The Minneapolis Park Board has delivered notices to vacate to people living in the remaining 65 tents at Powderhorn Park.
Those living in the west encampment and elsewhere in Powderhorn received the notices Friday afternoon informing them that they will need to leave the park. Last week, the remaining campers at the east Powderhorn encampment were removed by police.
As of Friday, 65 tents remained in the park, down from 560 on July 9, according to a Park Board news release.
Significant crime and safety concerns, as well as the encampment's location inside of a safe school zone, makes the site ineligible to be one of the 20 Refugee Sites adopted by the Park Board on July 15. During that same meeting, the board voted to limit the size of encampments to 25 tents.
The board has not set a date for complete removal of the encampment. It encouraged an incremental removal of the tents and will begin offering transportation to shelters and other available park encampments on Monday.
Until encampments are vacated, the Park Board will continue to provide campers with portable hand-washing stations and restrooms.
And it will continue to work with other agencies to get those living in encampments into shelters suitable for winter, Superintendent Al Bangoura said in a release.
"We could not have predicted an international pandemic nor the impact it would have on the homeless population or the park system, but the work we are currently doing to support people experiencing homelessness is well outside our role," Bangoura said.
As of Friday, 418 tents remained in Minneapolis parks, according to Park Board spokeswoman Dawn Sommers.
Zoë Jackson covers young and new voters at the Star Tribune through the Report For America program, supported by the Minneapolis Foundation. 612-673-7112 • Twitter: @zoemjack
