HOOVERVILLE, IOWA

I haven't been to Des Moines in a while. I went last summer when we took our daughter to the Blank Park Zoo, but I should have added this latest attraction to our list of sites to see:

Des Moines city leaders want to remove dozens of makeshift homeless camps that can be seen by users of new recreational trails near downtown. Officials emphasize they will first target the homemade huts that have been abandoned, then work with homeless advocates to relocate people who live in other camps.

Homeless camps? In Des Moines? Who-da-thunk-it?

The city has traditionally employed a hands-off approach unless the campers cause trouble...[the] city has fielded recent complaints but declined to identify the individuals or groups that asked for the cleanup.

Maybe that's why I never heard of the issue. If the city is going to take a "hands off" approach, what did they expect? That it would simply go away after a while?

Police Chief William McCarthy said any concern on the part of trail users is a matter of false perception rather than real threats to personal safety. He said no homeless person will be forced to move until a reasonable solution is agreed on by the city and advocates. Glenn Orr, 23, lives in one of the camps and plans to provide input on the best way to move them. Orr has been without a permanent home since he was 18 years old. "We're only down here because we literally have nowhere else to go," he said Thursday.

Actually, you're probably there because they've been taking a "hands off" approach to you being there. How is one 23 and homeless since the age of 18? Iowa's job numbers are good...4-point-5 percent. Boy, would I love to listen in to a call from a citizen to the police chief...

Citizen: "Uh, there are a bunch of bums camping out in a shantytown, like right near where I bike...is that legal?"...

Chief: "Thanks for calling sir, we know about it, but we're taking a hands off approach. They're harmless. Don't worry about it...just ignore them and they'll go away. But make sure you let us know if you spot one in the library molesting anyone in the bathroom."

Howard Matalba, a homeless-outreach worker with Iowa Homeless Youth Centers, noted that the riverfront area is already an unofficial "tent city." An established temporary site with running water would help many homeless people get on their feet and be more sanitary, he said. People who live in the camps fashion tents and huts out of scrap wood, metal and discarded clothing. Some of the camps have furniture, kerosene stoves and fences to keep out unwanted visitors.

Typical of so-called "homeless advocates"...give them running water? How about instead of making their stay more comfortable, you help move them out? Besides...the area described is near Gray's Lake...which is made from water if I'm not mistaken. I wouldn't doubt there would also be an effort to provide them with more scrap wood and metal to make their homes more safe. Maybe they could have a city-sponsored initiative to have people drop all their scrap wood, metal, and unwanted clothing at their tent city and let them sort it out. Fences? They've got the wherewithal to build fences? And they can't hold down a good enough job to find a real home?