our homes," said Ortega,
who said she had been in and out of jail and struggled with addiction and
mental illness.
Animals also roamed the square-mile camp, some of them pets and others wild.
Rats could be seen running through the muck.
A few dozen protesters gathered at the site holding signs reading "Homeless
people matter" and "Stand with The Jungle." No arrests were reported.
The encampment stands in stark contrast to the surrounding valley, a region
that leads the country in job growth, income and venture capital.
Palaces said he liked the Jungle better than the streets because people
would bring food but not bother the residents.
"Even a job wouldn't give me a house" because housing prices are so high, he
said.
With the camp cleared, officials planned to try to find shelter for the
night for people connected with social services.
Anyone not linked with social services will still have to leave, San Jose
homelessness response manager Ray Bramson said.
Several homeless-assistance groups also stepped in to help.
HomeFirst, the largest provider to homeless people in Santa Clara County,
has a shelter nearby with 250 beds, including 27 that are set aside for camp
residents. Another 50 beds are open in a nearby cold-weather shelter.
"This feels terrible," said Jenny Niklaus, the agency's chief executive
officer. "People are up to their calves in the mud dragging their stuff into
the street."
In the past year and a half, San Jose has spent more than $4 million to
solve problems at the encampment.
In the last month, one camp resident tried to strangle someone with a cord
of wire. Another was nearly beaten to death with a hammer. And state water
regulators have been demanding that polluted Coyote Creek, which cuts
through the middle of the camp, get cleaned out, Bramson said.
Personal property confiscated Thursday was to be stored for 90 days before
being disposed of in March.
The last time officials cleared out the camp was in May 2012, when about 150
people were moved out.
Dismantling the Jungle is a massive job. About 30 contractors in white
hazardous-materials suits and hard hats joined other workers in going
through the camp and helping people move out. More than two dozen police
officers were on hand as workers loaded trash into large trucks.
It will take several days for trash trucks and bulldozers to haul out vast
amounts of refuse and human waste. Heavy machinery will be used to fill in
excavated areas where people had been living underground. |
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