Daytona Beach, FL – The large homeless camp that’s been in front of the Volusia County Administration Building in downtown Daytona Beach for the past 2 months is no more.
The Daytona Beach Police Department ordered all the people living at the camp on 250 North Beach Street since December to leave Friday night after arranging to expand the Salvation Army emergency shelter on 560 Ballough Road by 86 beds.
The part of North Beach Street that’s directly in front of the building was closed to traffic for several hours as the homeless who couldn’t find another place to stay for the night were taken to the Salvation Army shelter.
DBPD Chief Mike Chitwood noted that all the items the homeless left in front of the building were removed and inventoried for safe-keeping and that the building will be power-washed once all the homeless and their items have been taken away.
Speaking to media at the scene, homeless advocate Michael “Pastor Mike” Pastore – the man whom Chitwood called an “organizational terrorist” for organizing this protest effort after the city closed nearby Manatee Island Park due to alleged damage from the homeless – said he was disappointed that the police department came on scene so suddenly just before 6 PM and ordered everyone to leave.
“My heart’s broken,” Pastore added. “They could have done this a lot more diplomatically but that’s the way they work in this city.”
Pastore promised to sue the city, saying he’s not happy about the way the homeless have been treated by the city in general and during this entire protest in particular.
“The people that control this city – Mori Husseini, Glenn Ritchey, Lesa France-Kennedy – somebody made a call and said shut this down,” Pastore noted. “Chief Chitwood is a tool. He’s the hammer, and to a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I can’t do anything but go along.”
This move comes after Pastore, Chitwood and Daytona Beach City Manager Jim Chisholm met earlier this week and agreed to have all the homeless at the camp move to a temporary 100-bed shelter once the city set it up.
The Salvation Army opened its 46-bed emergency shelter on Monday and Chitwood says it’s since been expanded by enough to accommodate everyone currently staying at the homeless camp. That, he says, now gives him the legal right under the city’s camping ordinance to order all the homeless out of the area and arrest anyone who refuses to go.
The chief also stated that many people in the community – including business leaders and elected officials – managed to raise enough money to get the beds set up at the Salvation Army as well as the storage where the homeless can keep their personal items. Those who don’t wish to go to the Salvation Army can still put their items in storage and find another place to stay, per Chitwood.
Prior to Friday night, county officials had been wary of having the homeless trespassed from the area, with Pastore and other homeless advocates threatening to sue the city and the county for civil rights violations if they were forced to move without having somewhere else to stay.
The camp began soon after the city closed Manatee Island Park, an area that many of the homeless at the camp had been staying in for some time. It soon grew to encompass the whole front of the county building and part of its sides, with Beach Street merchants and employees at the building complaining that the homeless were starting to act more criminally as the camp grew larger.
Chitwood said that he had undercover officers staying at the homeless camp for several days to monitor what was going on and he claims those officers shot video showing all kinds of criminal activity, including prostitution and drug use. That video, according to Chitwood, backed up similar claims from many people staying at the camp who had asked DBPD for help.
“It became quite apparent that we had a huge public safety and public health issue,” Chitwood. “Something had to be done. Some of these folks were being beaten down and shaken down for their money.”
Chitwood promised that DBPD would avoid arresting anyone they didn’t have to but made it clear he would do that if that’s what it took to clear the area. At least 1 person at the camp was led away in handcuffs.
Volusia County had briefly threatened to close the building earlier this week for safety reasons but chose not to do that, instead opting for more security personnel. County officials feared there would be liability issues if the building remained open, especially after county Property Appraiser Morgan Gilreath decided to close his offices based on one of his employees reporting that she had been “accosted” by one of the homeless. Gilreath has since announced that his office will re-open on Monday.
The scene the following morning
Copyright 2016 Southern Stone Communications.