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A drop in the homeless in Rittenhouse Square

The ranks of the homeless sleeping overnight in Rittenhouse Square have dropped over the past week.

A former college student sleeps on a bench in Rittenhouse Square today. (Jonathan Wilson / Inquirer)
A former college student sleeps on a bench in Rittenhouse Square today. (Jonathan Wilson / Inquirer)Read more

The ranks of the homeless sleeping overnight in Rittenhouse Square have dropped over the past week.

The reason? Philadelphia police officers have been directed to more strictly patrol the square after news accounts last week of the homeless sleeping, fornicating, bathing and shaving in the park ?.

This morning as the sun rose over the square there were 16 homeless people camped on park benches and the lawn. Last week there were more than 30. But the homeless this morning still slept, bathed and shaved by the fountain. One man used the window pane of the police gazebo in the center of the square as a mirror.

A Philadelphia police officer, who asked not to be named, said this morning he had been reassigned the Rittenhouse Square post. His first day was today.

.The department made the decision last week to strictly enforce patrols from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., he said. One officer will be assigned solely to Rittenhouse Square to ensure that activities such as sleeping, loitering, public drunkeness and bathing do not occur.

The officer said that within the police department, patrols in Rittenhouse Square were assigments no officer wanted. He said police assigned to the square instead would respond to calls near the park and avoid dealing with issues in Rittenhouse Square.

He said officers were pulled from Rittenhouse Square about four months ago because of a debate that arose between the police department and other city agencies on the enforcement of park rules, regarding the homeless in particular.

The officer said police assigned to the park must delicately balance the rights of the homeless with what the officer termed as the complaints of the affluent who live near Rittenhouse Square.

"You have to worry about violating their (homeless) rights. You work with rich people. The rich people (in Rittenhouse Square) want you do things that normal people won't ask you to do and a lot of cops have hard feelings about that," the officer said.

"Look, someone who complains about something - doesn't matter if they're rich, poor, or in the middle - you still have to listen to their complaint even if you can't do anything about it. You still have to listen to that person, you can't just say 'I can't do anything about it, don't take that (complaint) to me. It's not my issue.' That's not what people want. You have to listen to people and let them feel like they're being heard."

"They call this the City of Brotherly Love but there ain't no love for nobody in Philadelphia," said Glenn, 38, a homeless man who is a park regular. He said Philadelphia police have stepped up patrols day and night, rousting the homeless with nightsticks and driving through more frequently.

"There are cops in here now. Cops in the center, cops on bikes, you never saw no one in here before. The cops are making it bad for everybody."

"The cops kick people out at 1 a.m. in the morning because of the write up in the paper. They normally aren't like that."

This morning at 6:40 one police officer cruised through the park in his patrol car. He drove to the the center of the square, got out of his car and began tapping his nightstick on the benches and stone walls in the park where the homeless were sleeping.

"Yo! yo! get up," he shouted as he walked through the park.

"It varies, they go from one place to another," the officer said of the decrease in the homeless in Rittenhouse Square.

Tom Kojer, 24, who is homeless after losing his job at a deli on South Street, said: "This is a place where homeless can actually stay for a minute. I don't make a mess."

He said police have been more visible in recent days.

Kojer said he has been homeless since June after being evicted from his apartment. He said he takes a shower two or three times a week at a free health clinic in Kensington. He reads the paper, asks people for change, and cruises the internet at the ING Direct Cafe at nearby 17th and Walnut Streets.

"I never see anyone my age in here (Rittenhouse Square.) They are all old. This is not my idea of a good time," said Kojer, who sleeps in the park covered by a Spongebob Squarepants blanket and a dirty pillow covered with a pillowcase from Temple University Hospital.

Residents who live near the square said this morning they have noticed a drop in the number of homeless.

"There was considerable comment on the problem (in the media) There are fewer people in the park in the last week," said Andy Rouse, a 20-year Center City resident, as he walked his dog in the park. "You have to provide the best shelters you can, not necessarily hotel rooms, and insist that they (homeless) use them. They don't need ceilings, walls but they need beds."

"I personally don't mind having a few of these guys around in moderation," he added. "The problem is when they overwhelm the park. They throw things all over the park, and that is a nuisance."

But the Philadelphia police officer who was reassigned to the square last week does not like what happened to the park in recent months.

"I see what it looks like now, I was here Friday night for a few minutes. . .and I didn't like what I saw, what the park has become. It's gotten out of control, people were out here doing what they want to do. . . we had people out here with blankets and tarps, and I'm like 'oh my God'. . . ."

When asked how he judges whom to wake up and when, he had this response:

"I try to tell everyone to stay awake. Everybody has to stay awake. If I have to wake the homeless people up, I don't care if you are Rockefeller, I'm waking you up too."