Teardown of homeless encampment on Teal Street leaves many with scattered plans
- Mark Sabbatini
- 8 hours ago
- 5 min read
People hastily pack some belongings into donated totes and bags, abandon many other items for bulldozers as city clears sites as winter weather sets in
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Darian Bliss’ home since June has been a small cabin-like structure built of wood pallets, with large tarps draped over the top to keep out rain and wind. Among the fixtures were a two-burner propane stove and a makeshift sink fed from a tube leading from a water tank kept on one of two sets of shelves outside his shelter.
On Friday morning, he was quickly packing the most important of his belongings before the shelter was torn down by city workers clearing out the encampment along Teal Street, where he and many others experiencing homelessness have been living since spring. He said he doesn’t know where he’ll be sleeping Friday night.
"I haven’t thought that far ahead," Bliss said.
Police began shaking the walls of more than a dozen tents and shelters along the street starting at 8 a.m., telling people inside the work crews would begin clearing the area at 9 a.m. A group of community volunteers offered plastic totes, food and hot drinks, plus cold-weather items such as handwarmers and socks. Some of the city and emergency service workers offered trash bags, along with help packing or disposing items, which Bliss accepted begrudgingly.
"If they were really concerned they wouldn’t be doing this," he said. "I’m just doing what I’ve got to do because they're forcing my hand. There's no real option I can go to — I mean, they’re going to push me around wherever I go."
Notices about the planned cleanup were posted several days ago by the city, with officials stating it was necessary due to the arrival of winter weather, which means streets and sidewalks will need to be plowed regularly. Businesses and residents at nearby properties have also expressed complaints about litter and other adverse impacts of the camping.
The city’s cold-weather emergency shelter opened on Oct. 15 about a mile south of downtown Juneau and some people being evicted from Teal Street said they were likely to spend the night there. The shelter is open from 9 p.m. to 6:45 a.m., with a shuttle between Teal Street in the Mendenhall Valley and downtown.
However, the shelter has a rule restricting possessions to one backpack and one suitcase unless staff approval for more is given — and items cannot be left there while the shelter is closed during the day — creating a challenge for people trying to move from Teal Street with all of their possessions.
Two excavators starting at opposite ends of the street began tearing sites down shortly after 9 a.m., filling dump trucks with wood, tent fabric, leftover household items and trash. The machines bypassed some sites during their first pass to give people still packing up a bit of extra time before returning to complete the clearing.
When the machines were done — clearing nearly all the sites within a couple of hours — city workers with shovels, litter grabbers and buckets cleared the smaller debris alongside the street. Meanwhile, some of the displaced campers waited by stacks of possessions to be moved to storage or another place where they planned to set up tents and shelters.
Among those offering to transport items was Bri Brint, a member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church, who parked a U-Haul truck loaded with plastic totes near a table where food was being served. She told people being ousted they could store a tote — and tent if they had one — at the church located about two miles away on Cinema Drive.
"The truck will be parked on Aldersgate lot for eight days," she said. "We'll have it until next Friday, and then we're hosting a community dinner so you all can come get hot food."
Food and practical items were distributed by the community activist group ReSisters, after discussing their plans with the Juneau Police Department, said Claire Richardson, a group volunteer. She said some members, such as chaplains, were also assisting as grief counselors.
"We're just here in case anyone wants to talk because it could be pretty dramatic today," she said.
Several JPD officers monitored the clearing of sites, which made the packing process more tense for some of the campsite occupants.
"You don’t need this many cops out here for something like this," said Kevin Jainese, who said he planned to continue camping out at a different location.
The police presence was to ensure a sense of safety for the city workers involved in the cleanup, said Deputy Police Chief Krag Campbell, who was among the first to notify people at the campsites about the evictions.
"A lot of the guys that are coming to clean up, they don't know any of the people that are here," Campbell said. "Our officers do, so they can communicate with them. You build rapport and so that does help."
People moving their campsites to other places will be subject to the same city policy that applies during summer months, which allows dispersed camping on public land that is not disruptive, Campbell said. That policy was enacted after the closure of a sanctioned homeland campground two years ago due to a sharp rise in reported illegal activities including drug use and assault. Another policy that took effect this year requires JPD to give campers a 48-hour eviction notice and people cannot return to that spot for at least 72 hours.
Curtis Davis, waiting next to a couch on which his possessions were stacked and covered with a tarp, said he was planning to camp along a river that night, possibly with other people leaving Teal Street. He said while there were difficulties during the past months at the site, it was better than some of the places he’s tried to live when he’s been without housing during the past few years.
"Believe it or not, it's better to stay around other campers because that way I have security, sort of," he said. "We have people who snitch on people who enter tents to steal stuff and such."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
Additional photos from the Teal Street cleanup. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)
