Homeless In Ft Worth

A Moving Day for Some

Over on my website (http://sites.google.com/site/homelessinftworth) I spoke of some people who were camped out and whom the city was making move elsewhere.

What really happened was that a small group of campers at the rear of Glenwood Park were having an argument that caused the police and reportedly, later the fire department to put out a small fire. The city policy is to eliminate all camps when they are discovered so basically all the people in that patch of woods had to move. Because of the mistakes or foolishness of a couple at least 12 other people spread out in 5 or 6 other campsites had to move out. They were given a week to move before the city code enforcement crews came in to clean up. Some of whom it turns out have moved near my camp but not the original trouble makers. Lucky for me they are all people I know and can talk to. 

I did establish some simple rules though. For example, I will not tolerate any of the foolishness that caused them to have to move out of their old camps. Nor will I tolerate excess traffic or visitors into the area. Lastly I will not tolerate people acting foolish behind alcohol or drugs. I realize that I may sound pretty strict and truthfully I am not that strict. I have though been camped where I am for several years and do not wish someone else to ruin things. While I do know the 5 people in the 3 new campsites, all of them are capable of creating problems if I don't say something to all of them first and establish some basic ground rules.

As it turns out I did know all 15 or so people who were living at the back of the park. Of those people a few are honorable people, almost all of them have problems with alcohol or drugs to a greater or lessor degree, 3 people are convicted felons, 5 of the 15 have arrest warrants out for various things like unpaid fines, theft or assault. Fortunately the really tough ones did not show up near my patch of woods and I probably would not have allowed them there if they tried. The people that did move in had all talked to me first as a common courtesy.

I understand the city's side of all this and I understand the problems the city has with the homeless people who are camped out. I've even discussed these problems with the police who periodically stop by to check up on me or may be looking for someone. I really do understand.

The unfortunate part of all this is that while we unsheltered homeless people have made a decision to camp out instead of stay in a shelter we must suffer the consequences for the mistakes of a few. It was only a matter of time before those people at the back side of the park were contacted by the city and forced to move. Things were getting pretty out of control back there.