Two years after hundreds of protesters and police officers clashed over the removal of a major homeless encampment in Echo Park Lake, the public watched this week as workers dismantled a chain-link fence that had been erected during that period.

Officials at the time said the barrier would be temporary while the park underwent repairs following the encampment sweep.

But homeless advocates viewed the fence as a way to keep homeless people out of the park. Meanwhile, nearby residents and others who described fights, drug use and other illicit activities at the park said they felt safer having a fence around the perimeter.

Those issues resurfaced on Monday as work began to dismantle the fence, marking a new era under the leadership of Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, who won election in November. Among his campaign promises was one to have the fence removed.

The councilmember said in a statement that there will be service providers and outreach workers at the park every day and that unarmed responders will be available at night should issues arise there.

“Our entire team continues to communicate constantly and openly with trusted service providers, the Department of Recreation & Parks, and community leaders to ensure this process is successful,” the statement read. “We look forward to continuing our work with the community to achieve our shared goals for the park.”

Differing opinions remain about whether the fence should stay, but the vast majority of park users this news organization spoke with Tuesday said they were happy to see it come down or did not have a strong opinion either way.

Soto-Martinez’s office had also conducted a survey by knocking on more than 2,100 doors of nearby residents before the fence came down, according to his spokesperson, Nick Barnes-Batista. Of those surveyed, 50% supported having the fence removed, 32% had no opinion and 18% opposed taking it down, he said.

Among those happy to see the fence removed is Paula Guadron, who grew up in Echo Park and has fond memories of playing in the park as a child. Now, as an adult, she frequently walks through it on her way to work.

On Tuesday morning, she gasped in exhilaration as she passed by a crew taking down sections of the fence and realized what was happening.

“I have my emotional roots in this place, from when I was a child,” Guadron said. “(The fence) just seemed so out of place.”

Ironically, while some park users felt safer with the fence around, Guadron said the barrier around the park suggested that the area was dangerous.

“It kind of added an element of … ‘this place is not safe,’ ” she said.

Not everyone is happy to see the fence gone, however.

Sophie Partida lives across from the park. There were times before the homeless encampment was cleared, she said, when she experienced or witnessed attempted assaults, fights, and noisy late-night disturbances. She said she felt safer after the tents were removed and the fence was erected.

“One time I was walking with my granddaughter, a 3-year-old. This man’s like, ‘I’m going to kill your child,’ … He threw drinks at us,” she recounted. “They would just throw things at us or catcall. As a woman, you’re walking, you don’t want to be catcalled.”

Partida is concerned the removal of the fence will invite unruly behavior to return. She said people were at the park after midnight being loud the first night after the city began taking down sections of the fence. She worries that as word spreads that the fence has come down, more people may return after hours.

Soto-Martinez’s spokesperson said Tuesday their office hadn’t received any calls or complaints and encouraged residents to call 877-275-5273 and to ask for a nonviolent response team from the C.I.R.C.L.E. (Crisis and Incident Response through Community-Led Engagement) Program if an incident like the one Partida described occurs.

A few park users said they weren’t too concerned that the fence’s removal would result in new encampments or a rise in crime.

Jenna Carpenter, who was walking her dog, said she came to the park even when the homeless encampment was around. While she appreciates that the tents no longer are around, she said it never bothered her too much when they were.

“I either walked by them or we didn’t have any issues with them,” she said.

As for whether the fence should have come down, she indicated she did not feel strongly either way.

As she continued to walk around the park with her dog, workers hauled away the final sections of the fence.