NEWS

UNCERTAINTY REMAINS AT JEFFERSON STREET BRIDGE ENCAMPMENT

BY HANNAH HERNER

On July 13, outreach workers with Open Table Nashville waited with the remaining few residents of the Jefferson Street Bridge encampment for police and Metro Public Works to come and clear out the camp, as they said they’d do that afternoon. An email from Metro Homeless Impact Division went out to homeless service providers connected to the camp one week before, encouraging them to let residents know of the scheduled cleanup date. This email also stated that a rumored fence around the property would not, in fact, be built.

The police and public works never showed on July 13. That evening, the outreach workers attended a meeting about another camp that is in jeopardy, near Lowe’s on Charlotte Pike.

On July 14, MNPD spokesperson Kris Mumford told The Contributor she was not aware of any new schedule regarding a cleanup. Public Works spokesperson Cortnye Stone responded to say that she wasn’t sure the reason for the delay, but the cleanup was rescheduled for the morning of July 15.

On July 15, both entities didn’t show again. But by the end of that day, India Pungarcher with Open Table said that everyone they knew of had found other arrangements — be it another camp, or staying with a friend or family members.

Open Table stepped in to help residents who chose to leave move their belongings.

Mumford with MNPD said on July 16 that the organization had no plan of enforcing the trespassing laws on new potential arrivals at that time. Metro Public Works, now known as Nashville Department of Transportation & Multimodal Infrastructure, also commented that they don’t have any scheduled cleanups for the location, but that the Mayor’s Office may be coordinating an effort in that location.

The Jefferson Street Bridge camp has been in limbo since June 1, the date posted on a sign near the camp, saying that trespassing laws would start to be enforced at that time.

Terry, one of the three camp leaders, moved there in March of 2020. His home was deemed unsafe due to the March 3 tornado, and he lost his job due to the pandemic. He stayed in a boarding house for a bit, but his income was $100 short of what he needed to earn each month and the landlord kicked him out. He showed up just as the size of the camp swelled, filled with people like him, affected by Nashville’s double disasters.

“It's almost like nothing but destruction is following me. Before I know it, something is happening,” Terry says. “I look up and somebody is doing something to destroy me. I don't worry about that because I'm a Christian. I believe in God. He always makes a way out of no way.”

Terry shared a tent with his daughter, and using his social security check, he bought and maintained a generator, helping supply electricity to the whole camp. He also set up a “free table” where camp residents can give and take extra food.

He’s 67 years old, and an Army veteran, though is having trouble securing the paperwork he needs. He can rattle off details of his service, but was sent to a couple of area organizations to try and secure his discharge paperwork to no avail.

“I’m a veteran, but for some reason they can’t find my records so I can get up off the streets,” he says.

Terry spoke to The Contributor at 2:30 p.m. on July 13.

“Actually, I give thanks to the police, because they come down and tell us that we're gonna have to eventually move, but they tell us if we got no place to go, they ain't trying to enforce it. I like them for that. But they say we supposed to be out here the 13th. Today's the 13th. So I'm waiting to see, do we got to go?” he said. “When they come down here with the bulldozers and the fence, I’ll believe it.”

Area service providers have helped to house individuals under the bridge, but haven’t come out to say exactly how many, and with the transience of homelessness, it’s hard to know if everyone who would stay under the bridge was reached. Terry says he and the camp leaders have run off people bringing crime to the camp.

“We keep the peace,” Terry says. “We make sure that if you want to fight and do drugs, you gotta take it out there. We don’t want that in our community. We try to live in a peaceful, God-driven community. That’s why there are so few of us. We ran off the people causing issues. We don’t want it down here.”

Terry is of the mindset that he’ll believe it when he sees it, he’ll pack up his truck and leave when someone in power comes to ask him to, he said at the time. On the afternoon of July 13, he was planning to pick up a car battery to get the truck up and running again.

By the end of the day on July 14, he got tired of waiting, and he and his daughter moved on to a nearby camp.

As he spoke to The Contributor, he gestured to some newly constructed condominiums across the street from the camp.

“These people pay a lot of money. And they don't want to look out the window and see homeless people. I can understand that. But at the same time, if we keep everything clean and keep everything neat, we're not hurting y'all, why are you running us off?” Terry said.