Columbus plans to clear homeless camp near closed Heer Park on Far South Side
The parking lot at Heer Park is now a wide patch of lumpy asphalt. The park's playground and BMX track for bicyclists — gone.
To the south of the park sits a homeless camp where about 20 tents were clustered near each other Monday.
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The Columbus Department of Recreation and Parks and Columbus-Franklin County Metro Parks officials have discussed the possibility of creating a new park on the site of the closed Heer Park on West Williams Road near South High Street, which had been plagued by vandals and illegal dumping, as well as drug use.
The city first plans to clear out the homeless camp adjacent to the Heer Park site and cleanup that area in the next few weeks. The people living at the campsite have been told they must leave by June 14, said Emerald Hernandez-Parra, assistant director of special projects in the city's Department of Development.
Hernandez-Parra said she is not sure where those in the camp will go. "We encourage them to seek shelter. We can't force them to go inside," she said.
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There's been reported drug use at the camp, Hernandez-Parra said, and nearby retailers have reported thefts and damage to buildings.
"We have reports of these issues linked to the encampment; however, no, not all damage and theft is being attributed to them," Hernandez-Parra said later in an email.
Columbus police Sgt. Ed Daniher, who oversees police community liaison officers on the South Side and other parts of the city, said health and sanitation are the biggest problems he has seen.
"Our concern is with the well-being of the campers, to ensure that everyone is safe," he said. "Homelessness is not a police problem. You can’t solve it with arresting someone."
Homeless advocates to protest city's planned eviction of campers
Emily Myers, a homeless advocate with the group Heer to Serve, said her organization will be protesting the June 14 eviction and plans to hold a press conference near the park at noon on Tuesday.
"They're trying to kick out everybody with no alternatives," said Myers, who lives in a neighborhood nearby. "We're telling people we value property over people."
"They're getting evicted again. It's a waste of taxpayer dollars," she said.
The city announced in February 2021 that it was "temporarily" closing the park, with one parks official writing the Far South Area Commission about "ongoing challenges with drug use, homeless camps, ATV use and generally speaking, an uptick in violent activities at Heer Park." However, the park never reopened and the city removed all of its features.
A new park is far from a sure thing yet; there's no budget or timeline.
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Mount Carmel Street Medicine visits the camp near Heer Park as well as others, providing wellness checks, insect repellant, sunscreen, and addiction and other services to those at the camp, Mount Carmel spokeswoman Samantha Irons said.
She said most homeless camps Mount Carmel serves are on the city's South Side and Far South Side.
Dustin McKee, executive director of the Make-A-Day Foundation, a nonprofit that works with the homeless population, said they visit the camp once a week to provide food in partnership with the Mid-Ohio Food Collective and medical services.
Chris Keller, who lives in the Fairlane Mobile Home Park just north of the park site, said homeless camps have existed near Heer Park for a long time.
"The city don't care," said Keller, 56, who said people would find needles in the park.
Keller would like to see a new park there. "The kids used to play there. They can't play. They took the park out," he said.
Metro Parks spokeswoman Jill Snyder said the parks district bought 50.7 acres adjacent to Heer Park in October 2019 for about $1.1 million. Metro Parks used Clean Ohio funds for the purchase of the land, which officials are calling Scioto South.
Neither Metro Parks nor the city have a timeline to develop the park, Snyder said. Metro Parks is removing invasive species, such as honeysuckle, she said.
"We have no plans for it right now," said Tim Moloney, Metro Parks director.
But Moloney said the area — located behind the Walmart and Lowe's on South High Street — would be a great location for a park.
"It’s a very interesting piece of property for us. It's close to the Scioto River," he said.
Metro Parks officials are interested in running a trail from Interstate 270 north along the river through the area to connect with Scioto Audubon Metro Park just south of Downtown.
Becky Walcott, treasurer of the Far South Columbus Area Commission, said she wants to see a new park.
"Obviously we want Metro Parks to proceed. The area needs a park. It's growing like crazy," Walcott said.
Walcott said she and others have met with some of the homeless, listening to their concerns and issues.
Tony Holbrook, 48, said he moved to the homeless camp near Heer Park 10 years ago after a flood forced him and his partner out of their previous campground near the Scioto River.
Holbrook said he worked maintenance for Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister. He said that after catching a bacterial infection from drinking water and experiencing a van fire, his life suffered after so many setbacks.
"It's hard to feel motivated," Holbrook said.
The city has issued him an eviction notice, and Holbrook said he plans to move by June 14 into the woods elsewhere, as he has no other options.
He's watched as the camp near Heer Park grew from just four campers to more than 20, with many people coming from evicted camps on the city's West Side.
"People come in floods," he said. "It's like a prison. We're all stuck out here together."
Adam Sutphin, 46, another resident at the camp near Heer Park who has been there for the past five months, viewed the culture of the camp differently.
"We've come to look upon each other and lean on each other," he said. "It's one big family."
Although Sutphin said he doesn't know where he will relocate to, he said he and other campers will load up shopping carts and move wherever they can.
At least two other homeless camps nearby not under city eviction threat
There are at least two other camps nearby not located in the area the city wants cleared, both northwest of where West Williams Road dead-ends near the Scioto River.
Jeff Daniel, 48, lives in one of those homeless camps close to the river, sparing him from the city eviction.
He said he's lived at that camp for 13 months, and in that time has started to work through his hardships, including a previous drug addiction and divorce from his wife of 13 years.
Still, Daniel said getting back to reality is the hardest part of living at the camp.
From cooking and cleaning to eating and using the restroom, he said, "every single thing you can think of is hard."
Some residents in the camps not threatened with eviction also expressed frustration over poor treatment from local authorities and some staff members at the nearby Walmart, Kroger and National Storage Centers.
Jay Chindavong, 37, said campers often are stereotyped and blamed for issues in the area, like illegal dumping that he says is the fault of locals.
"We're the ones out here at night," he said. "We see it."
When he visits stores in the area for food and supplies, Chindavong said the shopping experience isn't a comfortable one. He shops with his money visible to avoid suspicion that he will steal.
It gets easier when local organizations and residents stop by with food and supplies to help out the campers, Holbrook said, but even that is short-lived.
Business owners have called the police on churches and other organizers who visit the camp to get them off the property, Holbrook said. Other times, owners or city officials will "provoke us so they have a reason to kick us out."
"They think we're all drug addicts," he said. "Not all homeless people are on drugs. There's so much talent out here."
Homeless advocates protested the city's "temporary" closure of Heer Park in February 2021, saying it would hurt their ability to provide clothes, tents, tarps and other necessities to the approximately 50 to 60 homeless people who were coming on Friday and Saturday nights. City officials allowed them to continue to help.
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