Shortly after I began teaching, I joined the One Way Riders, which is a Christian motorcycle club in Vegas with a ministry throughout the valley. I joined the group through invitation by a student who belonged and thought I was cool enough to be part of their cadre. Among other things that we did, we fed the homeless each Friday around 5PM at the corner of Owens and Las Vegas Blvd, just north of the museum district but out of sight of the court house and most of the famous casinos. At that corner, you find a vacant lot which appears from the debris present to be a previous mobile home park, and it lies just north of a cemetery. For almost two years, we did this without incident or problem until one day about four years back, the owner of the property decided to call the cops on us to evict us from the site. On Christmas day last year, I went down to the area that morning to hand out brown bags to the homeless and found, to my shock and awe, that the corner is worse than before, and it angered me. The owner lied. It wasn't about development or the homeless or whatever. It seems to be all about driving us away.
We were removed by force. The police arrived, marched towards ME with their hands near their pistols, and then explained that we were no longer welcome on the property. Apparently, it was the One Way Riders who were not welcome. The homeless were not menaced, now that I recall, but the North Las Vegas Police remained until we packed our victuals, loaded in our vehicles, and vanished from sight. I realize that it is the right of a property owner to remove anyone. It was not what he did but the manner in which he acted that bothers me.
The owner never acted. I haven't been by the site since then until last Christmas, so I was understandably surprised to see just how little has changed at that intersection. However, there are now MORE homeless people there than I ever saw before. Their residence is no longer as tepid as before, the tent cities being in organized lines, so much that it tells me that the owner never actually started building anything on the site. Maybe he couldn't get permission or funding or changed his mind, but he went to the trouble to call the POLICE on us only to never actually follow through on his plan. Misappropriation of funds?
The homeless not only remained but expanded. I don't think I ever saw so many in one place in this town as there were Christmas Day. They were up and down every street, on every corner, in every bush, and then in organized and seemingly new tents on the vacant lot where we once not only fed their bellies but also attempted to nourish them spiritually. What once served as a trailer park is now a homeless encampment populated perhaps with more people than before, people who probably pay no rent whatsoever. I find this highly odd because most property owners want to make money, especially after the owner implied that he intended on a business venture to monetize the lot. I just don't understand why there are more of them and no other apparent changes.
From the evidence, it seems to me that the only people permanently evicted from the property were the Christian missionaries attempting to do good for the lost, the lonely, and the longing. The owner never apparently acted on his expressed claim to develop the land. The homeless were apparently not the problem since they are not only there but in greater numbers than ever before. The police viewed US as the pest, and I wonder if it was over religious differences rather than fiduciary, logistic, or legal ones. I am at a loss, and I am perturbed. As for the homeless, I am glad they have a place still to live. As for the police, they have always been there when they needed me. As for the owner, a plague of both his houses, and if this was bigoted, then may God have mercy on his soil.
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