Note: The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.
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Before dawn on Oct. 16, I witnessed firsthand the closing of the camp behind the Amtrak Station. This is the second time I have seen unhoused people dehumanized by the City of Lawrence; the first time was at Tent City, which was euphemistically dubbed “Camp New Beginnings.”
Members of the Homeless Response Team were not present the morning of Oct. 16 when people were actually walked out of the camp. The rationale for this was that they did not want to damage the long-term relationships they had established with people at Amtrak. I was told this by a member of HRT as well as a city commissioner. This script has been uncritically repeated.
I find this rationale absolutely ridiculous. As HRT members have also repeated, daily visits by the team for 60 days prior had occurred. Would relationships of trust be established under those conditions — people visiting on daily walk-throughs with the clearly posted agenda of closing people’s living space? Even if some long-term relationships were established, wouldn’t one expect more harm to be done in the absence of HRT than if they were there? If someone had established a relationship of trust with you, then bailed out when the going got tough, how would you feel?
Don’t get me wrong — I applaud the city for placing some Amtrak people in detox, rehab, and shelter, if those choices were freely made, and I pray they get the follow-up services they need to be successful. But bailing on the rest of these folks will not help the city with the homeless. I was not allowed to enter the camp that morning but would have been able to assist because I know people who were there. Members of Risk Management and the police did not. This is another respect in which HRT members could have helped.
Two of the people who left Amtrak that morning were former residents of Tent City who had been sent to Pallet village by Misty Bosch-Hastings, the director of the city’s Homeless Solutions Division. They were “exited” from Pallet — that is, thrown out on the street. When I called this to the attention of an HRT member, he said that Pallet village is high barrier. But in the case of known addicts who were sent to Pallet, why weren’t follow-up services provided? Does the city truly want people to succeed and get out of homelessness?
I know that some at the city do want success and that some have succeeded; for that I’m grateful. My concern is with those who haven’t, and why the city won’t own up to their failures and do better. On the morning of Oct. 16, Bosch-Hastings hid in her office and wouldn’t come out to help the dazed, sobbing people on the Amtrak station platform. Others from the city and fellow advocates did her work that morning as well as HRT’s.
And let’s not forget that Brandon McGuire, an assistant city manager, stated to The Lawrence Times that only two people at Amtrak had not yet moved the day prior. Both the Times and the Lawrence Journal-World reported 20 exiting the camp, which is consistent with what I saw. Let’s not forget to ask why a reporter from the Lawrence Journal-World was allowed in the camp during the sweep, while a photojournalist from The Lawrence Times, who was wearing her press credentials, was not.
I have already voted against the tax increase, but I ask this community: Do you really want to increase taxes to fund the Homeless Solutions Division?
In a recent letter to The Lawrence Times, Nancy Jorn wrote that reading the local newspapers will indicate how tax money is being spent. Photography and reporting by The Lawrence Times showed the devastated people who were displaced the morning of Oct. 16. The Lawrence Times also reported on issues at Pallet village. Glowing press releases from the city are far from the whole story — many people are not being well served.
The Homeless Solutions Division needs to get its act together. Being transparent, responsive, and correcting patterns of failures would be a good first step.
— Nancy E. Snow, Lawrence
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