Volunteers cleaning up homeless encampment near West End Bridge call on city to help

PITTSBURGH — From soiled clothing to old furniture to discarded food items and trash, residents in the West End told Channel 11 that the area near the West End Bridge looked like an open-air drug market.

“It’s just a mess and people shouldn’t have to live like this,” volunteer Nick Santillo said. “We found buckets and buckets of needles, Narcan, needles it’s the biggest issue.”

Back in November, Pittsburgh City Council introduced a bill that would create a new zoning district called “temporary managed communities,” where homeless encampments could exist with the assistance of staff, heat and food. That bill has not yet been passed.

And when residents asked if this encampment could be cleaned up, officials never showed.

“They are living on railroad property, and the [city] won’t do anything because it’s on someone else’s property,” Santillo explained.

Tired of waiting, a group of about a dozen volunteers asked the homeless resident if they had permission and then began collecting the debris.

“We need bodies, and if the city isn’t going to do it, we will,” said organizer Bobby Harr.

The group said their goal is to provide a safe environment for individuals living in the encampment.

“We are not touching any of their stuff, we are throwing away the things they don’t want, and we are making it more livable for them,” Harr said.

The volunteers said that now, the city must do the rest of the work.

“If it’s city property I just don’t see any excuse. I would like to just see them do their job,” Harr said.

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