A serious problem in Palmer

The City of Palmer is a little jewel filled with incredible people. I have some of the best neighbors I’ve ever had. Unfortunately, I also have the worst: Carrs/Safeway.

Safeway owns the greenbelt area behind their store. It butts up to homes on Darron and borders Ellen. When the store was built, the greenbelt was to remain Safeway’s property, not to be built upon or sold. Last summer, I contacted the store director asking that a mess of dried limbs and brush be cleaned. Vagrants were back there drinking and smoking. It was like a tinder box. She said she would contact someone. I never heard anything from her again.

In light of the increasing vagrant problem, neighbors and I asked that the area be posted as private property/no trespassing and cleared of brush. They did nothing. When tents and camps started appearing, a neighbor again approached Safeway and said they needed to clear the area. They did not. A neighbor finally took down the tent and debris and put it at Safeway’s back door.

I sent a letter to the CEO of Albertsons, owners of Carrs/Safeway, explaining the situation and again asking for the simple acts of posting and monitoring the area. I wasn’t afforded the courtesy of a response. I sent copies to city officials and did receive responses from them. Council and police are thoroughly committed to dealing with this increasing problem and ensuring safety and security for its residents, but they need cooperation. I sent another letter to the Safeway district manager. No response.

The vagrant situation in Palmer is a daunting one, and businesses like Safeway should be invested in alleviating it. The longer they leave debris creating “hidey holes” for camps, the more the camps will come. All they need do is post their property, clean up debris and monitor the area, but they won’t. We called the police when a partially clad young man was waving a knife wildly around; they removed him.

Another mess requiring Safeway’s attention is the wall/walkway behind their store that butts up against a city park. The park is well maintained and cleaned. The Safeway property is filled with graffiti, needles, feces and God knows what else. A family with small children is leaving because they are afraid to walk and live near the park. Several others are considering leaving.

There are people homeless through no fault of their own. Unfortunately, many are career homeless choosing to live on the streets.

We don’t want a situation like Anchorage. When my family came to Alaska in 1986, I recall an article about creating a task force to determine what to do with the homeless. More than 35 years later, the problem has exploded. All Anchorage seems to do is play “musical homeless camps.”

Palmer won’t allow that to happen. Safeway could easily assist by caring for their property. If they don’t care enough to be a good neighbor, many of us living in the area don’t care to shop there anymore.

Jacqueline Fries is a resident of Palmer.