To the editor:

I live in the Pinckney neighborhood, where, up until a year or so ago, I would walk my dog in the field north of the hospital. However, since this area has become an unofficial campground for the homeless, I now avoid it. Besides the lack of sewage and sanitation, some of the “campers” appear to have mental and/or substance-abuse problems.

While I admire our city leaders’ concern for helping the homeless by allowing them to camp downtown (“Leaders approve changes to city’s no-camping rules,” June 18 Journal-World), I can’t help but suspect that such changes may transform the downtown area into a squalid Hooverville. Where will the homeless who set up a tent at the corner of Ninth and Massachusetts relieve themselves? Future visitors may think twice about shopping or dining downtown if they must pass through a gantlet of tents and shanties.

Ray Finch,

Lawrence