Big Denis Huey will be down at the camp today frying turkeys for the men and women at the site, and the food and camaraderie will be plentiful. I feel for the rest of the folks on the street today who won't have even the simplest pleasures that the good peeps of Tent City will enjoy today; a decent meal, friends that care and a place to sleep off the meal without fear of attack, arrest or hypothermia.
Tent City homeless camp has vital purpose in absence of larger plan
Our View
It's Thanksgiving, and if you are like many Americans, your biggest worry will be whether the L-tryptophan in the turkey will knock you out before the end of the football game on TV.Consider, too, the fate of the people who live there, as Metro officials ponder how to close this homeless camp on the banks of the Cumberland River. Fortunately, advocates for the homeless now are being included in that conversation. But it's a tense situation that needs careful monitoring.
Less than two months ago, police Cmdr. Damian Huggins told the Metro Homelessness Commission that the camp needed to be shut down. He suggested that increased crime downtown and safety concerns raised by the public pointed to Tent City. That led to an outcry from advocates who explained that the camp is a positive stop for the homeless who are trying to get off the streets and to get services. It's a place where advocates can find them, as much as it is a place to sleep.
Since that meeting, Huggins has restated his message, saying, "I don't want to shut a place down and send someone away without getting help.'' That is good to hear, but it still is disconcerting that the Police Department wants to keep a list of names of who is staying at the camp. Such a list should not be used for anything other than to help get services to those who need it.
Tent City has its own council, which has drawn up rules to help keep the camp orderly and free of troublemakers. The council asked for police help to enforce those rules, and that's the better protocol for this community within a community.
The council also has received help from volunteer civil engineers in drawing up campsites on the tract. Such steps are not to make Tent City permanent, but to make it cleaner, safer and more orderly until the time when a Tent City is no longer needed.
That time clearly has not arrived. Nashville's homeless population numbers not in the dozens, but in the thousands. And in this economy, the number is likely to grow. Families and individuals who have never been without a roof over their heads before are finding themselves on the streets or sleeping in their cars. For them, especially, there is a need for Tent City.
Who would wish that kind of anonymity on themselves or anyone? That is one reason for a place such as Tent City — because it is a brief stop for people who desperately want to avoid that fate. Shelters can keep homeless individuals for only so long. Until the city of Nashville comes up with a comprehensive plan to help its homeless, the camp serves a purpose.
