Phoenix Leaders Are Failing Everyone, Homeless or Not, in 'The Zone'

Phoenix officials announced this month that they had started “cleanups” of the vast homeless encampment known as The Zone.

That’s welcome – but at best it’s a tiny fraction of what’s necessary. At worst, it’s a charade by politicians seeking to disguise their refusal to protect the rights of Phoenix’s law-abiding residents.

The Zone now encompasses some 1,000 people, living in tents along Ninth and 13th Avenues from Jefferson Street to the railroad tracks south of Jackson Street, and along Jefferson, Madison and Jackson streets from Eighth to 13th Avenues.