by Anthony Gockowski
A homeless encampment in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis was cleared Wednesday, only to return a few days later.
Residents in the neighborhood told Alpha News that the camp moved near the intersection of 29th Street and Bloomington Avenue. It was previously located near 29th Street and 14th Avenue.
Alpha News spotted about 30 tents at the new location Friday, just a couple blocks down the road from the previous encampment.
Julie Wicklund, a Minneapolis resident who started a group called Safe Streets Now for a Better Tomorrow, previously told Alpha News the first encampment had been a growing problem over the past two months.
“Homes and cars shot up, garages broken into, tools taken, cars broken into and stolen, drug dealers everywhere and needles and dozens of kids who can’t be outside, people using residents’ water to bathe and wash their clothes. Hundreds of people coming down the alley to buy drugs. The city is the owner of the lot and they are knowingly violating the state nuisance law,” she said.
The city cleared the first encampment just hours after a home in the neighborhood burned down. The fire spread to two neighboring homes and destroyed them both. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
“Since they had no place to move and their stuff was bulldozed they will be stealing more to set up again,” one person in the neighborhood said.
Several garbage trucks, bulldozers, and a large number of police officers were involved in the removal Wednesday. Police said about 100 people were removed from the first encampment.
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Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and reported for The Daily Caller.
Photo “Homeless Camp” by Cory Doctorow. CC BY-SA 2.0.
