Mobile City Council delays action on camping ordinance

By BRENDAN KIRBY

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    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — After hearing from supporters and opponents at Tuesday’s regular City Council meeting and debating it further at a Public Safety Committee meeting later in the afternoon, council members delayed action on a proposal to ban camping in the city.

District 4 Councilman Ben Reynolds has proposed cracking down on camping inside city limits, arguing it is a public health and quality-of-life issue.

“There is a big litter problem,” he said at the Public Safety Committee meeting. “So, I began to research what other cities have done.”

Reynolds said he found numerous cities in Alabama, Georgia and Florida that have addressed the issue, and he modeled the proposed ordinance after one in Atlanta. It would prohibit camping without a permit.

But several council members expressed concern about the impact on the city’s homeless population.

“There’s no way to separate the ordinance from homelessness,” District 2 Councilman William Carroll said.

The committee agreed to put off the issue until March 2.

Elizabeth Chiepalich, who runs a Facebook group dedicated to homeless outreach, told the council that the city cannot address camping without solving homelessness.

“There is a humanitarian crisis in Mobile, Alabama, that you have no idea exists,” she said. “It’s behind the Dumpsters. It’s in the woods.”

Chiepalich said many people found themselves without even temporary shelter when bulldozers recently cleared 30 acres in Tillman’s Corner for commercial development.

“People are camping on city property because they have nowhere else to go,” she said. “And to throw them out is inhumane.”

Some council members questioned whether fines associated with the proposed ordinance would be punitive to people who cannot afford housing.

“Are we just going to push the homeless someplace else?” asked District 1 City Councilman Cory Penn.

Reynolds expressed impatience with delaying the measure if it was just going to die a slow death. He said he would rather the council simply vote it down.

“When do we say, enough is enough?” he said.

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