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> Mayor removes benches so homeless can't use them
Southsider2k12
post Aug 14 2023, 01:54 PM
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https://www.audacy.com/wbbm780/news/local/m...2aXITH4S0N7udY4

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Michigan City business owners and residents packed a City Council meeting Tuesday night to talk about the homeless population after the mayor removed benches from the city’s arts district, in an effort to discourage loitering.

Jessi Cundiff, who owns a resale shop in the Arts District, said he’s going to go out of business if something is not done. The homeless are scaring him and his customers.


And he said he understands their sentiments.

"Nobody’s going to want to come down there and shop and be bothered and have their cars beat on and people pooping on their cars," Cundiff said. "A lady sat and squatted on a lady’s car and pooped on it and then picked it up and walked away with it.”

He said removing the benches was probably not the answer. One homeless man agreed. Resident Christine Kissell was very critical of the decision to remove the benches.

“I say what a wonderful thing that the homeless can sleep on a G.D. bench, but we have a mayor that is so spiteful and hateful to humanity to take those benches away from those that have nothing is so shameful," she said.

Mayor Duane Parry was not in attendance. A church in the arts district put its own benches out. Many said the city needs to help the homeless.
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Southsider2k12
post Aug 23 2023, 08:08 AM
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https://abc57.com/news/park-benches-have-be...less-population

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Public benches and seating have been removed from Michigan City's downtown in the latest move to deter the homeless population from loitering.

The move was ordered by Mayor Duane Parry a week before the great Lakes Boat Show, with no immediate plans to put them back.

Both Michigan City councilmembers and homeless outreach advocates say they had no prior warning that the benches were to be removed.

“It kind of grew like wildfire. Just the conversation about when it happened, why it happened and then, later on, the conversation about the unhoused population,” said Nancy Nichols.

Nichols is a pastor at First United Methodist Church, also a soup kitchen that serves between 150 and 200 meals on any given day. It became clear, she said, it was an attempt to deter the city’s unhoused from the downtown, touristy area.

“I think it’s short-sighted,” she said. “For one, the assumption that the majority of people who use the benches are unhoused, I think, is an assumption. Like there’s an assumption that the majority of people who come to the soup kitchen are unhoused. The majority of them are not.”

ABC57’s Annie Kate spoke with Mayor Parry about his decision.

“I just decided something needed to be done to kind of spark it, and when I did, it sparked it,” he said.

He is referring to sparking the conversation about public safety and decency downtown, and said panhandling and unruly behaviors were becoming a nuisance.

“Our population of homeless and panhandlers has increased dramatically,” Parry said. “We don’t want people that come to Michigan City to feel uneasy on weekends, and we don’t want our own citizens to feel uneasy during the week.”

But for Mary Markowski, who says she is currently homeless, removing public benches doesn’t make any sense.

“You’ve got tourists coming in here, this is your major attractive town, and you’re going to pull the benches out?” she said. “You pull new people out, you want revenue, so what are you doing? They want to come out and have a sandwich, they want to sit outside, they want to sit down. Why are you going to take a comfort away from them?”

And advocates like Nichols agree.

“Taking away places to build community is not a good way to develop community,” she said. “And it’s within community that people find health and healing.”

Parry said he’ll start looking into replacing some of the benches.

"It's not my goal to inconvenience everyone and make their life unhappy,” he said. “I'm trying to decide right now how many of the park benches to put back. And we'll take it one step at a time, baby steps."
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Southsider2k12
post Aug 23 2023, 08:10 AM
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https://www.wndu.com/2023/08/21/michigan-ci...ess-population/

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According to the South Bend Tribune, Parry’s order called for the benches to be removed to keep people who are experiencing homeless from sleeping or sitting on them.

Lifelong Michigan City resident, Mary who asked for her last name not to be used in the story, said she is homeless but didn’t sleep on the benches.

“I never have,” she said.

Yet she feels removing the benches is a disservice to paying customers at local eateries or those shopping in the six-block arts district.

“If there’s a bench, sure, I’m going to sit down. What’s wrong with that?” Mary raised.

A couple of store owners told The Tribune that prior to the benches being removed, it wasn’t unusual for homeless people to sit or sleep on all the benches in the arts district, adding some of their employees, themselves, and customers have been allegedly threatened by folks inside and outside their stores. Panhandling was also reported.

But Mary said the benches provided a reprieve for people, whether or not they were homeless. She claims those experiencing homelessness have fewer options to get temporary relief.

“Not everybody’s got money to get on the bus [to go] where they got to go,” she said. “We all need breaks.”

Parry was unable to do an interview with WNDU on Monday. He previously told The Tribune the order coincided with the annual Grand Prix boat races that have accompanying events taking place in the arts district.
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