Volunteers, neighbours demand action over Meagher Park tent site
CBC
Seven months since people experiencing homelessness began sleeping in tents in a small park in Halifax's west end, divides are also deepening among people connected to the park and some of the people who live nearby.
Laura Patterson is a volunteer who helps bring food and supplies to residents at Meagher Park, known by some as People's Park. She said garbage is piling up, attracting rats, and when the tents aren't covered in ice or snow, people are sinking up to their ankles in the mud.
"As neighbours would tell you, it can be a loud place," Patterson told CBC Radio's Mainstreet recently. "The level of sleep deprivation at the park, I think, is huge. It's not a place where people can heal. It's not a place where people can regroup. It's a stop-gap."
The tents at Meagher Park were set up after city officials evicted people from public parks and green spaces downtown last August.
It's difficult to know how many people are staying at the park on a full-time basis, but a street navigator says it's likely a handful, with more people stopping by for food or company.
Several residents who live nearby also say they've witnessed physical altercations, drug use and harassment from people connected to the park. Many neighbours regularly call the police.
Police were recently at the park to take down a wooden structure that was built to serve as a kitchen. The municipality said it was "illegal and unsafe" and a second attempt to set up a food tent was also quashed by police.
Halifax Regional Police wouldn't immediately provide statistics about Meagher Park, and told CBC News it would have to file an access-to-information request to get that information. The municipality says it's received roughly 94 complaints or calls through 311 since last August.
Bruce Wilson lives on Chebucto Road, not far from the park.
"You really don't know what could occur next, and that's very concerning. That's what creates the anxiety," he said.
"You have to call the police because there's actual violence going on, and people are being attacked and something has to be done."
Wilson and other residents say they've repeatedly asked the municipality and the province what is being done to help people and move them inside.
"Our frustration is a lack of information," he said. "Maybe an answer isn't readily available, but truly what the intentions are and what's being looked at."
Coun. Lindell Smith told Mainstreet in an email last week that it's his understanding many people staying at Meagher Park will be offered space, through a service provider, at the modular units once they're built in Halifax.
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