June 16, 2024: In the evening the homeless camp on the Rail Trail north of Gordon Pike smelled as if it was burning trash. The smoke was heavy in the area and smelled like burning trash. The City should not be allowing the homeless to openly burn trash on property that is owned by the City along the Rail Trail. This needs to be shut down immediately as it is hazardous to the health of everyone in the are.
The homeless camp along the Rail Trail north of Gordon Pike is burning trash on the evening of June 18, 2024, after 10pm. The smell is very strong in the surrounding area. The City needs to put a stop to this activity immediately as it is occurring illegally on City owned property. The city is allowing the homeless to openly burn on City property, which is ridiculous.
I live off of Thornton Dr and walk the B-Link trail to Switchyard Park daily. I have been observing a Cooper's hawk and two chicks in a nest for several weeks now, and was dismayed to see the city doing tree work over the last few days. They seem to have missed the tree with the hawks in it, but I would like to know 1) what environmental assessments were undertaken prior to conducting the tree work and 2) why the decision was made to remove branches now, during the nesting season, rather than in the fall or winter when most birds are not actively nesting. The disturbance from neighboring trees and noise could have been enough to make the birds abandon the nest out of fear for their safety, and they have lost significant protection from neighboring trees.
This was reported as a fire hazard, and also being reported as a trails issue to keep the parks dept updated on the activity along the Rail Trail. Large fire at 10:10pm on June 19, 2024, in the woods along the Rail Trail. The homeless camp on City-owned property (according to the GIS) is burning a large, open fire this evening. This is on the Rail Trail north of Gordon Pike maybe 0.3 to 0.4 miles, east and south of the Terrace Drive area. This is a significant hazard to the City property and neighboring private property. The fires need to stop and the camps need to be cleared out immediately before the homeless burn acres of woods, fences, sheds, houses, trailers -- anything in the vicinity could go up in flames soon.