Ever since a 2006 stabbing death, Huntridge Circle Park in downtown Las Vegas has served as a lightning rod in the discussion of homelessness.
The park remains a congregation point for the homeless, some of whom suffer from mental illness. It's a big reason neighbors say they stay away from the park.
The park is a large grassy area in the middle of Maryland Parkway, just south of Charleston Boulevard.
But some of that grass is now gone.
During a recent closure, the city did some redesigns. Much of the grass has been replaced by gravel and soon fencing will surround playground equipment.
City Councilman Bob Coffin, who represents the area, admits problems at the park are everlasting ones.
But he pushed back on the idea that the gravel was put down to stop homeless from sleeping on the grass. He said the grass was replaced because it wasn't growing in certain areas.
Besides, Coffin pointed out, the city cannot "hassle" the homeless because a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and other groups ended in a court ruling that forbids the city from putting up barriers to the homeless.
In addition, the city has invested in a new place for the homeless to be. It's an open-air but covered courtyard that provides shelter, services and a safer place to be than on the streets.
"In order to have a place for homeless, you've got to build one," Coffin said, "We've been working on one."
The councilman said areas like the courtyard are needed around the valley for people who don't have a place to stay.
However, the courtyard is not completely finished and neighbors say homeless people won't go to the courtyard because they're getting free food at Circle Park.
Kathleen Kahr Desposito has lived in the area for several years. She admits that neighbors have dealt with the homeless who frequent the park for years but that changed when one organization started bringing free food to the park on a regular basis.
"This park has always had people that were without homes, but with the addition of Food Not Bombs coming to this park, it became then homeless, and tweakers, chop shoppers, drug addicts hiding in plain view amongst the homeless,"
Kahr Desposito said they neighbors want to remind everyone what a public park is for: the enjoyment of all members of the community.
Food Not Bombs is an international group that seeks to help people in need around the world, one of its members told KNPR's State of Nevada.
They argue that they're helping people and not bringing people to the park.
"Food Not Bombs did not come along and truck in people and put homeless people into the neighborhoods," Kelly Patterson said, "We didn't bring people to the park. The people were there. We went there and provided services for the people that are there already."
Patterson said changes to the park, including the replacement of gravel for grass, are barriers aimed at the homeless, which is not fair because they are people and members of the community.
The group also takes issue with the homeless resource courtyard, which they say is just moving the homeless from one area to another and not addressing the underlying problem.
"We have the resources. We have the volunteers. We just have to have the collective willpower in this community to act," Joe Sacco Jr., who is also part of Food Not Bombs, told KNPR's State of Nevada.
He said the community is not responding to the homeless situation in Southern Nevada in a responsible way.
As far as solutions, Christopher Stream, the director of the School of Public Policy and Leadership at UNLV, said cities around the country have been working for decades trying to figure out how to help homeless, keep parks safe for everyone, and not violate anyone's civil rights.
He said the cities that have tackled that issue the best are ones that have found ways for everyone involved to work together.
"With the cities that are dealing effectively with some of these issues, working in partnership across sectors is always an effective strategy," he said, "It's not just going to be government is going to solve the problem, or one entity will solve the problem. It really takes a collaboration between public and private and non-profit sectors to really address a complex issue like homelessness and parks."
He said successful cities have done a lot of community and citizen engagement about how to fix the problem so there can be a "shared solution" to the problem.
Coffin said the city is working on the problem but money is tight.
"We have been overwhelmed and we are out of money," he said.
He said city representatives are going to the Legislature this session to ask for more money to address the problem that he believes is an emergency.
Councilman Bob Coffin, Las Vegas Ward 3; Kathleen Kahr Desposito, Huntridge Neighborhood Association; Joseph Sacco Jr., Food Not Bombs; Kelly Patterson, Food Not Bombs; Christopher Stream, professor, UNLV School of Public Policy and Leadership