City crews, police spend hours clearing out belongings of those living in Stanbery Park
Oct 31, 2024
Police officers and crews from the City of Cincinnati spent hours in Mount Washington Thursday packing trucks and trailers full of items like books, boxes and clothes most of the stuff belonging to people who have been living at Stanbery Park."They just came in this morning and started taking my stuff up out of here," Jessica Johnson said. Johnson and a few other people living in the park watched as their belongings were taken by the city. She said no one gave them a reason for the clean-up, just telling her to grab what she could and leave.Cincinnati city crews at the park told WCPO the items were being thrown away at a nearby dumpster."My dead mom's stuff's there," Johnson said. "It's all I had left of my mom, it's right there on the truck."Some people who visit the park say the people living there are causing a safety concern to neighbors. "The homeless encampments have been invading our area lately, and it's been an ongoing project," said Jack Diesel, a Mount Washington Community Council member.Diesel said the people living in the park were warned and offered alternatives before Thursday's clean-up.Last June, the Supreme Court ruled that it is not cruel and unusual punishment for a city or municipality to punish someone for sleeping outside, even if they don't have a place to go. Days before that ruling, the City of Cincinnati and the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition reached an $83,000 settlement stemming from a lawsuit over how former city officials handled a large camp of people living in tents on 3rd Street in 2018.The city also changed its policy regarding how city officials handle complaints about homeless camps. We reached out to city officials for more information on the clean-up and whether people living there were offered alternatives beforehand but we haven't heard back.As for Johnson, she said she's now left scrambling."(I'm going to) try to find somebody that's going to help and listen to my story and try to help me," said Johnson.