TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — It’s not only people who use the Loop that face dangers everyday by the homeless population, it’s also nearby residents and businesses.
The QuikTrip (QT) gas station in the west side on Grant and I-10 sees a lot of traffic from Loop users.
Ignacio Diaz, QT Assistant Manager, says it’s an almost everyday encounter with the homeless people who live on The Loop or in the wash.
He says what he deals with the most is theft and aggravated people.
“They’re very short tempered, they’re very to themselves. And they kinda just, they’re all over the place. They’re like very unsanitary. They’ll come in, take hours in the restroom, they kinda just hangout," Diaz said.
Diaz says in the last three months, they’ve lost about $50,000 due to theft.
"It sucks cause it just walks right out the door. We can't stop them, we can't talk to them," Diaz said. "It sucks to say it, but we tell them have a good day."
He says they recently hired security to help move people off their property, and as a result, he's seen improvement over the last month with less loitering — but when security leaves, it’s right back to square one.
“It’s hard to try to keep something so nice, when it’s always getting destroyed," Diaz said.
He says when cyclists come in, they even walk with their bikes throughout the store because they aren't comfortable leaving them outside.
Seis Kitchen located in the Mercado San Agustin courtyard on South Avenida del Convento also sees a heavy homeless presence.
One of the managers said it's a constant problem where the people are trying to take customers food or using their bathroom to bathe.
He said they call the police, but they don't show until after an hour or so, when the situation has already calmed down.
Brian Stover, head coach of El Grupo’s youth cycling race team and director of senior programming, says they also have to be careful when riding on the Loop, specifically in some of the underpasses on the Santa Cruz River.
"There’s a lot of homeless. There's a lot of shopping carts occasionally in the pathway. I've seen fires where they're cooking food just off the path," Stover said. "Every once in a while, he sees used syringes or drug paraphernalia on the Loop. Just impediment to be safe cycling at times."
Stover says the homeless population has exploded in the last couple years in the washes.
He makes sure they ride early in the morning or they typically wrap up their training sessions by about 6:30 p.m.
“We’re just really cognizant that as we’re going under the bridges there could be things that could cause flat tires or cause us to crash so we typically go single file and slow underneath the bridges," Stover explained.
He says a homeless person on the Loop did cause a crash recently with a 14-year-old rider.
“He didn’t even look. He just came out and one of our riders t-boned him," Stover explained. "The rider was fine. That other guy was pretty cut up and bruised up, but he just disappeared back into the bushes."
Stover says the Loop is fantastic and a great place to ride bikes, but it’s unfortunate people living on it don’t have anywhere to go or the services available to help them get out of that situation.
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
