It's been called a "cleanup" by city of Pueblo leaders and a "sweep" by local advocacy groups serving unhoused populations.
Members of the Pueblo Police Department, Pueblo Municipal Court, Pueblo Parks and Recreation, Team Up to Clean Up, the BNSF Railway and others are heading to an area along Fountain Creek on Sept. 3 to remove graffiti and items left at homeless encampments, dispose of trash, and cut down brush between Fourth and Eighth streets.
"We're going in there to make sure that the property is cleaned and the property is well-maintained," Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham said at an Aug. 26 city council meeting. "The trees will be trimmed, the trash will be cleaned. It's a pretty significant mess down there."
Jude Solano, co-founder and CEO of the Southern Colorado Harm Reduction Association (SCHRA), is among the local advocates calling the effort along Fountain Creek a "sweep," meaning the forced removal of homeless individuals from a given area.
Solano told the Chieftain that the city is doing nothing to help the individuals currently living in the encampments.
She also said that the SCHRA will have a presence at Fountain Creek on Sept. 3. The nonprofit organization will be providing water, hygiene supplies and pamphlets for other resources to individuals being displaced.
"We will be participating, because the city is providing nothing for these people... All they're doing is telling media and the community there's a shelter," she said. "Well, the shelter has 50 beds. We don't even know the number and scope of folks that are going to be impacted."
Other organizations, including Project Apollo and Pueblo United, have expressed concerns on their social media pages about those being displaced. Pueblo United announced on its Facebook page that it is partnering with 4 Bar S Gathering and Southern Colorado Services & Recycling LLC to accept clothing, toiletry and other item donations.
Project Apollo posted a call for donations to its Instagram page Aug. 25 with a statement referencing that city's camping ban "has come home to roost & our neighbors are being forcibly removed from the only shelter they have."
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How many people are living in the 'cleanup' area?
Graham responded to community concerns about a "sweep" at the Aug. 26 council meeting, on Facebook and in an Aug. 30 conversation with the Chieftain. She told the Chieftain that she calls the city's efforts a "cleanup" and not a "sweep" as the area is public property with inhabitants that can be served by the Pueblo Rescue Mission shelter.
"I was out there, not yesterday but the day before, and walked it," she told the Chieftain. "I only encountered two individuals and a couple dogs. When I was walking it, most of the people had already left... To me, it looks like a lot of illegal dumping, and leftover campsites."
Graham also said that the Pueblo Rescue Mission shelter may have anywhere from 20 to 40 beds available on a given day and that the "two individuals" who will be displaced by the cleanup are encouraged to stay at the mission.
Paul Montoya, an advocate serving Pueblo's unhoused population, told the Chieftain there are about 12 individuals living in the area between the Fourth and Eighth Street bridges. He also said those individuals are unlikely to seek shelter at the Pueblo Rescue Mission.
"They're not going to want to go to shelters," he said. "They are too independent on their own and a lot of them have dogs."
While Montoya believes that trash in the area along Fountain Creek needs to be cleaned, he also said it is "devastating" when individuals are displaced. He plans on being in the area to provide assistance when efforts begin Sept. 3.
"I've already talked to a lot of them," Montoya said. "They don't know where they are going to go. They don't know what they are going to do. They're lost right now."
Jamie Cooke, Project Apollo's secretary to the board of directors, estimates there are at least 20 people living in the space between Fourth and Eighth streets. While the city's reported "cleanup" space is between those two streets, Cooke said Project Apollo anticipates the enforcement of the city's camping ban between Sept. 3 and Sept. 5 will span from the Arkansas River to 13th Street along Fountain Creek — a stretch that may encompass the living space of between 150 and 200 people.
"Some of these encampments are pretty elaborate to the extent that you could furnish like a three-bedroom house and they built them as as homes," Cooke told the Chieftain. "They have little rock gardens. They have fences. Some of these folks have been out here for 10 years or more and it's not just a matter of sweeping up a couple tents."
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Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com
