State clears homeless encampments in New London

Sep. 23—NEW LONDON — The state on Monday dismantled several tents under the Gold Star Memorial Bridge being used by homeless residents.

The action was part of an ongoing effort by state and city officials to clear the city of temporary homeless encampments.

A mini excavator spent hours making round-trip journeys up a steep hill under the southbound span of the bridge near Mill Street, returning with loads of twisted canvas, tent poles and wooden frames that were then deposited in a dumpster placed near a pair of state police cruisers.

None of the residents living in the tents could be seen at the clearing site on Monday.

State Department of Transportation spokesman Joe Cooper said Monday the agency was recently asked by the city to address 15 homeless camps under the bridge. He said homeless individuals were notified of the cleanup 72 hours before it took place. He added it is not safe to live on or near the highway.

The department conducted a similar clearing in the area in April, and workers could be seen mowing patches of high grass on Monday where tents stood earlier this year.

A DOT representative at the site said he expected to remove about six tents from under the bridge and at least four more in the coming days from grass areas near the bridge's ramps.

There are also homeless individuals living on city-owned property nearby and which the DOT does not control.

One of those on Monday was Margaret Bozeman, 45, who was preparing to move her collection of clothes, knickknacks and sleeping gear out from her tent site near the former location of the Crystal Avenue apartments.

"This is the third place I've been told to leave since June," said Bozeman, a Biloxi, Miss. native who said she moved to New London in 2021. "I have no idea where I'll go next."

Bozeman, sporting a discolored cast on her left arm and carrying two bagged sandwiches in the other, said she moved to the city from a two-bedroom home she owned to help out her recently-married daughter. She said her landlord earlier this year kicked her out of her apartment, and she turned to living in a tent as a last resort.

Bozeman said representatives of the nearby New London Homeless Hospitality Center two days ago informed her the city could also be soon clearing tents from the waterfront area where she lived near Briggs Brook.

"The worst part of living outside is the rain and having to go potty outside," Bozeman said, adding she had planned to place a generator in her tent spot before winter hit.

Mayor Michael Passero said the city was not "gearing up" to clear tents from the area where Bozeman lived. He said the city works hand-in-hand with Homeless Hospitality Center representatives to find permanent housing for the tent population.

"We don't want to take people's possessions or harass anyone," Passero said. "But there are safety and sanitation issues with those sites and our goal is to get them housed."

Homeless Hospitality Executive Director Cathy Zall said agency outreach specialists are constantly making contact with the city's homeless population, including those living in vehicles, abandoned buildings and tents.

"We're asking 'How can we help?'" she said. "Can we get someone in a shelter? Or are there family members or friends people can stay with?"

Zall said it's no secret when the city or state is preparing to clear a tent encampment — signs like those in front of the bridge on Monday are an unmistakable sign of clearing.

"Compared to other municipalities, New London is pretty well off when it comes to tenting," she said about the number of people living in tents. "That said, it's how it's interpreted. Whether it's five or 10 people tenting illegally, it's still a problem."

Zall said she could not quantify exactly how many people were living in tents in New London.

"With 20 people, you need 20 different plans," Zall said.

A humane approach

City Director of Public Works Brian Sear, whose department is called in to take down illegal tents on city property, said he's usually notified of a tent issue by police or city administrators.

"We don't go in preemptively," he said. "It's a very sensitive and complicated situation that involves health, human services and law enforcement."

Police Chief Brian Wright said the department gets informed of a homeless encampment through a variety of sources, including concerned citizens and social service representatives. Depending on the location of the tents, police will next reach out to the state or, if the shelter is on municipal land, to the city's human service department and Homeless Hospitality Center.

"Regardless of where they're located, we take a human-first approach to the people living there and go in with compassion and diligence," Wright said. "Our first contact in these situations is social services. People aren't in that position without some other related issue, like addiction or mental health."

City firefighters on Sept. 13 were dispatched at approximately 1:15 p.m. to the area of 77 Grove St. for a report of an unattended campfire outside a homeless tent near a set of railroad tracks below Riverside Park, according to an incident report.

The fire spread to 20-by-20-foot area before being extinguished less than 10 minutes later. Fire Chief Vernon Skau said the fire consumed most of the dweller's property, though a lean-to shelter was left intact.

The incident ignited a firestorm of comments on local community social media sites that alternated between contemptuous calls for stronger crackdowns and pleas for compassion.

Skau said the department rarely responds to fire calls at a homeless camp.

"It's more the medical calls," he said. 'And the number of those kinds of calls is small compared to the same kinds of calls we get in the city, but the homeless population is a small segment of that number. We don't judge when we go to those calls. We're there to assist no matter what their living situation."

Jeanne Milstein, the city's human services director, said an encampment near Riverside Park was cleared last week after several homeless residents were provided alternate housing.

"We have a process in these situations that has a focus on acting humanely," she said. "The people are contacted and given notice, along with places to store their items. In the case at Riverside, residents went down and helped clean up that area."