JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Residents of the Murray Hill neighborhood say their quality of life is deteriorating as a growing homeless encampment at John D. Liverman Park brings safety fears and public indecency to their backyard. <\/p>\n
What began as one tent appearing before Thanksgiving has turned into a \u201cconstant rotation\u201d of individuals living just feet from private backyards. For long-time residents like Dennis Smith, who has lived in the area for 25 years, the change is heartbreaking. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just gone downhill,\u201d said Smith. <\/p>\n
Smith recounted a home invasion that occurred before his wife passed away, noting that intruders knocked her unconscious before ransacking their home. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame they\u2019re in that predicament, but it\u2019s also very dangerous.\u201d <\/p>\n
The concerns aren\u2019t limited to property crime. Rebecka Gilliam, whose property is near the park, says the encampment has exposed her family to graphic behavior. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy 14-year-old happened to be taking the dogs out on our property, and one of the gentlemen was visibly urinating outside,\u201d Gilliam said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not a good exposure for anybody with children or anybody in the public,\u201d she said. Her kids are no longer able to go to the park alone and need supervision in their own backyard. <\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n Neighbors say trash and discarded needles litter the park grounds. While the occupants were previously asked to leave, residents say they returned within days, bringing even more tents with them. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to stare at homeless tents and listen to people screaming,\u201d Gilliam added. \u201cIt\u2019s just not a community anymore; it\u2019s trash.\u201d <\/p>\n The city said in a statement. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department Providing Assistance to the Homeless Team is continually conducting outreach to people experiencing homelessness across the city and connecting them to shelter resources. <\/p>\n Citizens are encouraged to report any encampments they encounter to 904-630-CITY (2489) or at myjax.custhelp.com so that the City of Jacksonville Blight Director and PATH team can review the area and reach out to the individuals living in the encampment.\u201d <\/p>\n For the people of Murray Hill, the goal is simple: they want to feel safe in their homes again. <\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Residents of the Murray Hill neighborhood say their quality of life is deteriorating as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[643,52365,969,116,118,117,6489,12814,52363,634,30867,52366,52364,1189],"class_list":{"0":"post-99510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action_news_jack","9":"tag-dennis_smith","10":"tag-jack","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","13":"tag-jacksonville-news","14":"tag-jessica_salinas","15":"tag-jfrd","16":"tag-john_d-_liverman_park","17":"tag-local","18":"tag-murray_hill","19":"tag-pat","20":"tag-rebecca_gilliam","21":"tag-thanksgiving"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}