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    A North Las Vegas Homeless Camp Was Bulldozed Archived Message

    Posted by sashimi on December 13, 2020, 5:11 pm

    Heidi Kyser, 7 December 2020

    (quote)
    Monday November 30, officials bulldozed an encampment that houseless
    people had been living in along a wash near Lake Mead Boulevard and
    Losee Road.

    The cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, as well as the Department
    of Transportation, cited unsafe conditions at the camp. The three
    public entities share jurisdiction of the area.

    But advocates for the people living in the camp say the government's
    action was not only heartless, but it actually made the situation much
    worse by displacing people who have nowhere else to go -- and went
    against CDC pandemic guidelines.

    Joey Lankowski is with Food Not Bombs Las Vegas. His organization
    helped the people living in the encampment, at first, by bringing in
    tents but then later they built tiny homes where they could live, keep
    their belongings and stay isolated from others to avoid spreading
    COVID-19.

    "We ended up building 26 tiny homes for folks at that encampment and
    really it is an ideal location because it's 'out of sight, out of
    mind,'" he said.

    Lankowski said the city of Las Vegas doesn't want people camping
    downtown and Clark County doesn't want them sleeping on the Strip. So,
    the area, which has been used by homeless people for a long time, is a
    good place to be.

    In addition, there is a natural spring that allows people to get fresh
    water. Lankowski and his group envisioned a self-sustaining community
    at the encampment.

    They had a plan to put solar panels on the tiny huts for power, start
    gardens for free food, install compostable toilets for waste
    management and divert the spring for more water.

    "Free food, free water, free energy, free housing," he said, "It
    really was going to be something beautiful and completely
    self-sufficient, self-sustaining and I think that's what really scared
    the government."
    (/quote)
    -- Cont'd at https://knpr.org/knpr/2020-12/north-las-vegas-homeless-camp-was-bulldozed-now-what

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