Local elected officials, outreach workers, a railroad representative and Ithaca Police Officers attended a walkthrough of ‘Jungle Encampment #1’ the morning of Thursday, July the 20th.
‘The Jungle’ is the collective name for a series of unsanctioned drug encampments that stretch across the Town & City of Ithaca from Cass Park to Buttermilk Falls State Park.
‘Jungle #1’ is located on a triangular piece of land by the Six Mile Creek inlet next to the train tracks behind Warehouse Carpet Outlet. The site occupies a combination of City of Ithaca & railroad property.
Similar encampments have have been identified in the Village of Lansing & Newfield.
In attendance were 1st Ward Councilpersons George McGonigal & Cynthia Brock, 4th Ward Councilpersons Tiffany Kumar & Jorge DeFendini, 3rd Ward Councilperson Donna Fleming, and Tompkins County Legislator Rich John.
Additional participants in the walkthrough included Tompkins County Homeless Services Coordinator Tammy Baker and Deb Wilke of Second Wind Cottages. Outreach workers have become reluctant to enter the area due to safety concerns.
The walkthrough was escorted by Acting Chief of Police Ted Schwartz, several Ithaca Police officers and an out of state representative of WatCo Railroad. WatCo owns the majority of the property comprising ‘Jungle #1.’
‘Jungle #1’ is a focal point of illicit drug activity, and is host to frequent overdoses.
A man and his dog were recently stabbed in ‘Jungle #1’, with Councilperson McGonigal describing human trafficking occurring on this portion of land at a recent meeting of the Ithaca Community Police Board and at the July meeting of the Ithaca Common Council.
Legislator John described the experience later that afternoon at the Tompkins County Public Safety meeting.
“I’ve been down into The Jungle before. It was a different area and it seems to be more tightly packed. There’s more people there, I’d say there were probably 20 to 30 people camping in this area between Cecil Malone Drive and where the railway goes through the Agway property,” John said.
“A few things really struck me,” John continued. “We saw some people there and spoke with a couple people. There was a gentleman who was swinging a large chain and he looked kind of dangerous, frankly. It was a little scary.”
“But the number of shopping carts that are down there is beyond anything that anybody there could possibly use. It does appear that the there’s a practice of bringing shopping carts there and destroying them in the creek. I looked over this cement wall and there were probably 20 shopping carts in the water and they’re destroyed,” John said.
“I mentioned the shopping carts before I talk about bicycles. There seems to be a particular focus on stealing bicycles and destroying them,” John said.
“You think, well, if you’re going to steal a bike, you’d ride it. But these bikes are disassembled. The tires are ripped off. There was one encampment where there were stacks of bicycles that had been placed into a fire and burned, so you just see the rusted frames,” John said.
Fires, both intentional and accidental, are a frequent occurrence in ‘Jungle #1.’
“There’s tents full of bicycles and there’s kids bicycles in there that have been obviously, you know, taken from somewhere. But they’re not taking them to ride them. They almost seem to be taking them just to prevent them from being used as bikes. And I don’t understand it at all,” John said.
“It’s almost (as if) they’re at war with one half of Bike Walk Tompkins. They’re just, they’re diminishing the ability to ride bikes here,” John said.
All of Bike Walk Tompkins adult bikes were stolen from a trailer in January of 2023.
John went on to describe squalid, filthy conditions in the encampment, a drowning, arson, kidnapping & a suspected murder. The area has been the site of numerous deaths.
“It’s not good for the people who are living there. It’s certainly dangerous. There was talk about there’s been a drowning down there, there was a kidnapping and there I think there’s a matter under investigation for murder,” John said.
“There was a somebody’s tent, who supposedly was involved in communicating about the kidnapping, was burned to the ground. This is something that I believe we have an obligation as community leaders to do something about,” John said.
“It was really discouraging what we are allowing to happen in our community,” John said, concluding his remarks.