An area of the West Bouldin Creek Greenbelt in Austin, Texas, was destroyed by a homeless encampment.
Several videos shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Jamie Hammonds – activist and creator of DASH – show how the homeless left the park. Makeshift tents, liquor bottles, needles and Narcan (medication to reverse the effect of opioids), among other waste, were left behind.
Bouldin Creek Greenbelt has been destroyed.
We just talked to some of the cleanup crew who agreed with me that this is 10 times worse than the violet Crown Trail.
He said they're estimating 6 months to clean. pic.twitter.com/jdnsCaUPyQ
— DASH (@DocumentingATX) September 11, 2023
Around 75 homeless people were moved from the camp to a shelter in the city under the Shelter-Focused Camp Assistance Liaison Initiative (HEAL). This was the second time these people were relocated.
This is your Bouldin Creek and Greenbelt as it stands today.
75 people have been moved out of here into shelter, I'm not certain how many stayed in shelter. pic.twitter.com/qTPrGVALrL
— DASH (@DocumentingATX) September 11, 2023
Hammonds explains in the video that the park has been trashed: "It has simply been destroyed. It will be interesting to see if the city can really clean this up. (...) They may be able to get the trash out of there, but there will be glass, batteries and garbage, and it will be there forever."
Bouldin Creek Greenbelt.
This is just about as bad if not worse than Violet Crown. This green belt has been completely destroyed.
Once again, this is another beautiful Austin Greenbelt that will never be the same.
This is infuriating. pic.twitter.com/ZGbG74ghbF
— DASH (@DocumentingATX) September 11, 2023
The city of Austin set aside $55 million from its budget to tackle the homelessness crisis and housing shortage.
