Police tell homeless to move by Sunday

Keith Paul

Friday, March 22, 2002 | 10:51 a.m.

Metro Police today began informing homeless people camped on a downtown sidewalk they will have to clear out by Sunday, but the ACLU is seeking a federal court injunction to thwart the effort.

Las Vegas city marshals this afternoon are expected to hand out fliers to the estimated 200 homeless men and women living in tents, cardboard shelters and sleeping bags on Foremaster Lane by Main Street. The marshals will tell them that Metro officers will return on Sunday to enforce the pedestrian interference law and clear the sidewalk, Capt. Tom Lozich told the Sun.

The plan calls for city workers to clean up the area littered by trash piles and human waste that has drawn angry complaints from area businesses. Sheriff Jerry Keller said medical and mental health workers will be available to the homeless.

Gary Peck, American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada executive director, called the plan just another effort to roust the homeless.

"The city and Metro have made their intention abundantly clear, and we at the ACLU will do everything possible to fight their efforts to unlawfully sweep the homeless out of the corridor," Peck said. "They can play any game they want, but it's pretty evident they are talking about 40 available (shelter) beds and there are hundreds of people on the sidewalk."

Keller said the plan was developed with the help of city departments and homeless advocates, and was needed as the encampment has become a heath threat as well as a public safety issue.

"Being homeless is not a crime, but it's against the law to encamp on a sidewalk," Keller said. "We're not arresting someone for life-sustaining activity by sleeping on the sidewalk from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. But that is different from pitching a tent to a light pole, never taking it down and using the streets as a toilet."

But Allan Lichtenstein, an ACLU attorney, said he is filing a temporary restraining order in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to "prevent Metro from arresting people or threatening arrest for conduction life-sustaining activities until we can have a full hearing in this matter."

Lozich said the police don't want to arrest the homeless but the sidewalk must be cleaned. He added that police are not telling the homeless never to come back to Foremaster Lane, only that they cannot set up a tent on the sidewalk.

"They can camp on other public property," he said. "If someone goes and pitches (a tent) on public land, a desert area, to sleep for the night, that's fine. You just can't make it impossible for someone to pass on the sidewalk.

"They have to move so an adequate cleanup can be done."

A letter dated Thursday from Dr. Donald Kwalick, chief health officer from the county Health District, to Keller includes two staff members describing Foremaster as having "strong and offensive odors of urine and feces."

Two buckets near a fire hydrant were being used as toilets, according to the letter. In the letter, heath district workers recommended that the piles of garbage and human waste be removed, and water with bleach be used to sanitize the sidewalks, streets, curbing and gutters.

"City workers cleaning up the streets and sidewalk need to wear personal protective equipment for respiratory, eye and dermal protection," the letter states.

Keller maintains the plan is designed to provide assistance to those who want it, and not just to force the homeless to a less visible area. However, previous sweeps -- such as those on private property on A Street and at an area by the railroad tracks downtown -- resulted in the homeless flocking to Foremaster, creating the latest crisis.

Peck said he sympathized with the property owners who are bearing the burden of the problem on Foremaster Lane, "but we are insisting the problem be fixed lawfully and not simply by trampling the rights of the homeless."

Lichtenstein said police should not force the homeless from the sidewalk because there is not adequate shelter space in the city.

"These people have no choice. They have no place else to go," he said. "If they are blocking the sidewalk, then just allow them to move so they don't block the entire sidewalk."

Area shelter workers also are scheduled to be on Foremaster Lane Sunday with police, offering space for those who want it.

"Because of the situation on Foremaster we're going to make 20 more places for folks," said Charles Desiderio of the Salvation Army. "We may have to improvise somehow, but we'll find some place to put them. Obviously this is a big issue and we all have to kind of go that extra mile."

MASH Village will have 15 tickets to hand out to homeless men to get in line for a spot in the shelter's tent, but turnover creating an open bed is low, said Ruth Bruland, MASH Village executive director.

"We won't be out on the enforcement side, but we will be out this weekend on the service side," she said.

Homeless people camped on Foremaster Lane have heard rumors of Metro's plan. Some, gripping cards from the ACLU, vowed to fight and stay on the sidewalk.

"We've got nowhere to go," said Bernardo Segura, as another man approached with a creased and dirty card containing the ACLU's phone number.

"When they come, I'm going to call," Segura said.

Bryce Mercir, who has been homeless since October, said a combination of bad luck and poor decisions led to his being on the streets. But there is not enough help available in Las Vegas to get him off the streets, he said.

"Give us 30 days in a shelter so we can get a job and get some money together," Mercir said.

But there are others who do not want to go into the shelters for a variety reasons. Some don't like the rules. Some don't like the lines. Some don't want to be separated from their significant others, as shelters don't take couples.

"The shelters all have some kind of program and want you to be in a program," David Anderson said. "I'm not really a program kind of guy."

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he supported Metro's efforts and that the time had come to clean up the area.

"It has to come to an end," Goodman said. "It has gotten to a point where we have a real health hazard and an impending economic disaster."

Goodman, who said he would be involved in Sunday's push, said the intent is to help every homeless person, offering shelter and information on employment, and assisting them with other services.

"We can't stop people from being nomads, but if they're violating the law, we can arrest them," he said.

The homeless will likely move from Foremaster if Metro comes to the area on Sunday. The homeless have left other areas only to gravitate to a new place.

"They don't call us transients for nothing," Anderson said.