Homeless Vets @ Camp Alpha Here in Mesa Hit The Headlines Again

While Mesa Mayor John Giles took a vow last year to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2016, recently declaring the issue was 'a functional zero'  reality once again intrudes on yet another figment of the Mayor's imagination.
Nothing shows the continuing problem of veteran homelessness more than Camp Alpha, a camp set-up to help homeless veterans here in Mesa.

Other than denying there is a continuing problem, one way to deal with is to get it out of the picture in the media spotlight.
Your MesaZona blogger published this post more than a month ago:
 Veterans Homelessness: Mesa Mayor John Giles Uses "Double-Talk ...

https://mesazona.blogspot.com/2017/01/veterans-homelessness-mesa-mayor-john.html

Jan 18, 2017 - “Camp Alpha,” run by Veterans on Patrol, has been operating west of Country ... Mesa Mayor John Giles, speaking at a conference of mayors in ...

That reality hit the headlines again on Friday, reported by Jim Walsh
Mesa homeless camp told to vacate state land    

By Jim Walsh, Tribune Staff Writer Feb 24, 2017

According to a published report in The East Valley Tribune the Arizona Department of Transportation served a notice-to-vacate on Friday afternoon at an encampment for homeless vets called Veterans on Patrol.The deadline now for the homeless to leave voluntarily is 9 a.m. on March 3, after a 30-day reprieve was granted in December to abandon Camp Alpha, a Mesa homeless camp started by a veterans’ organization near the Loop 202.
Tim Tait, an ADOT spokesman, said conditions at the camp have deteriorated since December.  “It is no longer safe to stay at the homeless camp,” Tait said.

Greg Rodriguez, an ADOT right-of-way and property manager, served the notice at about 5 p.m. to Art Hagberg, a volunteer who said he is not part of a council that will decide what Veterans on Patrol will do next. Rodriguez taped the notice to the No Trespassing sign and declined to comment.
“At the end of this time, ADOT will clear and secure this parcel,” the notice said. 

 

– Reach Jim Walsh at 480-898-5639 or at jwalsh@timespublications.com.

UPDATE Tue 28 Feb 2017
A group of homeless veterans who have been living in a camp near Loop 202 and the Salt River for the past year intend to relocate to private property in Chandler by the end of this week, a camp co-founder said Tuesday.
Lewis Arthur, co-founder of the camp and several other such camps in Arizona, told The Arizona Republic most of those living there intend to relocate to a 15-acre vacant parcel in north Chandler that is privately owned by a veteran. Arthur declined to identify the owner, and The Republic was not able to confirm the property owner's identity Tuesday.
More details >
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/chandler/2017/02/28/homeless-veterans-camp-near-mesa-plans-move-chandler/98551014/