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

January 3, 2023

 

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.

Read the rest of the op-ed at The Arizona Republic

Timothy Sandefur is Vice President for Legal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute, which has filed an amicus brief in support of Phoenix residents’ lawsuit against the city for maintaining a public nuisance.

Austin VanDerHeyden is Municipal Affairs Liaison at the Goldwater Institute.

 

 

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