Madison’s narrative on homelessness lengthened Thursday as another of several committees discussed Mayor Paul Soglin’s proposed ordinance to limit the amount of time a person may sit in public spaces.
Several city committees have discussed the ordinance’s premises since its introduction in mid-July. The ordinance, known as the Downtown Pedestrian Protection Ordinance, would limit sitting, lying or lodging on public benches, sidewalks and city premises within the downtown business district to one hour. The city would enforce this time limit between 1 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., according to the ordinance.
The Community Development Block Grant Committee joined previous committees in voting not to recommend the ordinance. Commemorating the committee’s history of focusing on homeless prevention, chair Dan O’Callaghan began the meeting with a reminder of their function as a body of government.
“I see the effects of [homelessness] on a daily basis,” O’Callaghan said. “I like to think that I live in a fair and just society … but when I have to walk inside City Hall and literally step over people who are sleeping on the concrete steps because they have nowhere else to go, it does not feel like I’m living in a fair and just society … Telling them they’re not allowed to lie there any longer is not a solution.”
The committee spent little time discussing the ordinance and instead heard numerous public commenters and acknowledged several emails sent to them, all in dissent of the ordinance.
Brenda Konkel, a homeless advocate and the executive director of the Tenant Resource Center, spoke to the committee about the hypocrisies of the ordinance. She said that while the main goal of proposing these rules is to improve behavior of the homeless individuals it would affect, pushing people into different areas would simply hide their behaviors from the public.
Konkel also warned against breaking up large groups of people. The ordinance lists disbursement as a possible positive outcome, but Konkel said many individuals, especially women, find safety in numbers.
Konkel said if people are pushed out of the safety of downtown Madison and no longer have group safety to rely on, violence could become an even bigger problem.
In an interdepartmental letter sent out Thursday, Soglin expressed his deep concern for the homeless and their well-being, but also for the larger community. Citing several recent incidents involving homeless individuals, Soglin stressed the importance of enforcing rules.
“The proposed ordinances provide us with the opportunity to disperse groups and enforce rules,” Soglin said in the letter. “We put millions of dollars into homeless services. We must acknowledge our responsibility to all the people of Madison.”
During their short discussion of the ordinance, committee member Greg Rosenberg made clear his opinion on Soglin’s method for dealing with Madison’s homeless population.
“I think we should vote this down and move on to solving problems in non-repressive ways,” Rosenberg said.
The Common Council has not yet released an agenda that includes the final vote for the ordinance, but is expected to vote sometime in October.
