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Resident urges Beverly to remove ‘no loitering’ sign from gazebo and pursue noncriminal responses to homelessness
Summary
At the Jan. 21 Beverly City Council meeting a resident cited a ‘no loitering’ sign on the Beverly Commons gazebo and urged the city not to criminalize homelessness, calling for rehabilitation-focused responses; the Rotary Club was named as having placed the sign.
Mike Sperber of 15 Ive Street told the Beverly City Council during the public-comment portion on Jan. 21 that a “no loitering” sign attached to the gazebo in Beverly Commons discouraged unstructured public use and, he said, exemplified a broader tendency to criminalize people experiencing homelessness rather than pursue rehabilitation.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that,” Sperber said, opening his remarks with a quotation from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He described loitering as "unstructured time" that allows for reflection and creativity, and he said the gazebo—renovated by the Beverly Rotary Club—now has a sign that prevents that use.
Sperber suggested the city has two broad choices for addressing homelessness: criminalization or rehabilitation, and he urged a rehabilitative approach. He also quoted Margaret Mead: “Never doubt the ability of a small group of thoughtful, committed people to change the world.”
The council thanked Sperber for his remarks; the public-comment period at this meeting was limited to three minutes per registered speaker and the council did not engage in a back-and-forth exchange during the allotted time.
