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Along one row of benches at the northeast corner of the square, six men are lined up - some covered by dirty blankets, others simply rolled over on their side. On the south side of the park is a man with a cast on one leg, his crutches propped up against the bench he's sleeping on.
"It's free air. There's a breeze. It's better out here," said a still-groggy Chris Coleman, a 41-year-old man from West Philadelphia who was using his sneakers and socks as a pillow.
"It's quiet. There's no hassle, no screaming, no one being ripped off. It's better than LOVE Park. Over there, they just drink, do drugs. You have two cops over there that harass people, but not here," said Juan Gomez, 42, who said he'd been on the streets since 1983.
During the summer months, the number of homeless bunking overnight in Rittenhouse Square's six acres can swell to 60.
And while homeless people say they like the comforts of the high-end neighborhood, the Rittenhouse Square residents, managers of nearby businesses, and Fairmount Park Commission employees who maintain the grounds complain that the resulting problems have gotten worse this summer, making their jobs and neighborhood life more difficult.
Saul Cabrera was working with a leaf blower in the park, waiting for the noise of his machine to roust the homeless.
"We're like the alarm clock. We have to clean the ground under the benches. They get angry and don't want to move," said Cabrera, a city maintenance worker from Puerto Rico who spoke in Spanish.
Elijah Mauldin, a Fairmount Park Commission maintenance worker, said he regularly picked up human waste from the homeless near a shed on the west side of the park.
"There was some actually over there this morning," he said.
The Rittenhouse Square City Institute branch of the Free Library estimates that 25 percent of its patrons are homeless people who use the restrooms and enjoy the air-conditioning.
"A number of the homeless people know the staff and they know what the rules are," said Julie Doty, an administrative librarian for the Center City branches.
David Benton, general manager of the Rittenhouse Hotel, said guests often complain about homeless people.
"They like to take their children to the square, take their dogs for a walk, and wonder why there are so many homeless people on Rittenhouse Square. It really makes an impact on their visit here," Benton said.
"This year," he added, "is definitely worse. . . . You see more around."
The homeless were back in the park last night, the kind of balmy night after an unforgiving hot day that draws dozens of young couples, packs of teenagers, and scores of dog walkers to one of the city's jewels.
Amid the couples cuddling in the grass and the young adults hanging out were a handful of people, most of them men, preparing to bunk down for the night.
By 10:30, about a dozen had taken up spots, most of them avoiding the bustle of the park's center, instead curling up on the benches along the perimeter or on grassy spots near the square's far corners.
A man in his 40s with a salt-and-pepper beard and cargo pants had staked out a bench near the Walnut Street side. Although he was surrounded by people chatting and being boisterous, the man was in a deep sleep, his head resting on a book bag. The people paid him no mind.
In summer, the number of homeless people sleeping on the city's streets tends to rise.
Sister Mary Scullion, cofounder of Project HOME, a local nonprofit that works with the homeless, said warm weather pushes homeless people out of the shelters and into locations such as Rittenhouse Square.
"The shelters are pretty crowded right now, and you can understand why someone in the summer months would pick Rittenhouse Square instead of a shelter. . . . I definitely think the economy has had an effect on the number of people experiencing homelessness. The cost of utilities, gas, costs rising, and people at the bottom just can't afford it," she said.
Paul Levy, president and chief executive officer of the Center City District, acknowledged the fine line the city must walk in enforcing laws while respecting people's rights.
"When is someone exercising their right to do what they want? Not an easy question to answer," Levy said.
As to how local residents feel about the homeless sleeping in Rittenhouse Square, Levy said, "The reactions run the full range of human reaction."
"Some are angry about nothing being done about it. Some are upset about citations they get when homeless go through their trash," Levy said.
The nonprofit Friends of Rittenhouse Square last year began a campaign to install armrests on benches.
Jennifer Reynolds, a spokeswoman for the Friends of Rittenhouse Square, said the armrests serve one purpose - "to discourage the use of the bench as a bed."
On a recent weekday morning, sentiments were mixed among neighborhood residents over the homeless spending the night in the park.
Molly Church, walking her dog early one morning in the square, said: "For the most part, it doesn't bother me. Most of them are sleeping in the morning and don't pose that much of a threat to me personally. It's public space. They have as much right to be sleeping there as I do to walk my dog here."
Another resident said patrols by police and other agencies were inadequate.
"In previous years, they used to bring a cop car and go through early in the morning . . . and that hasn't been occurring at all anymore," said Garret VanErk as he walked his two dogs. "I think the people who should be targeted are the ones that are creating a public nuisance."
Sister Mary of Project HOME said that the more people take notice of the problem and realize that it is unacceptable, the closer we come to finding a solution.
"What kind of society are we when we can find a billion dollars to house art on the Parkway when we can't even house our own people?" she asked.
Find videos, slide shows and a recent three-part series on the homeless in Philadelphia at http://go.philly.com/homeless
Inquirer staff writer Allison Steele contributed to this article.
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