Politics
Camping ban approved for La Crosse parks, after new city council debate
La Crosse will ban camping on city-owned property, specifically in parks.
The city council voted 7-5 on Thursday to prohibit camping in parks, after voting recently to enforce a strict 12-hour time limit on staying in one park location.
Council member Erin Goggin said people in La Crosse seem to be less accepting of homeless encampments on city-owned land, after seeing what has happened in the past.
“We’ve heard over the years about NIMBY, ‘not in my backyard,'” Goggin told the council on Thursday. “I think it’s collectively become in the city, not in my city.”
Goggin added that people who live in the parks for long periods should be defined as squatters, not campers.
The council also voted specifically against allowing camping again in Houska Park.
Winter and summer camping were permitted at Houska a few years ago, which resulted in property damage and large amounts of garbage.
Councilman Mark Neumann would like to see other levels of government help manage homelessness.
“I don’t think we have that resource,” Neumann said. “I wish that other levels of government, who have much bigger resources available to them, would take up the call. It could be the state, and it certainly could be our national government.”
Last month, on La Crosse Talk PM, Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Loren Oldenburg (R-Viroqua) said state legislation dealing with homelessness “has not really come up.”
Council president Chris Kahlow drew audience applause when she said “we do not have to provide a place, and we don’t have to provide a house.”
Kahlow added that it is not the role of local government to house people, and she pondered why previous attempts in La Crosse have failed.
She said it’s “because we do not have the staff and resources, and I guess we thought we could succeed.”
An overflow crowd filled the council chamber for two hours. as the council debated the homeless situation. Two special sessions were held before the full council meeting.
Bob N.
August 9, 2024 at 8:25 am
There was some sanity at the meeting, give the Council credit for that. An overflow room full of angry voters tends to push things in that direction.
It may be only temporary sanity, however. There are plenty of liberals on that Council who still think it’s the City’s job to house and feed people and they will wait for the moment to slip it in.
Alderman Barb Janssen hung on for dear life to pump air into her looney idea of letting the squatters live in the City Hall Parking lot. No one agreed. She’s the one who passed the buck of finding squatter solutions onto the police and fire department bosses. They offered none.
It was nice to hear some solid comments from a few aldermen. One even said “they are squatters” not campers. Another offered that there was little support in town for the vagrants.
Compliments to the huge overflow crowd that attended and show these people who’s boss. But, keep a close eye on this Council. Their natural tendency when no one is looking is to drift left into LALA Land.
Libertarian Guy
August 9, 2024 at 9:30 am
Well, said Bob and.
I was semi-impressed with the learning curve I observed last night. I say semi-impressed because it took them 3 years to figure out this lunacy was not going to work. Unfortunately, despite the angry crowd, and the rational statements made by some council members, their continue to be hold out that are beholding to the homeless and not accountable to the taxpayers. I will suggest Mac Kiel, Rebecca Schwarz, and MacKenzie Mindel and the mayor Be sent packing. unfortunately, they’re good intentions are adversely impacting their judgment. It was gratifying to hear other council members point out that solving homelessness is beyond the role of local government and that local government should not function as a social service organization. Some have finally recognized they are doing more harm than good by enabling local homeless, attracting more homeless to the community, and causing harm by allowing them to squat and to destroy public properties everywhere they have been placed. They also are unaware and unable to account for the hidden damage their policies have created like businesses, closing, harassment of customers downtown, exposure to bio hazards, even sexual harassment of customers and employees at local store fronts. The city has succed in getting resident active in government for all the wrong reasons. It was quite a turn out of very angry residents, but I guess that’s what it takes to get them to stop digging the hole deeper. unfortunately, it looks like the county will be making the same mistakes in the near future.
walden
August 10, 2024 at 10:06 pm
Good work and thank you to Bob and LG for keeping us informed with “the rest of the story.”