PUEBLO, Colo. — This week, Pueblo crews are clearing the area known as “the jungle,” focusing on removing trees and encampments along the railroad tracks just east of the Interstate 25, near Benedict Park, south of town. .

On Wednesday, crews made large piles of trees and filled dumpsters.

“So far, they’ve collected 15 dumpsters,” Mayor Heather Graham said. “A very bad deal: lots of waste, lots of camps left. »

Graham said it’s time the area between I-25 and Benedict Park was cleaned up.

“It is very difficult terrain to navigate, and it is crossed by ditches completely filled with waste. I don’t know if the property has ever been cleaned up,” Graham said.

The mayor said the land was private property.

“The city put a lien on the abatement,” she said. “We do the abatement process on the property, that’s so we can be on site to clean it up. So it’s a smelter site, so it’s very dangerous for individuals to be there I think this area is the source of a lot of crime in the Eiler neighborhood and the Bessemer neighborhood in general and so I think it was time to go in and solve some of that problem. , and it’s very unsightly.”

Éléonore Sheahan

The Colorado Department of Health and Environment discovered elevated levels of lead and arsenic in the soil several years ago. So teams are working with the EPA and taking precautions by wearing gloves and masks.

“I think people want to see the community clean and beautiful and I think that’s really what the city, at least my administration, is trying to do moving forward,” Graham said.

The cleanup is part of a larger initiative by the mayor to improve the city.

Amy Martinez came to Benedict Park to see a loved one who she believes is sleeping in the area.

“I really hate seeing Pueblo like this,” she said. “It wasn’t like this when I grew up here. It’s quite a sad sight to see…I was curious when I saw all the moves going on, as a very close member of my family stay here, and I was worried about what was happening with the cleanup and where the homeless people who stay here are going to go, and what resources will they have up there for them once they take their place stay »

Martinez said the cleanup was a good idea.

“Personally, I don’t agree with the idea that our city looks like this. I don’t agree with allowing people to trash our city,” Martinez said.

Pastor Paul called the situation heartbreaking.

“I think it’s really hard for the less fortunate people here, the homeless people who stay here in the jungle,” Paul said.

He said about 50 unhoused people were staying in “The Jungle.” But Mayor Graham said police only had to remove a few people from the area.

“I walked it yesterday too. There were no unhoused people there. They had all left the area by the time the cleanup started,” Graham said.

She said displaced people should go to the Pueblo Rescue Mission if they need help. Martinez encouraged his loved one to come home.

“I hope this is a reality check.” You don’t have to live that way,” Martinez said.

This is the last major cleaning of this year. Graham plans to clean up more areas of the city in 2025.
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