Tents Don’t Pop Up On The Green, For Now

Anthony wasn’t sure where he and his fiancee would be spending the night Wednesday. 

But he did know where they wouldn’t be: in a downtown encampment proposed, and ultimately postponed, by a group of unhoused activists.

“I’m not staying on the Green,” he said. ​“I’m not getting arrested.”

Pushing a stroller filled with blankets and spare clothing, all quickly soaked through in Wednesday afternoon’s rain, Anthony was one of around 50 people to gather on the Green by Church Street across from City Hall at around 4 p.m.

The Unhoused Activists Community Team (U‑ACT) had initially planned on pitching tents and spending the night on the Green, in view of the mayor’s second-floor office at City Hall, to protest past clearings of homeless encampments.

After speaking with Mayor Justin Elicker, Police Chief Karl Jacobson, city Chief of Staff Sean Matteson, and a handful of other top city cops for roughly an hour, and then gathering in a circle to talk amongst themselves for another hour after that, the group ultimately decided to scrap Wednesday’s encampment plans.

They did so because of the rain and prospect of arrests, and with the hopes that — if they spend the next month intensively organizing the homeless and local housing activists — they can bring out an even bigger crowd for a subsequent action on the Green later this summer.

As the rain poured down, Elicker listened as person after person expressed their frustrations with the closing of the last of the city’s warming centers on Tuesday and how hard it can be to find a spot in the city’s at-capacity shelter system. The mayor responded by pointing to efforts his administration has undertaken to promote the creation of lots more housing, including below-market-rent affordable housing, as well as its purchase of the former Days Inn hotel on Foxon Boulevard and conversion of that site into a non-congregate homeless shelter.

“My goal is not to have people at a hotel either,” he said. ​“It’s to have people stabilized, then have long-term housing.”

An attendee named Brian C. asked the mayor point blank what would happen if the encampment proceeded on the Green as planned. ​“Somebody told me if we set up a tent tonight, they’re going to arrest us. Is that true?”

“You’re not allowed to set up tents,” the mayor replied.

“That’s crazy,” Brian said. But will people get arrested? 

“If you sleep in a tent and don’t let us remove it, you may get arrested,” Elicker said. Sleeping outside won’t get you arrested, but setting up an unauthorized structure might.

As he searched through every pocket of his backpack for a missing pack of cigarettes, Brian said with exasperation, ​“What am I supposed to say? I’m on the fucking streets.” He said he was at The 180 Center warming center on East Street on Tuesday, but that center is now closed for the season. ​“I’m trying to get into an encampment,” he said, ideally the one on Rosette Street behind the Amistad Catholic Worker House, but there might not be enough room.

Mark Colville, who co-runs the Amistad Catholic Worker House, gathered attendees into a circle at around 4:30 to try to figure out as a group what to do next.

“At some point, we’re going to have to defy this man,” he said about the mayor. ​“I’m perfectly willing to set up a tent right now and tomorrow and the next day. I’ll do that. Anybody else want to do that?” Or does anyone else have any other ideas for what to do tonight? ​“Let’s talk about it.”

And that’s exactly what happened next. 

“Personally, I and my fiancee don’t want to get arrested,” said Anthony. If there are tents available, give them out, and let people be on their way. ​“I’m not getting arrested.”

Bridgett Williamson suggested the group defer the encampment for today because of the rain, and then come back on a dryer day and with even more people. ​“There’s power in numbers,” she said.

Alexis Terry pointed out that, with Arts & Ideas just around the corner, the police presence on the Green might only be heavier in the weeks to come. Plus, rain shouldn’t be a deterrent for a protest encampment on the Green: rather, the bad weather underscores just how difficult it is to sleep outside.

After 20 minutes of talking through alternative plans for the night, the group broke for a meal — of macaroni and cheese, pulled pork, and chicken — before gathering again to make a decision on what to do Wednesday night, and going forward. Representatives from the city’s COMPASS non-cop crisis response team were also present during dinner, collecting people’s contact information and trying to find them emergency places to stay for the night.

Ultimately, at Colville’s suggestion, those gathered agreed to continue organizing in the month ahead, including by going to U‑ACT’s weekly meetings on Friday afternoons at the downtown public library. In a month’s time, Colville said, an even larger group will come back to the Green for a subsequent action uplifting the basic human rights of those with nowhere to sleep but outside.

Anthony, meanwhile, was confident that, when he got his hands on a tent Wednesday, he’d be able to find somewhere to sleep, even if he didn’t know exactly where. ​“I’m pretty much on the ground,” he said. ​“If I got a tent right now, I’d find a place very quickly. But I’m not staying on the Green.”