Posted on 06/21/2015 11:11:13 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The Madison City Council overrode Mayor Paul Soglin’s veto Tuesday evening, adding homelessness as a protected class under its Equal Opportunities Ordinance.
The change adds homelessness to classifications like age, disability, arrest record, sexual orientation, political beliefs and others, providing limited protection against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.
"It's very narrow, very slim part of the law," said Department of Civil Rights director Lucia Nuñez.
The 17-1 vote came after hours of testimony and debate that coupled the ordinance change with the overarching concern of how to address the city’s issues with homelessness.
“We have a reputation. We have a reputation for being very accommodating and that there are no rules,” said Mayor Paul Soglin.
He vetoed the ordinance last week and spoke against it Tuesday evening, arguing it would become part of a “body of work” the city has created formulating the "no rules" reputation.
“We all want to be viewed as compassionate, having empathy, having understanding,” Soglin said. “We’ve reached a point where our compassion, our empathy, our understanding has done more damage than good.”
He pointed to issues with heroin, alcohol abuse, food and feces left around the City-County Building, sex on picnic tables behind the Madison Municipal Building, aggressive panhandling and fights.
Others acknowledged those issues but questioned what actual negative consequences this ordinance change would have. Many members of the public testified in support of the ordinance change, with a few sharing their experiences as homeless individuals and a few testifying against it.
“Blacks had to fight for civil rights,” said Ulysses Williams. “This is the homeless’ turn to start fighting. You’ve got an opportunity to make homeless a protected class. That will help a lot of the problems, not all of them, but some of them.”
Kat Koski, who is homeless, said it’s difficult to find a job when you don’t have an address to put down on the application or the address is the women’s shelter.
While the ordinance change wouldn’t prohibit landlords from not accepting someone based on rental history, it would prohibit them from applying their requirements unevenly to someone who is homeless versus someone who is not.
“Folks, we’re talking about human beings, we’re talking about human rights, we’re talking about social justice,” said former alder Brian Benford.
Asked by Ald. Samba Baldeh what the solution is to the problems, Soglin laid out phases that would culminate in Housing First with one thousand units of housing for families and single individuals. Before that, the goal would be to have the chronically homeless housed within two to three years and homeless veterans housed within two years. In the meantime, he said, the need is for a day center and a better facility for Porchlight.
Ald. Marsha Rummel agreed with that path forward but questioned the mayor’s words and actions in recent months. She pointed to a memo Soglin sent in April telling all homeless individuals to come to the City-County Building or shelters instead of staying on State Street or other areas with encampments. Now, she said, he is raising issues with the homeless on the steps of the City-County Building and has decried new arrivals each week.
“You give mixed messages,” she said.
In response, Soglin said he does want them all in one place, but with rules.
“I don’t want to see us losing more and more parts of the city,” Soglin said.
Soglin said he plans to introduce a budget amendment in coming months that would involve people working specifically with homeless people who gather at Philosopher’s Grove and on the steps of the City-County Building as part of downtown programming. He also said he will step up enforcement of laws on the books relating to aggressive panhandling, public consumption of liquor and aggressive behavior.
“I’ve been very sensitive to the notion that to make arrests for a lot of these behaviors is to criminalize homelessness, but now that there seems to be a uniform voice that, you have enough laws on the books already, why not enforce them? We will enforce them," Soglin said.
The council ultimately voted to override the veto 17-1. Ald. Sheri Carter recused herself as president of the Porchlight Board, Ald. Matt Phair was absent and Ald. Paul Skidmore voted against the override citing administrative concern and a desire for amendments.
It almost makes ya feel sorry for the guy, LOL! (I said ALMOST!)
“Blacks had to fight for civil rights,” said Ulysses Williams. “This is the homeless’ turn to start fighting. You’ve got an opportunity to make homeless a protected class. That will help a lot of the problems, not all of them, but some of them.”
Homelessness is a CIVIL RIGHT in, ‘The People’s Republik of Madistan!’
Let the defecation on public and private property begin!
This town is nuts! NUTS, I say!
Pretty funny to think of the old hippie as being to the right of anything!
Lucia Nuñez -—— Wait. Hispanics get to use the cedilla (accent sign) in English? So, do we white people get our umlauts and diphthongs back?
I was just about to start my freshman year at the UW in Madistan when they blew up the Army Math Research Center in 1970. Soglin was far left when he was elected Mayor back then. He is still far left but the city council considers him almost a right-winger now.
Yes it is nuts. Makes me glad that I live in my podunk town in podunk state, though none of us escape the rot in some way these days. My prayer is that my podunk town and state manage to fly under the radar at least in my lifetime. Or maybe I just don’t get out enough. OTOH, what am I saying, considering the election fiasco we had with Thad Cochran and GOP dirty tricks.
Madison keeps WI Democrat for president and will in 2016 too, I would imagine. Milwaukee doesn’t help any either.
Blacks had to fight for civil rights,” said Ulysses Williams. “This is the homeless’ turn to start fighting.
Nonsense. Sick and tired of this being used to justify anything and everything.
Black folks were born Black. Nothing they did or did not do had any effect on that.
Being homeless is a tragedy that needs things done about it,but not one that is owed a civil right.
It’s one of their civil rights as an Aggrieved Population.
What’s truly hilarious is that a woman who is from a group of conquering thugs that committed genocide against entire indigenous populations and enslaved millions more from Africa could run around in our country portraying themselves as “victims”.
That means they lost the battle for Texas independence and the Mexican-American war. So now they’re victims, not simply a vanquished enemy.
So what’s next? Waffen SS as victims of American Aggression, and therefore deserving of Civil Rights posts in idiot college towns across America?
“I was just about to start my freshman year at the UW in Madistan when they blew up the Army Math Research Center in 1970.”
We had just moved to the area after escaping from Milwaukeestan. I was 10 years old, Sis was 6. Dad took us down there to see the damage and to make sure we knew that no matter WHAT our convictions later in life that THIS was not the answer to anything.
Bomber Karlton Armstrong - later WELCOMED BACK into the arms of Madistan! Set up a business and made a lot of money off of the dopes.
I’ll NEVER understand this town. Such a beautiful setting, filled with the most hard-core leftists you can imagine. Berkley East, for sure!
A cedilla is a tail-like diacritical mark added underneath a letter; e.g., ç. The wavy line over the ñ is a tilde.
Oh, you’re right! Sorry.
Learn something new every day! :-)
“This is the homeless’ turn to start fighting”
Wasn’t there an infamous series of video tapes on this?
Cheese, Soglin’s still mayor?
He must be, like, ninety-five or something by now....
I’m left handed? I’m going to sue if I dont get on the list.
The one unique thing that used to be true of the USA was that one could move up and down social classes. That is no longer true..........................
70. He’s been Mayor 3x through the years.
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