Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and Sister Grace Miller of the House of Mercy issued a joint statement Wednesday afternoon saying that advocates for the homeless have agreed to take down the tents they pitched this week in Washington Square Park.
The tents went up because the advocates say they are not getting the help they need from the county. Monroe County officials maintain that they already work with 17 shelters and invest nearly $5 million toward helping the homeless.
Mayor Warren says that one reason she got together with Sister Grace is that one elderly man who was in the park ended up neeeding help from police. Warren says she told Sister Grace that protestors may have coerced some vulnerable people to remain in the cold despite the city's outreach efforts to find them someplace to stay.
Warren and Miller issued a statement saying that they met Wednesday to reaffirm their commitment for finding a solution to sheltering the part of the homeless population that has been difficult to serve.
