As Tucson continues to grow, many neighborhoods are seeing changes more buildings and people. Just north of downtown Tucson is the Limberlost neighborhood.
It’s a place where Michael Ray, the president of the Limberlost Neighborhood Association, has called home since 1971.
“We’ve seen a 32 acre home depot come in and we’re surrounded by commercial,” he said.
There’s a new building being developed in the neighborhood that will increase traffic. The building is right behind one of the neighborhood fixtures Limberlost Family Park. He said they’ve poured thousands into the park and there’s more improvements to be made.
“It’s really the only way that you meet your neighbors,” Ray said. “This park has been our major investment of time and energy. We’ve managed to get nearly half a million dollars of impact to it.”
As the neighborhood continues to grow, Ray said he’s seen more unhoused people in town.
“It’s just exploded and i think everyone has noticed it throughout the town, throughout the city,” he said. “Over the last couple months, we had a tent encampment that lasted about three weeks.”
He said the Rillito River that is near the neighborhood is one of the prime spots for people to set up camp. At one point, Ray said there was a storm drain filled with mattresses.
“There a lot of needles and stuff going down in there,” he said. “So there are gratings up on that now that got finished.”
He said he has also seen people sleeping in the park.
“It’s something that we’re living with but I want to remind people that these are human beings,” he said. “It’s just tragic and I don’t know what the way out is. I’m just the neighborhood president.”
He hopes more people join the neighborhood association and continue serving the community with compassion.