JANESVILLE — Community members spoke up at a Janesville City Council meeting Monday night about a proposed ordinance change that would prohibit homeless people from camping overnight in a city lot adjacent to the Hedberg Public Library.
Homeless people regularly congregate and camp out in the lot along the Rock River on South Main Street.
Some speakers Monday night expressed concern about where the homeless people who have been residing there would go if made to leave. Others said they welcome the proposed city action, saying the homeless population there has made the library lot and downtown area in general unsafe and unsanitary.
The council listened to public comment and heard a first reading Monday night of two ordinance changes that would ban overnight sleeping and the overnight parking of vehicles such as campers, camper trailers, and motorhomes in the library lot on South Main Street.
According to City Attorney Wald Klimczyk, current city ordinances allow campers, motor homes, camping trailers, and other recreation-type vehicles to park overnight in both the Hedberg lot and a lot adjacent to Janesville City Hall on N. Jackson St.
Overnight sleeping would still be allowed in cars in the City Hall lot, which is also near the Janesville Police Department, but recreational vehicles would now be banned from parking there. Vehicles would have to leave the City Hall lot by 6 a.m. daily.
A formal public hearing on the proposed changes is scheduled at the start of the council’s next meeting on Monday, Aug. 26, in the council chambers at Janesville City Hall, 18 N. Jackson St.
Hedberg Public Library Director Eric Robinson told The Gazette last week that vandalism, defecation and fights have been some of the challenges posed in the library lot by the homeless people congregating there. Robinson said problems have recently included a garbage can and a Port-a-Potty being set on fire.
Robinson said while many of those who stay in the library lot are not making trouble, some people are causing frequent issues. He said this has made some library users and library staff feel unsafe there
Janesville resident Neil Deupree told the council Monday night that the question of where homeless people camping outside the library might go if banned from that lot is a complicated conversation. He said the community needs to come together to find answers for the people potentially affected.
Janesville resident Shelly Smith said she’s not sure of the solution, but said forcing people to leave the library lot without an alternative place to go isn’t right.
“We need to work together as a city and nonprofits and a community to find them a place to sleep and spend their day,” Smith said.
City resident Michael Ingles said moving homeless people to the police station lot is setting them up for failure with trains, weather, and generally not good sleeping conditions there.
“They are human beings (who should be) treated as such, “ he said.
Makyaiah Carpenter, who identified himself as homeless, told the council that the ordinance changes are not going to solve the community’s concerns. He said one solution might be setting up a site where homeless could go, perhaps near the former Rock County Job Center on Center Avenue on Janesville’s southside. That might be a good location for people to be able to tap into resources and assistance, he said.
“The best thing that we can do, in my opinion, is put people where the resources and the money is readily available,” he said.
Others who spoke Monday night said the homeless are causing issues downtown.
Two women said they work downtown and while they feel sorry for them, said homeless people they encounter are mean, rude and make them feel unsafe.
Deb Stover said people don’t want to go to the library out of fear of encountering the people who camp out there.
Mark Lewis, a homeless man who spoke to a Gazette reporter in the library lot on Monday, said he is on disability due a brain injury from a car accident. He said his wife broke her leg in the accident, she was unable to return to work, and they fell behind in their bills.
The couple are currently living in their truck with their three dogs. He said he looks out for others who camp in the library lot and is unsure what they’d do if made to leave.
“What am I supposed to do during the day?” he said. “I can’t work and we don’t have gas money to drive around all day until 10 p.m.”
He said the community supports them, stopping by with food, water and clothing. He said he’s hopeful the city council can come up with a solution that helps them and others they’ve gotten to know.
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