Homeless evacuated from ‘tent city’ at Sky-Vue park

Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

More than 100 homeless people broke down their tents and lean-tos scattered around the downtown lot that was once the site of the troubled Sky-Vue trailer park and found themselves on the move again this morning.

The morning broke with dozens of men and women pushing shopping carts and hauling stuffed bags from the lot to the sidewalk on West Owens Avenue.

They were complying with an order from the lot's owner telling them to vacate the premises by 7 a.m. today. The order was handed out Monday to the homeless men and women who had set up camp on the lot.

"Merry Christmas," said a man named Steve, who everyone calls "Cowboy," as he read one of the notices Monday afternoon.

"Now where are we going to go?" he asked.

The "tent city" had existed since some time in October after the deteriorating trailers were cleared from the lot, authorities said. Residents of about 100 mobile homes had been ordered to vacate in April because of numerous building code and health violations at Sky-Vue.

As with the news of the park's deterioration and its consequences this spring, the situation this week appeared to point to a lack of communication between various agencies, including the city of Las Vegas, Clark County and Metro Police.

Steve was one of dozens seeking answers Monday afternoon, including two pregnant women.

Some of those people appeared to be withstanding their second eviction in a year, saying they once lived in trailers on the lot before Sky-Vue was shut down.

One man, who asked to be called "Dreamer," pointed to a "for sale" sign featuring the face of Sky-Vue co-owner Sandi DiMarco. He said he lived in a trailer on the lot and that the owners had reneged on a promise to allow their former tenants to camp there until the New Year.

"We've held our end of the bargain," he said, standing outside the gate to his former home this morning. "There were no fights and no fires. They gave us that ray of hope ... I don't know how people can rest their heads at night knowing there are people out here."

The company that owns the lot, West Owens Management Group LLC -- a reference to the lot's location at 15 W. Owens Ave. -- wrote in its four-paragraph "notice and order" that the city of Las Vegas' Department of Neighborhood Services, Neighborhood Reponse Division, had given the company another "order" and that "it is our intention ... to within 24 hours lock the front gate and deny any future access."

"(I)f you have any questions, please direct them to the city of Las Vegas," the document said.

Diana Paul, spokeswoman for the city, said neighborhood services had given the owner its own "Notice and Order" Dec. 17. That document, which is dated Dec. 6, says the property owner is "in violation of Las Vegas Municipal Code ... dealing with nuisances."

It gives the owner 11 days to fix the problems or face fines of up to $500 or penalties of up to six months in jail -- or both -- for each violation, which included leaving "refuse and waste" on the property and not maintaining a "secure ... vacant lot."

Neither the owner nor the city would offer further comment on the above chain of events. A fax from David Riggleman, the man in charge of informing the public on behalf of the city, said, "Since this property is privately owned ... if you have any additional questions I would suggest you contact the property owner."

But those who were being told to move along had plenty to say, as did several of those who work with the homeless, including Metro Police Sgt. Eric Fricker, who oversees a team of officers trained to work with the homeless; Clark County Manager Thom Reilly; and Director of Clark County Social Service Darryl Martin.

The officials said they wished the city would have informed them beforehand of the events this morning so they could have helped the dozens of homeless men and women find a place to stay as well as other services.

A homeless man named Darrell said he was one of the first to stay in the lot, back on Oct. 26. He said he came from Los Angeles a year ago in September, stayed with a friend who then died, spent four months in jail after being arrested for jaywalking, stayed three weeks in the Salvation Army's emergency shelter, and wound up in the lot because he "didn't have no place to stay."

He said he lived in the rear of the lot to try to escape notice, but over the months saw the small settlement grow to the point where he said there were at least 100 tents there.

The 48-year-old said he tried to help keep the lot clean and make sure others did the same. Several dozen full trash bags sat nearby.

"There were rumors we could at least stay until after Christmas," Darrell said of Monday's news. "But that information kept changing day to day."

Reilly said he was caught off guard by the owner's order displacing dozens of homeless men and women and would have wanted to receive advance notice from Las Vegas of its order to the owner, to be able to send county homeless outreach workers to the site.

"In any situation like this, our desire would be to assist the homeless relocate," he said. "I don't know where the breakdown occurred, but I think it should be addressed."

Martin, of the county's social service department, said as soon as he found out about the pending displacement of the homeless, he arranged for county employees to be on the scene this morning with information about a voucher program that allows eligible, low-income people to stay in hotels.

"They'll be on our doorstep and we'll be ready for them," he said.

Asked about the efforts between the county, Las Vegas and other area municipalities to come up with a regional plan to help the homeless, he said, "We're working for the same purpose -- we just forget to talk to each other at times."

Linda Lera-Randle El, director of a private nonprofit organization called Straight from the Streets that receives no government funding, was at the former trailer park Monday, giving directions to the county agency and bus tokens for making the trip.

She said she had about 50 people from the lot fill out forms indicating what services they need.

Lera-Randle El also said she had been in communication with city personnel in the last week about homeless issues but had not been told about the city's "notice and order" to the lot's owner.

If she had known about the order and its inevitable consequences, she would have gone to the lot earlier to help those who were being forced to leave this morning, she said.

Fricker said he, too, was unaware of the events until they began unfolding Monday.

"I was pretty shocked when I drove up here," he said, as the camp in the lot was abuzz with people making plans or lamenting the lack of the same.

He said his officers were at the lot on Friday with other private and state agencies, trying to offer help to those who were staying in tents and lean-tos.

Fricker said his team's recent efforts to help the homeless there and an illegal tent city on private property were two roads that didn't meet.

"They are two totally different issues -- the social services side and the legal side -- and we're caught in the middle," he said.

Fricker also said Metro wouldn't be on site today to enforce the owner's order unless the owner called them to make a complaint about the homeless men and women disobeying that order.

Henry Howzer, who until recently was homeless himself and is now enrolled in a work program run by the Salvation Army called PATH, said he was also with Metro on Friday.

"Metro's just doing their job," he said.

Howzer said he was frustrated by having attempted to offer help to dozens of men and women only days before they were told to move on.

"This is a vicious cycle," he said.

"If we know this is going to happen, we should set up a place outside for these people to be. They're doing it anyway -- why not make provisions for them?" he said.

Fricker said he would be checking with area shelters -- including the Salvation Army, which neighbors the lot, and Catholic Charities, which is a long block to the east -- to see if they had space for any of those who were expected to be displaced today.

Former Sky-Vue residents Alan Yost and Kevin Hromada said they were not expecting to find a bed, many of which they say are reserved for older men and women.

"We can't get into the shelter," Hromada said. "What are we supposed to do?"