(Written by Savannah Jones)
MORGANTOWN W.Va – Several parties have voiced opposition to the proposal of an expanded camping ban downtown by a Morgantown City Councilor.
The proposed ban is an addition to Sec. 941.05(c) of the Morgantown City Code, which prohibits camping in the park without the consent of the city manager. Third Ward Councilor Louise Michael suggested expanding the ban to residential properties, city streets, alleyways and sidewalks at a council meeting on July 2.
Fifth Ward Councilor Danielle Trumble said while she is not in favor of encampments, she believes the expanded ban would not have the desired effect at this time, as there are not sufficient alternatives for those being affected.
“People are going to go somewhere; people have to be somewhere. Saying that camping is illegal does not make those people disappear,” she said on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
Mountain State Justice, a nonprofit legal services firm aimed at representing West Virginians with low incomes, also sent an open letter to the council opposing the ban.
Signed by representatives from West Virginia Housing Justice, the Morgantown Coalition for Housing Action, the ACLU-WV, Project Rainbow, the 17th Judicial Circuit Public Defender Corporation, the League of Women Voters of Morgantown-Monongalia County, Morgantown Pride and Mylan Puskar Health Right, the letter said the ban would “stigmatize, punish and traumatize” the unhoused community in Morgantown.
The letter called on the council to address underlying issues instead of further banning camping.
“Public camping bans do not and cannot address the root causes of homelessness, which include, but are not limited to, poverty, violence, and disability. To the contrary, fines, arrests, prosecutions, and criminal records are entirely incompatible with securing safe, affordable housing. The only solution to homelessness is housing.”
Trumble said she feels continued efforts to keep the Bartlett House Solutions Triage Center open would better meet the needs of the community by providing shelter for those in need.
She said she is currently advocating for funding from the city to keep the triage center open for one to three more years.
Trumble said she feels that people commonly associate addiction with homelessness, and they believe a camping ban may eliminate other issues such as drug use and vandalism.
She said that is simply not true.
“Homelessness and those activities are not the same. A lot of the people committing a lot of these crimes have shelter. They are there because of the easy access to some of the substances that they require,” she said.
Trumble said she wants to see more thorough enforcement of current ordinances and laws, such as the prohibition of drug use, vandalism and camping on the Rail-Trail.
She emphasized that these things are already illegal, and an expanded ban will not fix the problem if previous ones are not enforced.
“I’m not in favor of more ordinances when we already find it difficult to enforce the ones that we have,” she said.
Trumble acknowledged that the Morgantown Police Department is understaffed and that it is vacation season, which could contribute to a lack of enforcement of certain laws. She said, however, that she has seen an increase in enforcement in recent weeks.
She said she would like to see increased bike patrols on the Rail-Trail to prevent activities that are illegal or troubling to those using the trail.
“They do patrol the trail; I think that more of a presence just to let people know, ‘Hey, we’re here, we’re watching, we’re seeing.’ That would kind of deter some of those activities while also adding a sense of safety and security to other people who are trying to use the trail for recreation,” she said.
Trumble also addressed panhandling in the city, saying she wants to see all the municipalities come together and form an ordinance.
“If we all had the same regulations and we had the same message and the same information to hand out to people, I think we would be doing a great service to everyone,” she said.
Monongalia County currently has a pedestrian and safety ordinance that has been adopted by all areas except Morgantown.
Trumble said she is willing to discuss adopting the ordinance, but emphasized that the federal government does not allow the prohibition of panhandling as it is protected speech.
The county’s ordinance does not directly target panhandling, but prohibits any pedestrian or vehicle driver or occupant from restricting the flow of traffic by interacting with each other.