It is the homeless camp in the tree stand just north of Marshall Elementary School on 116th and 44th streets.

The city cleans it up every once in awhile, and police clear out the homeless but in a few months it returns.

Neighbor Ed Lozeau, who has lived in the area for more than 20 years, said he hates to say it but the only permanent solution is to take down the trees.

Lozeau said “it’s hard to see” because his children went to school there and his granddaughter will.

He said there always have been issues there, but it just used to be “kids’ smokin’.” Now, there are homeless people living there almost as soon as school is out, he said. They leave empty beer cans everywhere, graffiti on trees, and Lozeau recently found a drug needle.

What really upsets him is how close it is to the school. Last Saturday a makeshift shelter of branches was actually inside the tree line, less than 40 yards from a portable classroom.

“They don’t need to be exposed to this already,” Lozeau said of the grade schoolers.

He said alcohol and cigarette stores nearby, plus the recent addition of a multi-million dollar apartment complex, has led to an increase in problems. Lozeau said he has personally followed people and seen drug deals go down while kids are playing in the field nearby.

He has even seen condoms in the playground area and whiskey bottles that had been smashed on the soccer goalposts.

Lozeau said his neighbors need to fix the problem.

“I don’t fault the (school) district,” he said. “It’s an unsurmountable task. But the community can’t turn a blind eye to it anymore.”

Lozeau said it’s not that he doesn’t have compassion for the homeless. His wife works for the Everett Gospel Mission. “I feel for them,” he said. But that city cracked down on hundreds of people living under bridges in town, and now they are “dispersed everywhere.”

Marysville School District Superintendent Becky Berg said some other schools have similar problems.

“It’s all over town,” she said, adding she would have maintenance crews “try to make a dent” in the problem.

Mayor Jon Nehring said this particular location has been a problem for years. City police, fire and crews clean it up, but then the problem returns.

He said he plans to speak with the private property owners to come up with a partnership to “prevent this from happening again.”

Nehring said he would like to set up a temporary use of the area, such as a ballfield. Lozeau said the area would be perfect for some exercise stations.