OSAKA -- Tensions continue to rise between Osaka officials and residents living near Nagai Park over a municipal plan to build shelters for the park's homeless, with those opposed calling for a plebiscite on the issue.
At the end of October, the city of Osaka announced that it would start constructing 20 prefabricated buildings on the southeast corner of Higashi Sumiyoshi Ward's Nagai Park, one of Osaka's oldest and biggest parks. Construction is planned to begin next week, to be completed by mid-December, and will provide shelter for 350 of the nearly 400 homeless men living in and around the park.
But last Wednesday, nearly a dozen residents living near the park met with Osaka city officials to try to halt the project. The group represents nearly 30,000 city residents who have signed a petition opposed to the shelters.