Posted: 9/9/2008 7:18:50 PM EDT
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http://www.channel3000.com/news/17415230/detail.html MADISON, Wis. -- Madison alderwoman Brenda Konkel said she plans to introduce ordinances that would keep police from fining the homeless for things like public urination and sleeping at Madison parks. VIDEO: Watch The Report Surveillance cameras are being installed and Madison police officers are patrolling Brittingham Park and moving chronic loiterers from the area. While many area residents are enjoying a cleaner park, others said the changes are an unfair attack on some of the area's most vulnerable residents. Konkel is drafting three ordinances to protect homeless people in public places. Resident Lea White was enjoying the serenity of Brittingham Park Sunday. "It's peaceful. I like the ducks," she said while feeding the ducks. But White said the park was not so welcoming a few months ago. "It would just be like a table of guys and they'd have their bags and be drinking and they were kind of hanging out, but now you don't see that," White said. The changes at the park are a result of a citywide effort to rid the urban park of loitering and criminal activity, which police said is sometimes due to the homeless population. "For me as a parent, it's really comforting to know that it's different and it's not like it was before," White said. But those affected are speaking out and demanding equal rights. "Two years ago, I became homeless and I stayed here at Brittingham Park," said Richard Raymond. Raymond said he is one of many homeless residents "pushed" out of the city park. "Just because you don't like seeing me here, doesn't mean I'm physically harming you," he said. Konkel said homeless people shouldn't be prohibited from doing things like sleeping on a public bench. "Until those threatening behaviors happen, I don't think the police should be called, and I don't think people should be pushed away for sleeping on a bench," Konkel said. One of the ordinances Konkel is drafting would prevent police from throwing away the personal items of homeless people without posting warning signs. "I lost a picture of my deceased wife, which is the only picture I had left and that really stressed me out," Raymond said. The other two ordinances would stop police from citing the homeless for sleeping or urinating in public. Konkel said she hopes to spark a discussion about how the city treats the homeless with limited shelter space and no new city programs for the homeless population coming in 2009. She said that the nighttime closure of bathrooms at a park on the south side was one impetus for the changes. The closures were a response to complaints about the homeless population at the park. "I don't see how, as a city, we could basically criminalize people for doing something (when) they have no place to do it," Konkel said. Residents like White said they hope there is a more permanent solution, but White said she feels safer right now. "It makes people feel like they can come out and enjoy their surroundings and not be afraid to be with their children out," White said. Konkel told WISC-TV she is in the process of drafting the ordinances for sleeping and public urination. She will introduce the ordinance to prevent police from throwing away personal items at the next Madison Common Council meeting on Sept. 16. |
