The Latest On Tent City's Closing

I was fortunate enough to attend the scheduled meeting with the executive director of Inner cities, Lytle and his right-hand man, Joe yesterday. My colleague and friend Jeannie Alexander, along with Clifton Harris, were also there. Absent from the meeting was Father Strobel, but he'd spoken at length with Lytle prior to the meeting and conveyed his thoughts and impressions to us via phone. Some interesting information came out of that meeting: Contrary to popular belief, the property adjacent to the ministry does NOT belong to Inner Cities. Instead, it belongs to Metro. As such, people should realize that Inner City Ministries HAS NO VOICE IN WHETHER THE CAMP REMAINS OR IS DEMOLISHED. This decision is entirely up to Metro officials and at this point, the decision to raze the camp is the dominant one. Although staff at Inner City are not adamantly opposed to having the camp remain, They do not want to further endure the lawlessness, stench of human waste, nor the occasional abuses heaped upon staff, volunteers and visitors by some of the more unruly and obnoxious members of the camp, all of which have appeared to increase considerably this summer. Some elaboration on this point: Ministry staff Joe and Lytle have worked with a number of the camp's residents over the years and have both stated that this year problems and an increase in the number of individuals at the camp have grown to the point of uncontrollability. According to Lytle and Joe, repeated attempts to convince members of the camp to police themselves, both in the behaviors of members at the camp and in regards to the general sanitary conditions and cleanliness of the area, have failed. Clifton Harris stated that he too has also worked with some of the "oldtimers" at the camp (oldtimers in the sense that they've been there the longest; some folks have lived in the camp for over 6 years) and although they have expressed a willingness to try it again, Harris believes time has run out for new efforts. Essentially, the primary complaint arising from both Inner Cities and Mr. Harris is that efforts to bring order and structure to the camp have been initiated repeatedly at this location, but residents at the camp have continually failed to abide by the decisions and commitments made by the members themselves during these negotiations. To add insult to injury, this year two pedophiles apparently hid out down at the camp and this has been documented by camp members themselves. To the credit of camp regulars, as soon as this was discovered, the babyrapers were unceremonioulsy ejected from the camp but the fact that they were even here for a brief period brings tremendous anxiety to members of Inner City because children and volunteers often visit the ministry. The bottom line here is that Metro has the final word on whether the camp stays or goes and because police, paramedics and firefighters have reportedly seen a rather dramatic uptick in calls to the camp over the previous 18 months, the general consensus among Metro officials is that the lifespan of the camp has come to an end. Clifton Harris, to his credit, has worked tirelessly with camp members over the previous 18-24 months to restrict newcomers, provide structure for self governance, and help members discover resources to keep the camp clean and safe. While Mr. Harris' does believe the camp should be closed, his desire is to establish a new camp as quickly as possible. To that end, a number of us have been scouting possible locations and have found several. There is considerable red tape involved in utilizing Metro property, not the least of which is the issue of liability for Metro, but Harris believes this can be overcome. Interestingly, the area currently housing Tent City is one of the areas under consideration for this particular endeavor. Basically, just about everyone involved in the decision-making process feels that even if the original location for Tent City is used, it is impossible to make the necessary changes to the camp without first razing it and starting over (we had to destroy the village to save it?). The rationale for the closing lies in the proposed structure that is to be applied to any new camps that may be established in Nashville. The model for a new homeless camp currently under review arises out of Washington state, where apparently homeless camps have been constructed with some fairly rigid structure and rules. These camps have access controlled by a permit system for each resident, wherein the prospective new member would first have to show ID, then sign a release of liability as well as a rules and regulations document similar almost to a typical Homeowners Associaton CC&R setup. The permit would be good for a short period of time, say 120 days, at which point the individual in question would then have to renew the permit in order to stay. If the individual wants to renew the permit to stay longer, he/she would need to demonstrate clearly why no access to transitional or permanent housing is available and be able to prove he/she had nowhere else to go. The camp would also need a sponsor from the community in order to assist the members with self governance, sanitation issues, construction issues and acceptable behavioral parameters while in the camp. Police would also have unfettered access and patrol the unit just like they would a city street or back alley. This is of course a very brief and cursoy description; you can believe it will have considerably more complex rules and regulations if any site is eventually selected. At this point, it is still unclear whether Public Works is going to merely clean the debris and remove the structures or whether they will also be removing the trees and brush from the area as well. Because "knucklebusters" are scheduled for the site, there is at least some indication that trees will be removed and should this occur, the area will almost certainly lose its allure as a campsite for the homeless. Sadly, there are a number of people who frankly would like to see that as the case. In any event, the current Tent City is coming to a close on either Sept. 3rd or 9th, unless Public Works receives a higher priority request in the immediate future. That possibility appears slim to none at the moment and as it stands right now, NO new plans to re-establish the camp in this area are on the table.