Report: Padres tried to drive out homeless before All-Star Game
A new report published on Wednesday suggests that the San Diego Padres worked with the city on an effort to help clean up some of the areas around Petco Park and deter homeless people and loiterers in advance of next month’s All-Star Game.
Voice of San Diego reports the story and presents information obtained through public information requests, which seem to show that the efforts were collaborative between the Padres and the city. However, the city told Voice of San Diego that the clean-up jobs came at the request of residents in Sherman Heights, a neighborhood about a half-mile east of Petco Park.
Though the city told Voice of San Diego the rocks were added in response to residents of Sherman Heights, emails indicated the city was working with the Padres on the project.
What the city did was line streets under a tunnel below the 5 freeway on Imperial Avenue — a popular route to get to Petco Park — with rocks, a measure seemingly aimed at taking away a sleeping spot for homeless.
From Voice of San Diego’s report:
According to emails, John Casey, the city’s liaison with the Padres until March, took the lead on getting price quotes for the rocks. In multiple emails, he urged city staff to move the project along. “Any breakthroughs?” he wrote in a November email. “The Padres and SDPD are asking me when we can see the curbs painted red as well as the rocks at the underpass and Tailgate Park wall.”
In early January, Casey emailed City Traffic Engineer Linda Marabian and laid out a checklist of remaining work to be done before the All-Star Game.
“Back to the vision of Imperial as a Gateway to East Village,” he wrote. “The wrought iron fence has been installed on the wall at Tailgate Park and works well at discouraging loiterers. Remaining work in anticipation of the All Star game is: Rip Rap rocks under the I-5 overpass at Imperial on both sides of the street. Rip Rap rocks at the base of the Tailgate Park wall from 12th to 14th.”
Casey no longer works for the city and is taking all responsibility for the project. He told Voice of San Diego the idea for the rocks was all his and that the timeframe for the All-Star Game was a convenient deadline.
The Padres say they “did not suggest or request that rocks be installed and it was never our intent to deter homeless from the area.” They said in a statement they only wanted no parking signs, lighting under the bridge, and curbs painted red.
The subject of this story should not come as a big surprise considering the city of San Francisco dealt with issues involving the homeless people in the city ahead of the Super Bowl. The question here is whether you believe these specific clean-up efforts were done specifically to make the city/stadium more appealing for the All-Star Game, or whether they just were done at the long-standing request of nearby residents.
H/T Deadspin
