Attachment A -Citizen Petition Ojile.pdf

Petition to Phoenix Mayor and City Council

To Address Emergency and Long-term Needs for Area within City of Phoenix
Madison Pioneers Coalition

19 February 2020

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(MADISON PIONEERS COALITION

Mayor Kate Gallego; mayor.gallego@ phoenix.gov

Vice Mayor Betty Guardado; council.district.5 @ phoenix.gov
Council Member Thelda Williams; council.district.1@ phoenix.gov
Council Member Jim Waring; council.district.2@ phoenix.gov
Council Member Debra Stark; council.district.3@phoenix.gov
Council Member Laura Pastor; council.district.4@ phoenix.gov
Council Member Sal DiCiccio; council.district.6@phoenix.gov
Council Member Michael Nowakowski; council.district.7@ phoenix.gov
Council Member Carlos Garcia; council.district.8@ phoenix.gov

Subject: Petition to the Phoenix Mayor and City Council
To Address Emergency and Long-term Needs for Area located within and bounded by

Washington Street to the north, Grant Street to the south, 7° Avenue to the east, and 17"
Avenue to the west, City of Phoenix

Honorable Mayor Kate Gallego and members of the Phoenix City Council,

Pursuant to Chapter 4, Section 22 of the Phoenix City Charter, this petition is submitted by the
undersigned, in her individual capacity as a citizen of Phoenix. She also submits this petition on behalf of
the Madison Pioneers Coalition, a neighborhood group of residents, business owners, and property
owners between and near the area bounded by Washington Street to the north, Grant Street to the
south, 7" Avenue to the east, and 17" Avenue to the west.

The Human Services Campus (HSC) is a collaborative partnership of 15 to 20 organizations located ona
13-acre campus within this area at 230 South 12" Avenue. As a non-profit organization, HSC has the goal
to “connect individuals with a wide array of services” and maintain “a safe and secure campus

environment”. The HSC campus includes:

Bryan Garcia Welcome Center
Brighter Way Institute

Circle the City

Community Bridges Inc.

ELAINE

Homeless Court

Maricopa County Adult Probation
Homeless ID Project

HSC Post Office

St. Joseph the Worker

WHE Wd 61 834 Oca

Petition to Phoenix Mayor and City Council

2 > To Address Emergency and Long-term Needs for Area within City of Phoenix
ey Madison Pioneers Coalition
é 19 February 2020

Catholic Charities Veteran Outreach Center

e New Leaf Rapid Rehousing

e The Society of St. Vincent de Paul

e Central Arizona Shelter Services

e Az. Department of Economic Security
e¢ Chaplaincy for the Homeless

Store to Explore

The HSC includes the largest provider of emergency shelter and housing to adults and families
experiencing homelessness in Arizona. Because of the location of HSC and associated organizations
within this neighborhood, the area has become a converging place for people of need in our community
and also for illegal and unsafe activities. Three different problems are converging on the neighborhood
that make the area an immediate and long-term risk to the health, safety, and wellbeing of Phoenix
Citizens. The magnitude of the issues facing this community has dramatically increased to a point that
there are current negative impacts that must be resolved.

The problem is three-fold:

1. Unsanitary conditions pose immediate and long-term health risks. There are NO public toilets
or waste facilities, so the people living on the streets, and in tents and vehicles in the area are
using the streets, alleys, easements and driveways for their toilets. Trash is overflowing
everywhere, creating a breeding ground for rats, with cases of Hepatitis A and B already
recorded. Camp and cooking fires on the streets, parkways and easements have become the
norm, posing a serious hazard for everyone.

2. Numerous homeless encampments on streets. By the City’s own count as of January 2020,
there are more than 230 encampments within a five-block area. Encampments include tents and
hand-made shelters that have been erected along the streets in the neighborhood, usually with
multiple occupants per encampment, and even more living in parked cars. More than 375 tents
were counted on weekends in January 2020. Many of the people populating the streets and
alleys are homeless, sick, and/or mentally ill adults, and families who need a place to live and
sleep. Many of the individuals are dealing with addictions, have been banned from the HSC,
refuse services, or are dealing with mental illness. The extreme number of encampments makes
it difficult to live, walk the streets and conduct legal businesses in the area.

