Through a little mistake on the city’s part, camping is not allowed (permitted or conditional) under any zoning in the new zoning code . . . hoping they can fix this. And be creative to help us solve our on-going issue of . . . say it with me . . . NO LEGAL PLACE TO GO!
To: Mayor Paul Soglin
Madison City Council MembersFrom: Occupy Madison (not Occupy Madison, Inc.)
Re: No legal place to go February 17th – April 16th
Date: January 29, 2013
_________________________________________________As you know, there are many homeless persons in the City of Madison with no legal place to sleep at night. The shelter system has annual limits (mostly 60 days/year) and others cannot use shelters because their families can’t stay together or otherwise cannot participate in the shelter system due to physical and mental illness or a variety of other issues. As a result, throughout the City of Madison, there are many people sleeping exposed to harsh winter conditions without adequate shelter every night.
After complying with orders to leave 802 East Washington Avenue for the second time on November 9th, 2012, we relocated to Lake View Hill, only to be forcibly removed and relocated out of the City of Madison to Token Creek County Park. When our 90-day permit expires on February 17th, there will literally be no legal place for us to go until April 16th when the county parks open once again.
As you know, our recently formed non-profit–Occupy Madison, Inc–has consistently pursued other options and will continue to do so. However, the process of finding and securing a suitable privately-owned site is incredibly challenging. Simply buying a building is not enough. In order for us to be truly successful, we must have time to engage in extensive dialogue with the local community to make sure that all valid concerns can be addressed comprehensively. It is clear that we cannot possibly reach a solution by February 17th. Worse yet, the new zoning code still provides no provisions for legally camping in the City of Madison, even if we were to secure a piece of private property in the next three weeks.
So, we are writing to ask for your help. There are 20 – 25 people at Token Creek (and many, many more within the city limits) who will have no legal place to sleep from February 17 – April 16. We have run out of options for the immediate future, and we do not want our homeless members to return to the street in isolation–without the safety of community, without friends around them to share the experience, without encouragement to move forward.
We welcome any suggestions you can provide to address our needs. As a starting point for the discussion, we propose the following actions to be taken by the City of Madison:
1. Modify the zoning code to allow camping within the city limits under specified conditions.
2. Help us identify a piece of property that could be temporarily used for camping until April 16th.Thank you for considering our requests. We look forward to hearing from you.
Wrong yet again. The truth is, Brenda, whether you like it or not – the City has made a public policy decision that indefinite outdoor squatting is not in the city’s best interest. Perhaps you’re willing to gloss over the drugs and public nuisance that the East Washington encampment became – but rest assured, the remainder of the city doesn’t have as forgiving a memory. Mayor Soglin was spot on when he said that the city and the county cannot be a font of unlimited charity – and he was immediately lambasted by the sanctimonious left for speaking the truth.
There was a short-lived proposal on the table to bus these people somewhere where they might have family connections – or someplace warmer so their lives would not be in danger sleeping outside. We would not be here fretting about the lives of these folks in the cold weather if they would just LEAVE WISCONSIN. That was quickly shot down as well as being “uncaring.” Or are the benefits from the public trough just too good to leave?
From where I sit, I see a group of people who may or may not even have ties to the local area, yet refuse to go somewhere else. A group of people that says “the shelters aren’t good enough – we want lots of county resources dedicated to just our little group. We want to camp where we want, when we want, give us transportation when we want it….etc.”
When does the my way or the highway approach end?