At the September 14th City Council meeting an ordinance addressing homelessness and encampments on public property was presented to the Council. The proposal was held under privilege by City Council Vice Chairman Krystian King.
Spectrum News spoke with Worcester Mayor Joe Petty on his thoughts on the City Manager’s proposed ordinance. Mayor Petty, ” I think it pretty much qualifies everything we do today, except for the $25 fee, which was a big issue. We’ll send that to the committee, let Gary Rosen handle that, and maybe take it out of the ordinance. I don’t think that belongs in there. That distracted the whole conversation. So I think it’s about dignity, how you handle this, how you balance everybody’s needs here and also showing dignity and empathy for the people who are homeless.”
When asked if the numerous resources the city provides to combat the homeless issue and if the city needs to reassess its policies The Mayor said, “That’s the whole point of this. The Commissioner of Public Health is looking at this. We just have to work together. How do you hold people accountable? How do you share data with all these agencies that do this? And we’re collaborating together. We can get through this. We’ve been through tougher times here in the city, whether it be COVID, when we come together as a community. We’re going to need state help, we’re going to need federal help, and we’re going to get this done. This could be a whole state, this is really a country-wide issue. I think of all levels of government around the country, we feel this issue. We need to address it and get our act together and make sure we treat people with dignity at the same time, but also balance the people who are living downtown here, who own businesses here, and also trying to address this issue.”…