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SALT LAKE CITY— A routine cleanup of a cluster of city blocks near a homeless shelter is sending those who were staying on the street in search of a new camp.
Trucks hauled blankets, bikes and other items away from a stretch of 500 West near the Road Home shelter Thursday.
The cleanup is a regular occurrence in warmer months, said Nicholas Rupp, spokesman for the Salt Lake County Health Department. Every Thursday in summertime, crews seek to clear items left on public property.
The sweep comes as city, county and state leaders debate where to put new shelter space and services for Utahns who now are on the street.
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County and Unified police previously cracked down on drug dealing and use in the area, sending officers in and arresting dozens in the span of a few hours. But no such effort was at play Thursday, said Unified police spokesman Ken Hansen.
To others, the sweep was not commonplace.
It was a first for Jared Sorensen, 31, who was gathering a guitar and other belongings, rushing to pile them on top of a bulging cart as officers put a man in handcuffs nearby.
Sorensen said the cart's owner was his friend and was at work when the county trucks arrived about 2 p.m. Thursday with a backhoe and a blaring megaphone. Sorensen had heard about Salt Lake County Health Department flyers warning of the raid in recent days but had never experienced one.
"It was awful," he said.
Sorensen said he has been living on the street in the area for about two months, and wasn't sure where he would sleep Thursday night. He said authorities told him he could not stay there.
