Massive Homeless 'Zone' Must Be Cleared in 45 Days After Judge Drops the Hammer on City Officials
A judge has ordered the Democrat-controlled city of Phoenix to clear out a squalid encampment of uncontrolled homelessness that has spawned rampant crime, open-air drug use and filthy streets littered with trash, drug paraphernalia and human waste.
In his ruling Wednesday, Maricopa County, Arizona, Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney sided with a group of local business owners who said the ramshackle shanty town known as “the Zone” has greatly harmed their businesses by posing a grave public health and safety threat.
Reports on the number of people living in the Zone vary from 500 to more than 1,000.
The judge noted that starting in 2018, the city had “intentionally stopped — or at least materially decreased — enforcement of criminal, health, and other quality of life statutes and ordinances at The Zone.”
This abrupt policy change ruined the quality of life and the safety of local residents and small businesses, Blaney wrote.
Tellingly, Phoenix has had a consecutive string of Democratic mayors from 2012 to the present. Blaney is an appointee of former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.
“There has been a dramatic increase in violent crime in the Zone since 2018, including assault and homicide,” the judge wrote.
“Police officers have responded on multiple occasions to situations involving burned or burning human bodies in the Zone, including that of a burned, deceased newborn baby found lying in the street and a deceased man found burned alive in a dumpster,” he said.
The judge continued, “Business owners and employees no longer feel safe and must travel in groups. There is a constant risk of violent crime to property owners, their family members, business owners and their employees while on their property or in their businesses. Employees of businesses in the Zone have been violently attacked and they face verbal confrontations with homeless individuals almost daily.”
In addition to the raging crime, the judge noted, the Zone has become a “biohazard” that endangers public health.
“Since 2018, the Zone has evolved into a serious environmental nuisance — a biohazard — that empties into the state’s waterways. The City does not dispute this fact,” he wrote. “There is a considerable amount of human waste, food waste, and trash dumped on the streets or around the streets. Homeless individuals defecate and urinate in the open on the streets, sidewalks, lawns, and buildings.
“When it rains, the soil in and around the area is so soaked with urine and human feces that the rain intensifies the smell. Business and property owners do not go outside when it rains because of the puddles full of human urine and feces. The proliferation of human excrement and half-eaten food causes an infestation of flies and other insects in the Zone.”
In addition to the mountains of trash and human waste and the increase in crime, the judge pointed out that drug needles and fentanyl-tainted pieces of tin foil litter the streets where children walk.
In March, Blaney urged Phoenix to shut down the homeless encampment, citing a violation of state nuisance laws.
However, he noted in his Wednesday ruling that the city had not adequately complied with this order.
Accordingly, the judge set a Nov. 4 deadline for the city to permanently clear out and clean up the Zone.
“The City of Phoenix shall maintain its public property in the Zone in a condition free of: (a) tents and other makeshift structures in the public rights of way; (b) biohazardous materials including human feces and urine, drug paraphernalia, and other trash; and (c) individuals committing offenses against the public order,” Blaney wrote.
Blaney Order by The Western Journal
Sadly, Phoenix mirrors the tragic deterioration of other Democrat-run cities, including as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New York, Seattle and San Francisco, where homelessness and crime have skyrocketed due to destructive left-wing policies.
☣️💉 The Zombie drug, Tranq (man made opioid fentanyl & xylazine) is now Philadelphia’s largest drug problem & found in poor areas of all major US cities. pic.twitter.com/vkALgMSUHd
— Man in a shed (@herbthefox1) September 20, 2023
No, this is not Russia. There is no Putin, Prighozin/Wagner Group or Civil War in the video below.
This is your average night in San Francisco. Homeless set fire to your building as you sleep. pic.twitter.com/YEd2TMkrVV
— Grand Old Patriots🇺🇸 (@GrandOlPatriots) June 24, 2023
How did LA County become the epicenter of the homelessness crisis? In the premiere episode of our new show “One on One,” we delve deeper into the issue of homelessness and talk with Cheri Todoroff, director of the Homeless Initiative.
Watch full episode: https://t.co/bVuXxycbMS pic.twitter.com/phlnrF6yJW
— Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) September 21, 2023
A homeless man is passed out next to a bench and another has been hunched over nearly motionless for ten minutes thanks to fentanyl.
We could help but the city refuses. They’re okay with this suffering.
Seattle is thriving.
I write about the dangers of the Radical Left’s… pic.twitter.com/j2axOr8sHi
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) September 16, 2023
With these catastrophic domestic crises roiling the nation, it is treasonous for Democrats to justify supporting mass illegal immigration and sending billions of U.S. tax dollars to Ukraine.
Think how many homeless shelters, drug-rehab programs and job training centers the billions that America has shipped to Ukraine could fund.
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