Protesters rallied in front of the City County Building Tuesday night to call on Madison’s Common Council to reconsider its vote to dismantle the Dairy Drive campsite for unhoused people, call on the Mayor to stop sweeping homeless encampments and redirect funds towards housing.
The rally followed several other efforts to urge the Common Council to overturn its decision, passed by a single vote on Sept. 16, to dismantle the city-sanctioned homeless campsite. Previous rallies were held at Dairy Drive on Sept. 24, 26 and 27, but community members took to City Hall during the Common Council’s Tuesday evening special session to directly call out alders who voted to discontinue the campsite’s funding. Protesters were joined by former alder and current State Assembly candidate Julianna Bennett and current District 6 Alder Davy Mayer, who called on fellow elected officials to reconsider and realize the impact that closing Dairy Drive will have.
“Over the past couple months, I’ve gotten a crash course on Dairy Drive and how many people that it has helped,” Mayer said. “I know that we often think about costs, but we see the results that Dairy has had and how many people this helps. We know that every single person who experiences homelessness has their own unique circumstances… Dairy Drive has been a very certain type of solution for a lot of people.”…