Tent camp stand-down: Situation defused after protest greets police, city officials at deadline for unhoused encampment
Published: 10-07-2024 8:16 PM
Modified: 10-07-2024 8:26 PM |
NORTHAMPTON — In a small wooded area off of Cooke Avenue, people living in camp tents spent Monday morning scrambling to collect whatever belongings they had in anticipation of what the day might bring, and writing phone numbers on their forearms in case police arrested them, so they would have a contact to provide bail money.
In front of a small clearing leading to the campsite near the Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area, a group of around 100 people huddled closely together, leading chants and determined not to let anyone pass, as police officers and city officials began arriving as scheduled to clear out the homeless encampment. The protesters included members of the groups Hampshire Food not Bombs, Touch the Sky and Veterans for Peace.
For at least the past month, around 10 people had been camped at the site, giving it the name Moose Camp after the former Moose Lodge that once occupied the property. Those living there said they worked together to share resources and provide community support to one another.
“We brand ourselves as a recovery camp,” said Ty Nichols, one of the people living at the camp. “There are folks who are in recovery from hard drugs, and so we have a hard no-drug rule here.”
Nichols’ partner Jay, who only gave their last name as the initials W.J., also lives in the camp and said staying there had been a much safer environment for them than other locations. Jay, who uses they/them pronouns but was assigned female at birth, said both men and women stay at the camp together.
“I love living here, because I feel safe around the men and the women, and that is just not true in other places,” they said. “As I’m sure you know, women tend to be much higher risk of being victimized. Feeling safe takes up a lot of my energy, and doing that in a community makes it so that energy can go towards other things.”
But in September, those living at the campsite found out the city was looking to vacate them from the property, which is public land. The city cited several reasons behind the move, noting that the camp is a fire risk, that they had received complaints from nearby residents, and that the location is where Habitat from Humanity will break ground next year on the development of affordable homes.
Speaking through a megaphone in front of protesters gathered on Monday, Nichols said the camp had a fire extinguisher and several gallons of water on standby to protect against fire concerns.
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“We keep good camps, you guys know that,” Nichols said. “They [the city] are simply mad that we figured out how to take care of ourselves without asking them.”
Dorlana Schultz, who also had been living in the encampment, also spoke using the megaphone so that protesters and police could hear her, saying she didn’t want to be relocated.
“All I’m trying to do here is exist. I’m just trying to find a place,” Schultz said. “I’m not safe in the shelters, which are already full. I have been assaulted, I have been attacked in those places.”
In an interview, Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra said the city had first become aware of the site after sending surveyors to inspect the property ahead of preparing to transfer ownership over to Habitat for Humanity. She also said those at the site had been told they needed to vacate on Sept. 10 and were initially given 20 days to do so, before the deadline was eventually extended to Monday, with the city’s Division of Community Care and organizations including Manna Community Kitchen and Elliot House also visiting the site to try and provide resources.
“We gave them a long period of time,” Sciarra said. “From Sept. 10 until now, people have been there offering assistance trying to help people transition off that site.”
In an email sent to Sciarra on Thursday, Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Megan McDonough said that upon learning of the encampment, the organization would be willing to adjust its timeline to give those in the camps more assistance.
“Our goal is housing people, and displacing people to house other people is not what we want,” McDonough wrote in the email, a copy of which was shared with the Gazette.
“I will defer to the city about when/whether or not you need to evict the people in the encampment from your land, but please do not use our partnership as the impetus for removal.”
Sciarra said that the city was focused on its own survey work it needs to do while it still controlled the property.
“Our priority is to get our work done on this property and then transfer it to whoever is going to create the housing,” Sciarra said. “That’s [Habitat for Humanity’s] decision to make when it’s their property.”
Nevertheless, police officers arrived as promised on Monday in support of the city’s vacate order. Alan Wolf, the mayor’s chief of staff, was also on the scene and informed the homeless campers and those gathered to protest that they were trespassing, which was met with jeers from the protesters.
After a while of no action, Northampton Police Capt. Victor Caputo told the crowd that police would back off for now due to safety concerns, but that the trespassing violation remained in effect.
“We don’t want anybody getting hurt over this,” Caputo told the crowd. “The camp needs to be cleared, and we’re going to deal with it at some point, but it’s not going to be today.”
The move by the city to disperse the campsite comes roughly six months after another homeless camp behind the closed Speedway on King Street had also been cleared by police. But that encampment had been on private property, and most of those at the campsite had left by the time police showed up. Since then, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June determined that cities could ban people from sleeping in publicly owned spaces.
Sciarra told the Gazette that it did appear the people at the campsite were earnest about relocating and expressed hope that the situation could be resolved peacefully.
“We keep hearing indications that people are packing up, that they’re going to go,” Sciarra said. “We really hope that people will go ahead and avail themselves of the services and assistance that are being provided, and that they will leave the property.”
Though the protesters celebrated the temporary delay, those living at the camp expressed uncertainty on what their future might hold.
“I’m still terrified,” said Paris Lawrence, who said he had been staying at the camp after his landlord had cut electricity to his former living space. “I thought I’d finally found somewhere I felt safe in a good community.”
Nichols said those at the Cooke Avenue encampment were working on coming up with plans to relocate in the meantime.
“We are working on that. There are a bunch of people here who can help us move stuff into basements,” Nichols said. “I guess I’ll just post up on City Hall and sleep there if we do get evicted.”
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.