The sleeping pods are gone from downtown Tucson sidewalks, but the longstanding protest isn't over, organizers say.
Around noon Friday, organizers began carting the more than two dozen wooden pods onto trailers. They were taken to Central City Assembly church β which also opened as a temporary shelter for some of the residents of the homeless encampment.
More than 40 people planned to continue to sleep on the sidewalks surrounding downtown's Veinte de Agosto park, said organizer John Cooper.
Those who do so must not obstruct sidewalks, and they will no longer be allowed to have the pods or tents, said Tucson Police Sgt. Pete Dugan.
People's possessions were left on downtown sidewalks for hours Friday during the clean-up. Shoes and socks, toothbrushes and utensils were strewn across the sidewalks where the pods used to be.
Protestors said they liked sleeping in the pods because it kept them out of the elements and gave them a place to store their belongings.
The city brought a large roll-off container for trash and large items, including a futon that had been a fixture on Church Avenue on the edge of Veinte de Agosto Park for weeks.
The protestors were invited to throw away items they didn't want, but no possessions were taken by police and no arrests were made, Dugan said. "This was a property issue, not a people issue," he said.
Among the items in the roll-off container were shoes and clothing, a bicycle and a loaf of Wonder Bread.
Social workers and police officers met with the inhabitants of the camp during the past week. Cliff Wade, a veterans outreach specialist with Old Pueblo Community Services, said he was "getting the word out to people that they have a place to go tonight."
"We've gotten a few people off the streets from here," Wade said. Four have already moved into the Salvation Army's Tucson Hospitality House and two will move in during the next week. The end goal is 20, he added.
People at the encampment, dubbed Safe Park, faced a 6 p.m. city-ordered deadline to remove dozens of wooden boxes from Veinte de Agosto Park and the surrounding area.
"We're getting a lot of good cooperation out here," said Capt. Paul Sayre of Tucson police.
After the 6 p.m. deadline, if some of the structures, including tents, were not moved out, there would be no more warnings, he said. Any structure left behind would be removed.
"We've certainly done our due diligence," Sayre said.
Tucson police began posting notices Tuesday afternoon on tents and boxes lining downtown streets, notifying the homeless occupants of Friday's deadline.
Police started posting the violation notices after a federal judge told city officials earlier Tuesday that nothing has prevented them from enforcing health and safety codes.
U.S. District Court Judge David Bury told city officials the structures, called Dream Pods, are not recognized as an extension of the occupants' free-speech rights.
The notices say the wooden boxes and tents are an obstruction of a public sidewalk.
The city also is preparing a new ordinance that would ban urban camping. Protest organizer Cooper said he wants "safe zones," where people may sleep outside without violating the law.
Cooper has lived at Safe Park since the protest began in October 2013 and he has been arrested for obstructing the sidewalk 18 times, he said.
