My visit to Pinellas Tent City:

Dec 20th, 2008 at 11am

 

            My overall reaction to the operation is that it was even worse than I ever imagined. It is not families who fell on hard times and lost their homes. This is a gathering place for homeless people who are content being homeless. This operation does not help those in the immediate community, it brings the problems of other areas to Clearwater. This place is full of alcoholics and addicts. The conditions they are living in there are no better than on the street. The facility looks nothing like the “campground” that they show in pictures on their website. There are several hundred tents packed 3-4 feet apart. The bathroom and shower facilities are trailers that smell horrific. This is not a place fit for “transitional housing”. This tent and trailer facility is not something that I would wish for anyone to live in. It is definitely not something I want in my community!

 

As I drove up 126th street, I could tell I was getting close to the entrance of the tent city. There were men riding bikes and walking in the road going to and coming from the tent city. I pulled up to the 6 foot chain link fence around the property. I walked through the gate and there were two volunteers there next to a sign stating the day and time of an AA meeting. I asked to tour the grounds and was told I can not walk around but one of them would show me around on a golf cart. We got in cart and we drove by the bathroom facilities and showers. The smell of feces and urine were overwhelming and powerful. This was right next to the dining tent. In regards to the smell and cleanliness, my tour guide said “some of them are good, but others are just like animals. They are the ones that are homeless because they just don’t care.” He also said that they have to tell some to just not come back. He did admit that some of the tenants have been caught drinking and doing things they shouldn’t be and they should really be kicked out, but Sheila doesn’t kick them out.

            My tour guide told me there are no children in the facility. He said there are “married couples” who live in the tents together, but they all know they really are not married. They just say that so they are allowed to stay in the same tent. There are people who hook up at night there.

            When I asked about the capacity of the tent city, he said they were full right now. Homeless people cone down from up north in the winter to get out of the cold weather. He said in the summer they are not as full because people go back north where they are from.

            As we were driving around, one of the tenants complained about the zipper on their tent being broken. He also showed me some of the tents they had to put up on platforms because of the rain and flooding. There were also a few wood sheds. He told me one of the homeless guys there is building them with donated wood. There was one of the structures that was framed and not finished. Next to that there is a port-a-potty because the tenants won’t walk to the bathroom facilities when they have to go at night. There are several port-a-potty units through out the grounds because the tenants will urinate and defecate on the ground at night if the bathrooms are too far away.

            This facility is not fit for anyone to live in. I strongly recommend visiting this facility yourself to see what the Diocese wants to bring to your community. If you think a facility like this one will be good for your community, I know your mind would be changed after a visit there.