Last of Pittsburgh's large homeless encampments cleared
After decommissioning encampments on the North Shore and Downtown, the camp on the Southside River Trail was vacated on Tuesday.
Weeks ago, the city posted the trail with signs advising that after Tuesday, camping here would no longer be permitted. By Tuesday morning, all who were there were gone, having at least been offered a shelter bed or single room as an alternative to a tent.
"This has been a long process to ensure that it wasn't traumatic to the population," Camila Alarcon-Chelecki of the city's Office of Community Health and Safety. "That we were able to get all the supports for them. And it wasn't rushed, so we did learn a lot from previous experiences."
Responding to complaints from walkers, runners and cyclists in the past several months, the city has cleared the Eliza Furnace Trail behind the Allegheny County Jail and the trail along the Allegheny River on the North Shore.
On Tuesday, workers from the city's Office of Community Health and Safety began the work of bagging up debris and cleaning the trail for recreational use, taking down the last of the city's large encampments.
"This is the biggest one left, but we will continue to be all over the place," Alarcon-Chelecki said.
Though the city and county say they'll hold the line on the establishment of future large encampments, they do expect tents will continue to pop up here and there.
"While the most visible signs of homelessness may be gone, through offers of housing, we will continue to reach out to people wherever they are," said Erin Dalton of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services.
The homeless population continues to increase in Allegheny County, with 924 availing themselves of shelter and 281 unsheltered. The county has largely succeeded in its plan of developing or identifying 500 units of permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness, but Dalton says more are needed to get people off the street and out of the shelters.
"For our particular population, we need more affordable housing, and we need people willing to give people a second chance," Dalton said.
In decommissioning the major encampments, the city and county have taken a major step in addressing the most visible form of homelessness, but the problem will persist as long as people don't have the means to feed and shelter themselves.
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At the Met, the conservators would 'often hang some of the more complex garments because placing them in a box would crush or create damage to the structure of the garment,' Paulocik told us. 'We would custom make interior supports for garments such as Charles James gowns or some of the more contemporary designers like Alexander McQueen. That often involved a cotton twill tape waistband sewn into the garment to take some of the weight off the piece.' If you do decide to hang your clothes, you should avoid storing anything in dry-cleaning bags or garment bags made from PEVA or PVC. 'You don't want PVC near your clothes.' The goal is to avoid anything that's going to break down over the long term. As these 'bad plastics' age, they off-gas plasticizers. While plasticizers make the bags malleable and soft, in time they become 'really oily and greasy.' Instead, consider garment bags made of cotton or muslin, which is breathable but also protects the clothes from light and dust. 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You can essentially make '[a sausage] out of tissue and stick it up the arm,' she said. Don't raid your supply of everyday tissue paper for this task, since it can yellow and deteriorate over time. Many pieces may be better off stored in a box. To do so, before you pack the garment away, Paulocik suggests bolstering it with and wrapping it in acid-free tissue paper. 'Try to avoid folding as much as possible. And, where you have to, support those folds with acid-free tissue,' she said. When you store a garment in a box, Paulocik recommends wrapping it in and bolstering it with acid-free tissue paper. Buy from Hollinger Metal Edge If you don't want to use acid-free tissue, you can alternatively use plain white cotton sheets, as long as they've been washed and are clean. At the museum, Paulocik would also place a clear plastic sleeve on top of the box, with a picture of the object for quick reference. 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