3. Illegal activities abound. There are many people preying on the poor and mentally weak in the
area who commit crimes, including selling and using illegal drugs and stolen goods. Prostitution
is occurring inside tents. Fights, assaults, and thefts are common occurrences. There have been
knifings and beatings. There was a drive by shooting with four shots fired at 11" Avenue on
February 16, 2020. These activities make it unsafe for neighbors and business owners to live,
and walk safely to their cars and businesses.

Petition to Phoenix Mayor and City Council

To Address Emergency and Long-term Needs for Area within City of Phoenix
Madison Pioneers Coalition

19 February 2020

Our Petition. This situation poses a current health and safety emergency for the entire community. We
request the City take the following actions to address the immediate crisis situation and set up long
term remedial solutions to remedy this crisis as follows:

1. Address immediate and long-term sanitation and health risks.

Implement daily and weekly cleanup of the streets, sidewalks, and alleys including
sanitizing, to prevent the spread of disease. This must be implemented now and
continue until the conditions causing this health risk are fully removed. This will help
prevent the spread of disease caused by human and food waste throughout the area.
Install public toilets and waste disposal facilities in the area. These facilities will need to
be managed and cleaned. We request full time clean up crews of public toilets and
waste disposal facilities for both health and safety reasons.

Conduct an Environmental, Health and Safety Assessment and Remedial Option Analysis
of the subject area within 1.5 miles of the HSC to see the impact the HSC is having on
businesses, residents and property owners, both economically and with respect to
health and safety.

2. Provide housing or a safe place for the large number of homeless living in encampments that
make it unsafe to walk the streets in the area:

Immediately open a 24/7 overflow homeless living shelter.
Work with those serving the homeless community to open more shelters in other
portions of the city and county.

3. Mitigate illegal activity in the area that makes it unsafe to live, walk the streets, work, or visit the

area:
e

Work with City and County Police Departments and Fire Departments to stop the
continuing occurrence of illegal and unsafe activities in the area.

Provide adequate resources to the police and fire department assigned to the area to
enable them to enforce laws.

Clarify how the City interprets the 9" Circuit Court Ruling, which we understand is the
reason the police are unable to enforce the city code regarding loitering and camping on
sidewalks in accordance with signs that the City itself has installed in the area.

Provide public toilets and more sleeping areas to make it easier to enforce sanitary
behavior.

Some of the individuals populating the streets have been kicked out of HSC due to illegal
behavior. Instead of being kicked out, a policy of arrest and/or removal from the area
needs to be implemented for the betterment of everyone in the neighborhood.

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MADISON PIONEERS COALITION

Petition to Phoenix Mayor and City Council

To Address Emergency and Long-term Needs for Area within City of Phoenix
Madison Pioneers Coalition

19 February 2020

Long-term, we support the City’s desire to make servicing the homeless more of a regional issue, but we
respectfully request action to avert the current neighborhood crisis.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

XY seye ee Soe

Angela Ojile

President, Madison Pioneers Coalition
214 South 11" Avenue

Phoenix, AZ 85007

Email: AngieOProperties@gmail.com
Telephone: (602) 692-8812

cc:

Ed Zuercher, City Manager, City of Phoenix; ed.zuercher@phoenix.gov

Jeri Williams, City of Phoenix Police Chief; jeri.williams@ phoenix.gov

Paul Penzone, Sheriff, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Headquarters, 550 W Jackson Street, Phoenix 85003
David Cates, Captain, AZ Department of Public Safety, 2222 W. Encanto Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85009

Arizona Republic; newstips@arizonarepublic.com.

The New Times; www. phoenixnewtimes.com/about/contact

Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting; info at azcir.org

Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS), Office of Environmental Health;

EnvironmentalHealth@azdhs.gov