Local Business Owners start petition against Star Village homeless encampment

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Star Village homeless encampment project has been divisive to say the least, with community members torn on whether or not it will help or harm the community.

Now, two local business owners have taken the push to re-evaluate the project into their own hands with a petition against the encampment.

Tucson Tattoo owners Derek and Lindsey Dooley have spent time uplifting the Balboa Heights Neighborhood.

Now they believe their work is in jeopardy.

“As a community that we're not taking steps backwards because we've already done a lot of work to improve things in this area," said Tucson Tattoo co-owner Lindsey Dooley.

So when they heard that the City of Tucson was planning on creating a city-sanctioned encampment in their community, it brought up safety concerns.

" I think that anybody who lives in this neighborhood has a business in this neighborhood has been affected by homelessness and crime," co-owner Derek Dooley said. "You know, the mayor's office and City Council were excited about this and expected all of us to be equally as excited about it, without providing us that information from the beginning."

This frustration led the Dooleys to create a petition to stop the encampment.

"We created the petition to make sure that our voices were heard with the city, and with Ward Three, we feel like there wasn't any communication with us or other neighbors," Lindsey Dooley said.

The petition, which has reached over 300 signatures and counting, aims to bring attention to community disapproval of the project while demanding the homes and businesses affected in this decision are more involved.

" It's not as much standing in the way of it, it's just making sure that the communities that are affected can be a part of that discussion," the Dooleys stated. "It's not as if we don't feel for these people. We want there to be compassionate solutions. We want them to be able to get help. We're not trying to stand in the way of that. We're just trying to make sure that everyone is involved."

Star Village is a city-sanctioned homeless encampment that seeks to bring homeless women and non-binary people into a safe area with resources that will allow them to find stable housing and support.

While the Dooleys are against the current plan of the encampment, they are not entirely against the idea of a safe space for the unhoused.

"If the City is willing to include us in the conversation about mitigating the problems that may arise if things don't go 100% to plan, you know we're open to it," the Dooleys stated. "We just want to make sure that we're all taken care of, the entire neighborhood, our community, the surrounding communities.”

There is a neighborhood meeting with Ward 3 Councilman Kevin Dahl on Star Village on September 17th.

KGUN 9 reached out to Councilman Dahl's office for comment, where he stated that he will not say anything else publicly until that meeting.