ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 A small group of people living in a row of tents along the Little Lehigh Creek will be allowed to stay there while seeking safer alternatives.<\/p>\n
Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk on Friday morning postponed the creek-side camp\u2019s pending clear-out, which was slated to start Monday. <\/p>\n
City officials made that decision after reviewing the process that led to no trespassing and eviction notices being posted there April 10.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the consequences of asking a person to leave a source of stability. We do not take that lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Matt Tuerk<\/p>\n
A draft administrative policy on encampment \u201cevacuations\u201d was under review last week but not in place until Thursday. It would have required more approvals from city officials and notification for service providers, Tuerk said. <\/p>\n
The Allentown YMCA’s expanded 80-bed shelter served 108 people this winter. They all must figure out a new place to go.<\/p>\n
He maintains his concerns over the safety of the creekside camp, but he said he recognizes he must balance its flood risk against the serious risks that come with forcing people to vacate. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the consequences of asking a person to leave a source of stability,\u201d Tuerk said. \u201cWe do not take that lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0AllentownHomelessCamp_LittleLehigh1.jpg\n <\/p>\n
Allentown crews posted no trespassing signs Friday, April 9, at a homeless camp along the Little Lehigh Creek near Fountain Park. Residents must vacate the area by Monday, April 20.<\/p>\n
Jason Addy<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0AllentownHomelessCamp_LittleLehighKane.jpg\n <\/p>\n
Allentown Managing Director Frank Kane speaks Wednesday, April 15, with a man who lives in a homeless camp along the Little Lehigh Creek near Fountain Park. Residents must vacate the area by Monday, April 20. <\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0AllentownHomelessCamp_LittleLehighCouncil1.jpg\n <\/p>\n
Allentown City Council members Cristian Pungo (far left), Cynthia Mota (second left) and Ce-Ce Gerlach (far right) speak to Managing Director Frank Kane on Wednesday, April 15, that’s set to be shut down Monday, April 20.<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
\n 4 of 7
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0AllentownHomelessCamp_LittleLehigh2.jpg\n <\/p>\n
City crews on Friday, April 9, posted signs at a homeless camp along the Little Lehigh Creek to warn residents they will be evicted from the area Monday, April 20. <\/p>\n
Jason Addy<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0AllentownHomelessCamp_LittleLehighCouncil2.jpg\n <\/p>\n
Allentown City Councilwomen Candida Affa and Cynthia Mota walk through a homeless camp along the Little Lehigh Creek on Wednesday, April 15. <\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
\n 6 of 7
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0AllentownHomelessCamp_LittleLehigh3.jpg\n <\/p>\n
This is the view Jack, 23, has from his grill at the homeless camp along the Little Lehigh Creek, which is set to be cleared Monday, April 20. <\/p>\n
Jason Addy<\/p>\n
\n 7 of 7
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0AllentownHomelessCamp_LittleLehigh6.jpg\n <\/p>\n
Tents and debris line a path along the Little Lehigh Creek and a retaining wall at Fountain Park. The small homeless camp is set to be cleared by city crews starting Monday, April 20.<\/p>\n
Jason Addy<\/p>\n
Danielle Mineo, the city’s unhoused services coordinator, is set to lead the effort to connect residents to \u201csafe alternative housing,\u201d Tuerk said Friday morning in a message to council. <\/p>\n
Mineo and a service provider visited the camp Friday morning to inform residents they could stay past Monday, according to city Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach.<\/p>\n
Homeless people in Allentown need \u201ca temporary solution that doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be better than what we have now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach <\/p>\n
Gerlach said she learned of the mayor’s decision from a camp resident, who told her, \u201cI feel like I can breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hearing \u201cthat is enough\u201d to know council’s efforts to stop the eviction were worthwhile, she said. <\/p>\n
Gerlach on Wednesday introduced an emergency resolution \u2014 unanimously approved by her colleagues \u2014 that urged Tuerk to delay. <\/p>\n
Council members unanimously passed resolutions calling for emergency actions from the mayor and county officials.<\/p>\n
Council also is calling on city and Lehigh County leaders to find a place for homeless residents to safely camp. <\/p>\n
They need \u201ca temporary solution that doesn’t have to be perfect,\u201d Gerlach said. \u201cIt just has to be better than what we have now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whose call?<\/p>\n
Managing Director Frank Kane said this week that the city Public Works Department made the decision with little input from officials or service providers. <\/p>\n
He walked that back Friday evening. <\/p>\n
The decision to shut down the camp was made without proper input from all departments that should’ve been consulted, Kane said, but he didn’t identify who made the final call.<\/p>\n
He said he misspoke when laying the decision on the Public Works employees, who physically posted the signs at the camp. <\/p>\n
Councilwoman Cynthia Mota called that mischaracterization “really unfair” and said the Public Works Department was scapegoated. <\/p>\n
Mota, who chairs council’s public works committee, said the department is often among the last to get involved with encampment evictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 A small group of people living in a row of tents along the Little Lehigh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,2456,2748,121,2458,2454,120,2459],"class_list":["post-169700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-camp","tag-allentown-city-council","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-homeless","tag-allentown-mayor","tag-allentown-news","tag-matt-tuerk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}