State and city workers are set to clear Portland's largest tent encampment Wednesday morning.
The encampment has more than 100 tents, and has grown since May. City and state officials have since cleared three other sites around Portland, prompting unhoused people looking for a place to go, to move to Marginal Way.
The site had been the focus of a city-led crisis response team that had set a goal of finding shelter and housing for those living on Marginal Way, and eventually closing the encampment altogether. The Maine Department of Transportation, which owns the property at the park-and-ride lot, had announced a little less than a month ago that it would clear the encampment on Nov. 1.
The ACLU of Maine called on city and state officials to cancel these plans, arguing that the removal of the encampment violates the constitutional rights of unhoused people, and jeopardizes their health and safety.
Social workers plan to arrive Wednesday around 8 a.m. City and state workers are expected to begin their work around 9 a.m., starting first at the park-and-ride lot, before moving to areas along Marginal Way and then to nearby Somerset Street, where tents are also pitched.
