VOICE OF EXPERIENCE
As someone who experienced homelessness firsthand, the ordinance to "ban public camping" hits close to home for me ("City council delays vote on prohibiting public camping," Sept. 5). I've been fortunate enough to rise from poverty and become a successful community member and homeowner. However, when I was a child, my family lived in a homeless shelter. When I was 5 years old, I saw my own mother die, right here in Springfield, from a preventable medical condition. Like so many others, she lacked access to secure housing and basic health care services. That cycle of poverty and neglect is something no family should endure. The ordinance to ban public camping Is a slap in the face to the memory of my mother and feels like an effort to criminalize homelessness. It's not just draconian, but personally devastating.
We have to stop any attempts at using the police as social workers. This approach has failed in every city it has been tried. Blaming the police or city attorney for enforcing laws is a red herring. Police only act on directives from leadership, and in this case, it's city leadership that's failing us by not addressing the root causes of homelessness.
The proposed ordinance is not just about moving unhoused people out of public sight – it's about ignoring the structural issues that create homelessness in the first place. Criminalizing the unhoused won't solve anything, but investing in real solutions – like a landlord registry to address housing inequalities and expanding access to affordable health care and social services – can. Even if community members have access to health insurance, the wait times for outpatient mental health services such as partial hospitalization are as long as four to six weeks. That is the difference between life and death to someone struggling with their mental health or addiction.
I'm also deeply disappointed in Mayor Misty Buscher, who seems to be ignoring a glaring conflict of interest. Her husband is part-owner of The Real Estate Group, the largest real estate agency in Springfield. This connection raises serious concerns about corruption, and it makes me regret voting for her given how she has failed to support the landlord registry. The conflict of interest is clear, and it's hard not to see this ordinance as prioritizing real estate profits over the lives of Springfield's most vulnerable residents.
By diverting resources into punitive measures, we are perpetuating a cycle of homelessness, poverty and preventable deaths. Cities like ours should be working on keeping families healthy and housed, not pushing vulnerable people further into the margins. As someone who has lived the consequences of a broken system, I urge you to rethink this ordinance and instead focus on compassionate, long-term solutions.
Phillip Gray
Springfield
NEED MORE INPUT
I'm thinking that we are getting a huge wake-up call that we have to be active and present on the issues on a regular basis AND that our local leaders need help and guidance on many issues. Those three minutes (of public speaking time) at city council with no dialogue between citizens and the council prevents us from collaborating with leaders. It's a powerless position. A structured dialogue needs to happen on a regular basis.
Last week's city council gathering demonstrated we have to work collaboratively to truly understand the problem and come up with solutions. We are cheating ourselves by not inviting these voices into the conversation.
Anne Logue
Springfield
NEED ENFORCEMENT
How can the residents of Springfield and the residents who live in the nearby neighborhoods around North Fifth Street and North Grand Avenue feel confident in the proposed ordinance prohibiting "public camping" will do any good? Mayor Misty Buscher said, "The ordinance would be enforced rarely and at the discretion of police."
This is just one more ordinance that cannot be enforced or will not be enforced, just like all the other ordinances on the books dealing with the lack of garbage pickup, grass over 10 inches high throughout the entire city, dilapidated structures that need to be torn down, brush in alleyways, the chronic nuisance ordinance, speeding and running red lights that is prevalent throughout all of Springfield and, last but not least, the ordinance passed several years ago banning "panhandling on city streets and boulevards." How many five-dollar tickets have been issued for panhandling?
If this ordinance were passed, it would be one more in a long list of ordinances on the books that the city of Springfield cannot, or will not, enforce.
Bill Baskett
President, Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association