PHOENIX — The City of Phoenix is planning to appeal a court order to clear out “The Zone” homeless encampment in the downtown area.
The judge’s ruling last month orders the city to clear out the encampment by Nov. 4.
The encampment, just blocks away from the State Capitol, still has about 500 people sleeping on the streets, according to a count last week.
This all stems from a lawsuit filed by property owners in the neighborhood last year, claiming the city wasn’t doing enough to keep conditions clean and safe.
Attorneys for the City of Phoenix asked the judge to pause his order to clear out the tents while they work on an appeal, but on Tuesday, the judge denied the city’s motion. In the motion ruling, the judge wrote the following:
THE COURT FINDS after balancing the hardships between: (1) Plaintiff property/business owners and residents; and (2) the City, it is clear to the Court that Plaintiffs face much greater hardship if the Court were to delay implementation of its ruling.
The city wouldn’t comment further on the lawsuit and has not revealed any plans to clear "The Zone" by the Nov. 4 deadline.
The city’s next scheduled deep cleaning in the encampment, which focuses on one block during each cleaning, is next week.
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