GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids City Commissioners will decide Tuesday night on whether to adopt proposed ordinances that would affect the unhoused community.
It's a change some in the business community have been asking for, but there's also been a lot of public pushback.
Tami VandenBerg is the co-owner of the Pyramid Scheme in downtown Grand Rapids.
She wrote a letter to the city commission expressing her opposition to the proposed ordinance changes she believes criminalize homelessness.
The proposed changes would add definitions of "loitering" or "accosting" and prohibit this conduct in doorways, in and around an ATM, vehicles, outdoor dining areas or a special events.
They would also place a ban on tents without a permit in any public area, forbid anyone from storing personal property in a public area, and allow city staff to seize or impound the property with the opportunity to reclaim it later.
"The solution to homelessness has always been housing," said VandenBerg. "We have fewer options and fewer affordable options and more vitriol towards people who don't have housing which is causing a really tense atmosphere downtown."
"We have so much philanthropy here and so much public money," she continued. We still have funds from the pandemic we could put into housing and more subsidies. There are models that work. The Housing First model and the Harm Reduction model."
The city of Grand Rapids has maintained the changes are civil and not criminal in nature.
Their full statement: "The City Commission is considering and accepting public comments on proposed ordinance changes designed to maintain safe public spaces for all. The city staff have considered relevant law and constitutional considerations in presenting the proposed ordinance changes for City Commission consideration.
"The proposed changes seek to better define some previously undefined conduct. The proposed changes are intentionally content neutral. The proposed changes also embed due process and other constitutional considerations into City operations that are aimed at ensuring overall public health and safety. The focus of the available remedies in the proposed ordinance changes are civil and not criminal in nature. Despite the mischaracterization of the proposed ordinance changes, the City of Grand Rapids remains committed to solution-based collaboration."
If approved by city commissioners, VandenBerg worries how they will be enforced.
"I still think there's a chance the ACLU will take a close look at this and make sure everyone's constitutional rights are protected and we aren't creating a multi-tiered system based on how much money and housing you have and what you're allowed to do."
Last year, employers in the business districts and downtown area became concerned about the wellbeing of residents, employees and visitors after noting they witnessed harassment, public defecation, trespassing, public sex acts, verbal and physical assault, and other disruptive and disturbing behavior.
They, along with the Grand Rapids Chamber, began the push for the adoption of an ordinance to ban harassment and more.
City commissioners will vote Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
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