In an additional blow to the unhoused population living in the area, Franklin Square Park closed for renovations in July 2020 to make it “more user-friendly.”11 Plans included restoring the tree canopy, eliminating rodent infestations, replacing paths, and installing rain gardens. These changes certainly improved the appeal to many of the people who work in the area, patronize the local businesses, or visit as tourists, but they also effectively exiled the twenty or so unhoused people who had still been living in the park.
