Two of the city’s most contentious debates return to City Hall Tuesday, as councilors get another crack at a proposed ban on public camping and consider a sweeping police reform plan authored by Worcester resident and journalist Tom Marino, a reporter for This Week in Worcester, that would reshape pieces of Worcester Police Department policy and accountability in the aftermath of the federal civil rights investigation.
The public camping ordinance, part of City Manager Eric Batista’s broader “Disrupting the Cycle” homelessness strategy, was supposed to receive its first council airing last week. Instead, Vice Chairman Khrystian King held it under personal privilege hours before the meeting, saying he wanted more time to review the proposal and receive a fuller briefing from the administration. The delay did little to quiet the debate: numerous residents still used the meeting’s public comment period to oppose the ordinance.
The measure would prohibit camping, sleeping or lying on streets, sidewalks, bike paths and other public property and restrict the use of cars, campers and recreational vehicles for living purposes on public ways or parking lots for more than 24 consecutive hours. City workers would first conduct outreach and make reasonable efforts to offer shelter, treatment and supportive services, and the ordinance calls for notice up to 72 hours before an encampment is cleared. After outreach and notice, violations could be handled through civil, criminal or noncriminal enforcement, with a $25 fine for each day a violation continues…