Homeless hideaway swept clean

Tag : Linear Spring

Clothes, bedding and personal effects belonging to some homelesspeople living under a bridge were tossed in the garbage Monday,days before a nearby park is scheduled to open.
The cleanup troubled advocates for the homeless. For years, peoplehave found refuge under the North Cool Spring Street bridge.
On Monday morning, a city Parks and Recreation Department crew withdump trucks led by Fayetteville police collected the worn-out itemsunder the bridge and the litter.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for Friday at 5p.m. for thesecond phase of Cross Creek Linear Park. Guests are asked to parknear the bridge.
Harry Shaw, president and board chairman of the organizationraising money to build Linear Park, had previously asked cityofficials to clean up the eyesore. He worried that the litter woulddetract from the park.
“It was disreputable, and it looked pretty bad,” Shawsaid Monday.
The park’s second phase stops at the bridge. Two churcheswith homeless programs surround that end of the park. The CityRescue Mission, a nonprofit homeless shelter, is nearby on AdamStreet.
Tom Lambeth, who manages the mission, said at least three homelesspeople were living under the bridge. The city could have workedharder finding them somewhere else to live, he said.
“That’s not helping them,” Lambeth said.“That’s moving them from under their house, regardlessif it’s under the bridge and wherever.”
Police officer Stacy Swinton, who oversaw the sweep, could not bereached for comment Monday.
Police Lt. David A. Sportsman said at least four people were livingunder the bridge at the time, and some of them were present whenpolice arrived Monday morning. They took their possessions and leftbefore crews cleaned up the area.
Extra police patrols have been ordered, Sportsman said, to helpprevent the squatters from returning.
City Manager Dale Iman said Swinton had spoken with the peopleliving under the bridge before Monday’s sweep. The cityperiodically cleans up such areas and has hit this bridge in thepast, he said.
The Linear Park organization to date has raised about $1.5 millionfor both phases of the park, which eventually will have otherphases linking the trail to the Cape Fear River.
Across from the bridge lives Larry Norris, the retired president ofFayetteville Technical Community College. He said people urinatedin the creek and discarded litter, he said. A bad odor reeked fromthe bridge, he said.
“It was pretty dirty under there,” he said.
Norris said a bridge was a poor substitute for a home, especiallywhen the community offers several programs for the homeless.
The City Rescue Mission operated a 16-bed men’s shelter onNorth Cool Spring Street until an accidental fire closed it inSeptember. Advocates for the homeless said the closure furtherreduced what was already an unmet need for the homeless, who on anygiven day number in the hundreds, police say.
In February, the City Council agreed to take ownership of 21-bedhomeless shelter — the Hope Center at 913 Person St. —that has been closed for some time. Victor Sharpe, the city’sCommunity Development director, said the city expects to receivetitle to the property in a few weeks, make minor renovations to thebuilding and seek bids from shelters that might want to operate it.
Councilman Charles Evans, whose District 2 includes in Linear Park,didn’t fault the city for cleaning up the litter, but hopedofficials warned the homeless.
“We have to step it up a notch and make that Hope Centeroperable,” he said.