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A homeless man camps with others Thursday along Foremaster Lane between Las Vegas Boulevard North and Main Street. A kind of tent city has occupied Foremaster for decades, to the chagrin of business owners and city officials.
Friday, April 3, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Homeless corridor
Sun Archives
- LV City Council addresses homeless issues (3-18-2009)
- Empty bowls help fill food pantry (3-14-2009)
- Volunteers seek out valley's homeless for census (1-29-2009)
- Fire at vacant house leads to homeless man's arrest (1-23-2009)
- Fire burns homeless man, woman trying to stay warm (1-15-2009)
- Volunteers turn out to help homeless (12-21-2008)
- Metro's homeless liaison still not hired (1-21-2006)
- Homeless people swept from downtown camps (5-6-2002)
Sonny Thomas has worked at Thomas & Jones Funeral Home for 32 years. The soft-spoken 69-year-old started as a part-timer, and worked his way up to having his name on the business.
In that time, he has mastered the trade — collecting death certificates, soothing distraught families, running efficient services. But there is one business challenge he has been unable to master.
Thomas said he is losing a significant chunk of business because of the homeless people who dwell near the funeral parlor. Up to 250 men and women eat and sleep in dozens of tents — and sometimes do drugs, pick fights, even urinate and defecate in nearby alleys or in the street.
“This impacts us in a heck of a serious way,” said Thomas, adding that four potential customers in the past two weeks left after seeing the scene on Foremaster Lane. “When people see that, they get disgusted and move on.”
The epicenter of homelessness in Las Vegas is again on Foremaster, between Main Street and Las Vegas Boulevard and south of Owens Avenue and Woodlawn Avenue. It isn’t a new issue for the city and nearby businesses and advocates. Tents of the homeless have dotted these streets for decades, except for the times when the city and Metro Police have dispersed them.
But concern about the homeless near Foremaster and Main — an area known as the “homeless corridor” — has surfaced again, due in part to the growing number of multicolored tents that have turned up on the sidewalks along both roads.
During the City Council’s March 18 meeting, several council members spoke heatedly about the problem. At night, said Ward 5 Councilman Ricki Barlow, “they take over the entire street. It’s like a little town.”
Though the council took no action, Mayor Oscar Goodman said the city soon might. The problem, he said, is that as close as the homeless are to nonprofit organizations offering assistance — several shelters and service agencies are a short walk away — many simply don’t want it.
It’s a familiar theme for Goodman, whose controversial statements about the homeless earned Las Vegas the title of “Meanest City” in 2003 from the National Coalition for the Homeless. In 2006 Goodman pushed for an ordinance banning the feeding of homeless people in city parks. A federal judge ruled the ban was unconstitutional.
This time Goodman’s tentative solution is to find five acres somewhere in the city, away from residences and businesses, and move the homeless people — forcibly if necessary, and if he can find a way to make it constitutional — to that spot. It could be a place “where they can bother each other, steal from each other, shoot drugs with each other, drink with each other,” Goodman said.
Some advocates note that a high percentage of the homeless are mentally ill, and that any honest solution should address the illness.
The behavior of a man named Russell, who said he was guarding a tent for a friend and slept on Foremaster at night, seemed to support this theory. The 42-year-old, who said he has been diligent about looking for work, noted that a few years ago, President George W. Bush told him that his “Eagle-level” security clearance had been revoked.
Thomas, the funeral home’s manager, said the situation needs to be addressed quickly. Business is drying up, and he and his staff have been forced to call police and Barlow’s office for help, he said.
According to Metro Police spokesman Jay Rivera, the funeral home has placed 20 calls to police in the past two months.
Rivera, an officer who patrolled the Foremaster area from 2006 to 2008, said police are sympathetic to Thomas’ plight and have been doing what they can to help. Officers can kick folks off of the funeral home property if it comes to that or shoo them away from the entrance, especially when a service is being held.
But it rarely takes long for them to recongregate in the area.
Said long-time homeless advocate Linda Lera-Randle El: “They always seem to come back to Foremaster and Main.”
Tent cities are popping up incities across the country. Remnants of the Bush administration.
so, we need a 5 acre site away from everything that is deserted.
what about the review-journal office?
We need to find a site about 10 miles out of town, and let them pitch there tent there. They can LEARN to manage their own community. These people have choosen their life they want to live. If they want help, they can get it, because of the billions of dollars this country spends for them. They choose not to get help. Homelessness is everywhere in the world too. It does not happen because of a President of the US, like some ignorant people will say.
Thanks Bush for your lying war and the worst deficits in history leading to the worst economy in history. You say you are a compassionate conservative do you? Thanks for your compassion.
Once again, liberals provide me with a good laugh.
There was no homeless problem before George Bush? I must have missed it!
"Tent cities are popping up incities across the country. Remnants of the Bush administration."
