Chillicothe — A recent response to perceived criminalization of the homeless in and around Chillicothe is an organized trash cleanup.
In the February 24th Chillicothe Council, homeless advocate (and naturalist) Amy Fitton offered to help organize quarterly clean-ups of homeless camps.
(Since then, council held a review session on the issue – find my stories and videos on it on the Scioto Post.)
Fitton was responding to complaints about trash around homeless camps on the outskirts of the city limits. Some of this was documented in a drone video by Allagree’s Aerial Photography, posted on Facebook February 9th:
Fitton had spoken before council previous times, saying that she helps feed them at Walnut Street Church.
She also has led the annual Scioto River Cleanup on the morning of Earth Day and the local “Earth Gathering” festival since 1998. The effort cleans up riverside trash “from bridge to bridge” – the US 35 freeway at the Yoctangee Park Annex, to the US 23 / 35 freeway north of Main Street.
She said she would organize a separate cleanup of homeless camps, four times a year, to help with public perception of the trash around them.
Fitton said the homeless have relocated themselves to the outskirts of Chillicothe because they feel no one wants to see them, and that they are willing to clean up. Other speakers have said that keeping the area clean is difficult to do because there are no trash receptacles near enough.
Part of the motivation for the proposed “Anti-Camping” ordinance is for more refined police power to remove and clean up homeless camps.
(Hear the perspective of the Law Director’s office on the intent of the draft legislation, and the process to shape it with public input, in my previous story “Chillicothe Council’s Review Session on “Anti-Camping” Proposed Ordinance is this Afternoon.”)
https://www.sciotopost.com/chillicothe-councils-review-session-on-anti-camping-proposed-ordinance-is-this-afternoon/
Hear Fitton in her own words in the below interview video. Also search for my several stories on this topic – in only the last two months – on the Scioto Post).
