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Resident urges council to adopt ordinance to ban camping on public property, cites conditions at neighborhood park
Summary
A resident told the City Council he supports a proposed ordinance to prohibit camping on public property and described safety and sanitation concerns at a nearby park; the remarks occurred during public comment and no council action on an ordinance was taken at the meeting.
Brad Workman, a resident at 928 N. Brown Ave., used the Feb. 18 public-comment period to urge the City Council to adopt a proposed ordinance prohibiting camping on public property and described rising public-safety and sanitation concerns near his home.
“I’m here to support the passing or adoption of the proposed city ordinance to stop camping on the public property,” Workman said. He said he lives “right across the street from Carmine Knapp Park” and reported seeing more people he described as homeless walking and yelling, rummaging through garbage and leaving the park in a condition he said made him uncomfortable bringing children to nearby events.
Workman told the council the park is commonly referred to as “the Homeless Park” and said the change in conditions has reduced his family’s ability to use local parks and library programs. He also thanked the city’s police captain for “not sugarcoating” the situation in recent interviews, but did not identify the captain in the meeting record.
Council did not discuss the proposed ordinance during the public-comment period excerpted in the meeting record, and no motion, staff report or council vote on an anti-camping ordinance appeared in the Feb. 18 portion of the agenda provided. The remarks therefore represent a resident appeal to the council rather than a formal council action.
