Homeless camp bulldozed in northwest park
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 6, 2009 | 4:28 PM MT
CBC News
A homeless camp in Shouldice Athletic Park that police say was occupied by the working poor was bulldozed Wednesday. (CBC)City crews have bulldozed a camp set up by homeless people in a northwest park that police say has been a problem for years.
After receiving a complaint about the camp in Shouldice Athletic Park on Home Road, police said they gave the residents 24-hours to remove what they needed before moving in on Wednesday afternoon.
The camp was built in a hollowed-out mound of dirt that police believe was once used to breed foxes. Among the items left behind in the camp were a gas stove, magazines, food and even a couple of computer memory sticks.
Calgary Police Const. Jud Niven said the spot near the Bow River was popular with the city's homeless, so after three years of trying to evict the people who camped there, the city decided to bulldoze it.
"We go through every year and try to clean up along the river bank," Niven said. "This one here is more of a permanent site … So we clean it up, and people move back in. Over here is the bike path. A lot of people use it in the community, and it's just a danger."
Niven described the residents as "working poor" and said they were given information on resources available to help them find new accommodation.
Later this month, officials will do a "blitz" of the riverbanks, take note of camps and give the homeless campers 24-hours' notice before cleaning the sites up.
"There are some very intricate set-ups all along this side of the river and on the south side of the river as well," Niven said. "It's working poor, and we try and help them in any way we can, but we do give them fair warning."
