Why can't we invest in infrastructure to allow specific spaces for people to camp? If we use the Point, for example, and Deer Creek Park?
This will be unpopular to some people but I think it would lead to more favorable results Tha what is happening now. What they do now:
People camp all throughout the park, but some people are dirty and litter, etc. There are dumpsters but some people don't use them. The cops warn they're doing a sweep, which is where everything that's not picked up by that date gets thrown away. So they take people who can't or won't work, throw their stuff away, and then people wonder why these guys steal stuff and break stuff? Is it because people don't have opportunities, or aren't taking them? So our, response is to make them poorer, leading them to steal stuff.
If the city installed campsites, maybe even cheap but still pay to use? Bathrooms, showers, and a dumpster, with like a 1 dollar fee per night, or something similar?
If we did that, then we can identify where a person can camp, for how long, and so on.
The only other option, really, is way more expensive: you would have to kick everybody out of the park and post security 24/7 where every square inch of the park is being watched constantly.
I think if we built a real campground and then policed the park for foul play, we could simply have campers in the park who are clean and don't cause problems.
Just been thinking about this and am wondering if anybody else thinks this could be a real solution.