Mayor Smiley’s yearly crusade against homeless encampments has been fraught with controversial tactics and community drama. Recently, in his quest to remove them, he’s ravaged forestland and went about hiring, again, another suspicious conservative company. Throughout the dispersion, many who escaped found themselves taking shelter on a local church’s property, much to the dismay of nearby wealthy property owners. Essentially, there was no winning. From decision to execution, it was handled carelessly and barbarically, angering all sides of the community.
Prior to this year’s encampment squash, Smiley was quoted in an interview, stating it was up to local service providers to figure it out, even admitting that there weren’t good options in some cases. This also comes during a time when these same services are being cut and where there aren’t enough beds already. Despite this being communicated to him an innumerable amount of times, he still went through with it, though ignoring experts, advocates, and constituents has been his forte. Ultimately, sentiments remained: What is the mayor’s true objective, and why are we treating our fellow people like cancer? Where would these people go?
To the surprise of no one except the oblivious mayor, encampments shuffled to other places. One such example is St. Edward’s Church, where they volunteered to take some individuals in. However, this drew criticism from nearby unempathetic property owners. For those not fortunate enough to get help from the Church, however, they dispersed into other areas—likely inevitably to be bulldozed once the mayor or police take notice. Perhaps they’ll survive this year’s encampment game and make it to the 2025 one… May the odds be ever in their favor.
Most importantly throughout this horror show, both the mayor and governor have yet to announce any further funding to help alleviate the systemic issues surrounding homelessness. How then, is playing whack-a-mole supposed to benefit anyone? We’re not even dealing with annoying moles either—no, these are humans who deserve dignity, respect, and a place to call home. They shouldn’t have to fight to live against the people who are supposed to be helping them. Where is the empathy in that? Heck, where is the humanity in any of this?!
*The Providence Journal also has a wonderful article about this situation and its ramifications. They also conducted a short interview where the mayor showcased his ignorance and insensitivity to the situation.