City Rousts the Homeless From Tent City : Shelter: Angry mayor objects to encampment at one of city’s most popular tourist attractions. Police remove squatters without incident.

A short-lived tent city erected at Balboa Park was torn down Wednesday, after an angry Mayor Maureen O’Connor objected to the homeless encampment at one of San Diego’s most popular tourist attractions.

A dozen San Diego police officers rolled into the squatters’ camp about 7:30 a.m. and ordered the tents and homeless off a little-used parking lot that was converted into a bivouac area, police spokesman Dave Cohen said.

Larry Milligan, an activist for the homeless, was arrested and cited for trespassing when he refused to leave, Cohen said. There were no other incidents as camp residents complied with the order to tear down the tents.

The parking lot is owned by the city and is in front of the old Balboa Navy Hospital. Both the lot and a broad, adjoining sidewalk have been used as a campground by homeless residents since January.

However, the camp became more visible and raised the ire of O’Connor and other city officials when activists for the homeless put up about 23 tents Tuesday. The tent city was erected to protest the shortage of shelter facilities in the city, Milligan said.

Until the dome tents were put up, most of the structures had been crude lean-tos. A group called the Homeless American Businesses and Individuals Taking Action (HABITA) provided the homeless with the donated tents that were pitched in the parking lot and housed about 70 people.

Councilman John Hartley, whose district includes the parking lot where the tent city was erected, called the removal of the encampment after one day “a vicious action” and blamed Mayor O’Connor for initiating it.

“She said today (Wednesday) that she wanted the encampment eliminated earlier,” Hartley said. “She’s showing a great deal of insensitivity on this issue. . . . I don’t understand what motivates her to do this.”

In 1988, O’Connor received widespread press coverage when she spent two days living on the streets disguised as a transient, with undercover officers in tow. At the time, the mayor said she wanted to gain a better understanding of the homeless problem.

Assistant City Manager Maureen Stapleton insisted Wednesday that it was her decision to order police to clear the encampment. However, Stapleton admitted that she had a conversation with “a very upset” O’Connor on Tuesday evening, when the mayor said she wanted the tent city cleared out.

“The mayor said: ‘This camp has got to go. This camp cannot happen,’ ” Stapleton said.

But Stapleton quickly added: “However, the decision to order it cleared was mine, based on input from a variety of various city departments.

“I believed we could offer an alternative to the encampment. When we went in this morning, we did not go in and tell these homeless individuals to leave without being able to offer them an alternative.”

She said the homeless were directed to various social service agencies in town that provide meals, clothing and shelter.

O’Connor could not be reached for comment. However, Ben Dillingham, the mayor’s chief of staff, said O’Connor was upset because the tent city had gone up in defiance of the City Council’s wishes.

“Earlier this month the council took an action that there would be no tent city in Balboa Park,” Dillingham said. “That action was taken while (Milligan) was in the council chambers. There is no provision for housing people in Balboa Park, and her (O’Connor’s) feeling is that there are ample resources for housing the homeless in the city during the summer.”

Hartley scoffed at that explanation:

“For the mayor to suggest there is no problem for the homeless to find shelter is totally incomprehensible. Just look at the number of people sleeping in doorways downtown.”

The parking lot that served as the homeless campsite is leased by the city to Parking Co. of America. According to police and city officials, Mark Battaglia, an owner of the company, complained to police that the homeless were trespassing.

Battaglia could not be reached for comment, but a woman in his office said Battaglia decided to have the homeless evicted from the lot for insurance reasons.

“That is the sole reason,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified. “We have a letter from our insurance company telling us that it’s creating a problem, and if it continues we’re going to be canceled.”

Hartley said he was still convinced that the action was politically motivated and initiated on O’Connor’s orders.

“It astounds me that the city could mobilize overnight and have all these officers available to evict these people,” he said. “The number of people and amount of resources used to do this is astounding, considering that we can’t even begin to solve the homeless problem.

“The mayor said this was an illegal camp. But what did we accomplish by this? We now have 60 to 70 people living in neighborhoods, doorways and bushes causing problems and breaking more laws. They are out there breaking more laws than they broke in that parking lot.”