The city of Mexico’s campgrounds at Lakeview Park is becoming such an issue that city staff are considering eliminating tent camping altogether.

The issue was brought up at the recent parks and recreation board meeting at City Hall last Monday, June 5. City Parks and Recreation Director Chad Shoemaker asked board members to talk to folks in the community about the issue. Shoemaker said the campgrounds are often filled with tents of people who have become homeless.

“While we certainly feel for anybody that is in that situation we’re a recreation department,” Shoemaker said. “We’re not a social services department and we’re not equipped with the manpower to deal with the problems that come with that subset of users.”

Shoemaker said on any given weekend five or six tents could show up with maybe one of them camped in the right spot. Often there is trash if not the whole campsite left behind and it’s not uncommon to find drug paraphernalia like needles. Shoemaker said some campers have mental issues and that other campers have been put into some dangerous situations in the past like one time a man was yelling and swinging a hatchet. Shoemaker also noted the campgrounds have a playground nearby.

“That’s not exactly the kind of environment we want to have,” Shoemaker said. “I don’t how fun it is for a family to come to camp and that’s what they’re having to deal with when they’re there.”

Shoemaker said the problems at the park are starting to become well-known as stories spread through the community.

“I think the issue has definitely affected how many people are using the campground,” Shoemaker said. “At what point are we disenfranchising this park user by saying, ‘You can’t be there,’ and at what point are we disenfranchising another by saying, ‘You can’t be there with your problems?’

“You should be able to come to the park and relieve some of the stress of being in a bad situation just like anybody else,” Shoemaker added. “But that doesn’t mean you get to live there. Your living there affects other people’s ability to use it.”

Shoemaker said in addition to all of the problems the tent campers often won’t pay or say they did without actually doing so. Sometimes money is stolen from the dropbox.

“When it was one tent now and then it wasn’t that big of an issue but now it’s become a steady drain,’ Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker didn’t lead the discussion lightly and at times sounded defeated.

“I don’t have a good answer for it short of saying we’re not going to do it,” Shoemaker said. “It’s sad because this is something we would like to do for people but we’re kind of being pushed into a corner.”

Shoemaker reiterated the amount of resources the problem is taking but also acknowledged it’s not an easy thing to deal with from a human perspective. Some folks have very heartbreaking stories while others are just trying to scrape by to the next day and will say anything.

“I’ve heard it all guys and none of it’s happy to deal with,” Shoemaker said. “Some of those are very legitimate and some are complete lies.