Billings parks are drawing attention after recent social media posts claimed trails were filled with trash, used needles, and homeless encampments. But a firsthand look tells a different story.
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Dog walkers, cyclists, and even a wedding were among the scenes at Riverfront Park Friday, the place that was called out in the post. Ted Wilson, a frequent visitor and member of the Friends of the Children organization, was out riding his bike.
"We've been coming out here riding our bikes for the last two weeks, and we haven't seen anything," Wilson said.
Wilson said he visits multiple parks throughout the city regularly.
"We go to Rose Park, Pioneer Park, North Park, South Park," Wilson said.
Other park visitors echoed his experience.
"They kept up really good. Just seems like there's no problems. It's clean," Justin Weischedel, a fisherman at the park, said.
"It's been good and clean, lots of users. There's lots of people out here," Wilson said.
Kara Streets, another frequent visitor, said she feels comfortable in the parks.
"I wouldn't say it's a real problem. For the most part I feel super safe walking down here. I am here almost every day walking my dog," Streets said.
She added that she occasionally spots litter but takes action when she does.
"Once in a while, I see a few things and I try and pick them up along the way," Streets said.
That cleanliness is not accidental. Billings park attendant Mike Pulafico works to stay ahead of problems before visitors ever notice them. Pulafico said he was aware of the Facebook posts and that his supervisor directed him to locate and clean up the reported site, but as of Friday morning, he had not found anything.
Still, signs of homelessness are not absent from the parks.
"I've mostly only seen one real encampment, and it's in the far eastern part of the park, and I've never personally seen any people there," Streets said.
"Garbage bags full of things and tents and things like that. So you can tell someone's been living there," Streets said.
A report presented to the Montana Legislature two years ago by then-Billings City Council Member Jennifer Owen shows 600 to 1,000 people are chronically homeless in Billings.
Keeping parks clean and safe is daily work for attendants like Pulafico, and the effort shows.
