Vancouver resident Antonio Buckley shares his experiences with the homeless camp at Leverich Park.
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
Hello, I am organizing my neighbors because we all are concerned about what is going on in Leverich Park. It is hard to write everything, but the city is letting homeless people camp in the overflow parking lot. Now the park has changed. Our home values will plummet.
We are afraid to take our kids there, run there, and walk our dogs through there. Those fears are produced off of the recent experiences we have had there. We are collecting photos and videos. Our pictures include drug needles right where we would walk our children past.
It is out of control and we know our city leaders are not following CDC guidelines. They should regulate it since it was their idea. This wouldn’t happen in our city’s leadership neighborhoods. We started a petition and now have 69 signatures. Once signed, the petition goes straight to the mayor, City Council and the Vancouver Police Department. We plan to put pressure on the leadership to find an alternative to their plan and let us get back to enjoying our neighbor park.
My wife and I spent the day walking and knocking on doors yesterday. We listened to story after story of concerns. From people camping in their yard in a tent, to drug needles, people passing out in their front lawn, gun shots, and a mother who struggles to get her daughter to sleep because their backyard faces the parking lot and there is consent noise at night.
Antonio Buckley
Vancouver
