Is this acceptable behavior? The article is here, but you have to watch the video. That was the article done a week ago. When I saw it, I was . . . well, just listen to what they say. The messages I heard were as follows along with some questions to ask:
1. There was a huge problem because up to 30 people gathered in a park with their friends and were “boisterous”. Um, isn’t that kind of what park shelters were created for? (Here’s my first hand account of what I saw at the park at the time.) And if they are “boisterous” while playing volleyball or rugby, why is that more acceptable?
2. People were “loitering” in the park. I’ve asked this question before, how do you know when someone is loitering in a park? Isn’t that what parks are for? And, there are no laws that prohibit loitering in a park during normal park hours. Actually, I’d like to see someone try to write that law!
3. The police called their program an “outreach” program with the homeless. This is how it works. Man has what appears to be a dream while lying on a park bench and yells out. Man appears to be homeless (somehow, the police just know) and has a, gasp, SLEEPING BAG. The police “outreach” to the man not by providing information about resources or hooking him up with a homeless outreach worker or services. No, the police “outreach” consists of telling the man to “move along”. Is that “outreach”? And what was the problem? Did the police have the right to stick a camera in this guys face and tell this man, who did nothing illegal or wrong, except yell in a park, to move along? If he yelled while playing volleyball would that, too, be offensive?
4. We’re doing this so that people “feel comfortable”. Not because there of the problems in the park. The problem was “boisterous” people congregating in a park shelter with friends and making people feel uncomfortable. How is this any different than a group of people using the shelter for a birthday or graduation party?
5. As a result of people using the park essentially for what it is meant for, and making people feel uncomfortable, now no one can use the restrooms or electricity in the shelter. (By the way, the reason I introduced the ordinances was because of the locking of these restrooms during the day, not the evening. I talked to parks staff yesterday and asked why the bathrooms were locked. The answer is that they want them to be clean for the people who rent the shelter. So, instead of cleaning them before the rental, they just lock them.)
This same news cycle the Wisconsin State Journal ran this article about the park. What struck me is that the neighbors here are the same one’s that blamed the homeless for the murder of Joel Marino. The Giuliani style crackdown in the park isn’t acceptable to me and so that is why I agreed to talk with channel 3 for this story on Sunday, hoping that they would show another side of the story. The showed another neighbor, complaining about people have “bags” with them when they were in the park. Again they complained about “loitering” in the park and showed the move-along “outreach” tactics of the police. However, this time, thanks to my invitation, they actually talked to a homeless person who was willing to tell their story. And, what cracked me up about the video is that they captured “illegal activity” on the tape, and it wasn’t the homeless! Watch the video closely, and you will see laws being broken in that you aren’t supposed to feed the ducks in the park. I think we should crack down on that! After all, when this all first started, I went to Brittingham a few times. I didn’t get harassed, but I was definitely intimidated, not by the people, but by the hissing geese!
Anyways, I digress. My point is, that we are going about this the wrong way. Moving people along and displacing the “problem” isn’t solving anything and I believe violates constitutional rights of the homeless. Admittedly, two of my ordinances don’t solve any of the issues with people being homeless, except that we aren’t criminalizing being homeless. And costing ourselves more money when they don’t pay the fines and spend a few nights in jail. What we need is:
– outreach workers not police;
– a day labor program that the homeless are asking for;
– restrooms that are available for people to use instead of being locked and ticketing people for relieving themselves;
– safe, respectful shelter space instead of fining people for sleeping in parks; and
– adequate mental health and AODA services.
But that all costs money, and we don’t have any in this year’s budget.