Obama and Bush are cut from the same cloth. There is no difference, no change, just empty rhetoric. The same ruling elite control both parties. You have been lied to. Can you name me one thing that Barry has done different than Bush? I can't.
Obama is nothing more than a paid wall street shill put in place to assuage and placate the anger of the masses in thinking they are actually getting something different.
Puleezz
Oscar Goodman is always on the wrong side of being right. His comments on the homeless are disgraceful. From legalizing prosittuion-to the use of federal bailout funds he is a drunken idiot. It is an imbarrassment to Las Vegas that he even an elected official.
This is about the desire of those that are homeless to stay homeless. Providing 5 acres isn't the best answer but it pssibly could help. Cleaning up the shelters and making their rules of operation easier for the homeless to get help would be the first step to getting them at least off the street overnight. The shelters are more dangerous than the streets.
The tent city/homeless situation is going to get worse as we approach double digit unemployment. It is a problem that is going to cost the city serious money and it is not going to go away.
Oscar Goodman's comments concerning the homeless are horrible. Some of the very people sleeping on the streets probably voted for him before they became homeless. Goodman does what benefits him, I think he's a disgrace to Las Vegas.There are families that has honestly had a string of bad luck. When you have more than you need, I guess it's hard to understand being without.
i love people like mslv who can't get through one sentence without making 2 spelling mistakes and a grammar error while trying to say that someone else is dumb.
A high percentage of our mayors are mentally ill also.
Hey how much for a tent in vegas...? Is it really so hard to believe that you have this problem you shoud have a casino funded homeless fortress w/ free sandwiches and porta poties... call it.. Markerland....
Thanks for the laughs all you that are "blogging" on this article, not really making fun or anything its just some of this stuff is pretty hilarious....
We're becoming more and more like a third world country like Zimbabwe. A tent city in Sacramento was actually threatened by the possibility of cholera. Generation debt is eventually going to become generation homeless, and many student loan debtors are eventually going to end up living under the freeway. Suze Orman has stopped calling student loan debt "good" debt. Why doesn't Oprah do the same? Check out the 60 minutes story on the Conficker computer worm. (go to cbsnews.com) Some hackers are celebrated as heroes in their countries for stealing money from greedy Americans. The national debt is $50 trillion by some estimates and we're running out of money to steal.
I work at trying to help the Homeless, especially our Homeless Veterans - and only about 30% to 35% are drunks, druggies, gamblers or addicts - so, why not focus on the 65% to 70% we coud help? Because it's easier to just label them all with the same broad brush - and that's just not fair!
Of course, all are struggling with depression - who wouldn't be depressed if they were homeless too - and depression is treatable! It takes a good month to 3 months to get depressed people on the right medications, in the right dosage and combination - but, once they beat the depression they start thinking clearly again and can begin the process of returning to society as productive citizens - which takes about 3 years!
I've never, ever met a single homeless person "that wanted to be homeless" - that's just nuts! Think about it, who in their right mind would want to live like a feral animal in squalor and constantly at risk of being victimized?
What if we established a Red Cross project to set up a decent tent city, where we responsibly processed and classified the homeless into their various groups based on needs and professionally addressed the homeless problem in a responsible manner like compassionate citizens? Oh, yeah, that would cost too much money! That's a stupid assumption, because we've never tried to do much more than just play politics with the problem! I'd bet, in the long run, it would cost less - a lot less!
lasvegas2009, again...like i said in the comment section of the story you lifted my comments from to post out of context onto THIS story's comments....you are an idiot.
first thing i "am an pig".
that's not even correct grammar and anyone that ISN'T an idiot that will go back the story about north las vegas where my "can we bomb north las vegas" are and my other comments all across this website can see that i was clearly speaking in a sarcastic tone.
subtlety is lost on the stupid. that's why we have nascar and ufc.
stevem, you remind me of the pot calling the kettle black. Are your caps broken?
Oscar the Grouch. What a character.
What a charming role model and all-around Ambassador for the city. Fine, fine gentleman.
Booze, Broads, and reviler of the homeless.
Oh, and a Mob Museum for busts of him and his old cronies. How lovely.
thanks, johnathan, for a comment that may actually serve to educate and empower.
Don't worry, Obama The Magnificent will save us all.
With all the foreclosed homes in Las Vegas could you not just give one to each homeless person. Then by definition they are not "homeless" anymore and the rate for the city will look better for both homeless and foreclosed. Think it would work?
It's easier for liberals to raise taxes by blaming everything on Bush. Welcome to Jimmy Carter's second term. Inflation dead ahead! Then the tent city will look like an oasis.
Its gonna get REAL ugly soon when the unemployment benefits run out in this town for the laid off casino employees...
You can thank HARRY REID for blocking the E-Verify provision in the stimulus package...At least the illegals can get some jobs,Oh,And keep raising my taxes for education for all the illegal children in the state.
We're now in California.