Editorial: Park closure won’t work

Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006 | 6:58 a.m.

Las Vegas City Manager Doug Selby took the extreme step Monday of closing Huntridge Circle Park after a homeless man died of a stabbing there Friday. Another homeless man has been arrested in the incident and faces a charge of murder.

Certainly the area of the park where the incident took place should have been roped off while police investigated. Another reasonable precaution would have been for Metro Police to step up patrols around the three-acre park on Maryland Parkway just south of Charleston Boulevard.

But closing the park? Tragically, killings are not uncommon in public places in Las Vegas, and we have not in the past heard of a crime scene, whether it be a parking garage or apartment complex, being closed down indefinitely in reaction.

We do not believe it is a coincidence that Selby's action followed what has been happening in the park recently - homeless advocates handing out food there much to the disgust of some vocal neighbors. The city is still smarting from a federal judge's ruling that overturned a reactionary city ordinance banning the feeding of homeless people in parks.

With the park closed, most of the homeless people will no doubt disperse. But will this solve the problem? Of course not. They will be back.

If the neighbors want to accurately direct blame for the perceived problem with homeless people, they should confront the city. Without sufficient shelters and other programs offering basic needs, homeless people move to inappropriate areas where a lack of facilities turns them into a nuisance.

Once the city acknowledges its obligation to homeless people, as other cities have done, there will be much better solutions than closing public parks.