Congregating in parking lots will be outlawed under a new ordinance meant curb homeless people from loitering in downtown Elgin.
It’s the third rule change the Elgin City Council has adopted this year addressing the issue as downtown business owners’ frustrations escalate over a situation that’s continuing to grow.
The ordinance creates a “public parking structures and parking lots” regulation under which “no person shall enter or remain upon the premises of any city-owned parking structure or parking lot other than to park or retrieve a motor vehicle; to attend a special event authorized by the city,” city documents said.
It was proposed because of the “many emails directed to staff and city council members” about people gathering in parking lots and congregating in the lobbies, City Manager Rick Kozal said.
“This will make it easier for police to make enforcement decisions to ensure the parking lots are being used only for the intended purpose of parking vehicles,” he said.
Numerous incidents prompted the new legislation, including people defecating in parking deck stairwells, Councilman Tish Powell said. She called Wednesday’s proposal, which should be formally approved at the next council meeting, “a short-term fix” to the city’s larger problem.
“This is to avert some of the criminal behavior we’ve had in the downtown, including the parking deck,” Powell said. “I will be supporting this with the understanding this is just a small piece of a larger puzzle we need to continue working on.”
The council plans to hold a summit on the homeless situation at which it will be looked at from a larger perspective and possible long-term solutions discussed. No meeting date has been set.
Councilman Corey Dixon said it’s been a difficult situation, especially when efforts to help are rejected or abused. For example, the city placed portable toilets in the parking decks last year to assist those who had no access to facilities only to have people defecating outside of them instead, he said.
“I’m going to support this,” Dixon said. “I think it’s the right thing to do for our downtown businesses.”
Last year the council passed an ordinance prohibiting the storage of personal property in public areas and last week gave the green light to a new rule that prohibits tents and makeshift dwellings from being set up on public property, including parks and parking lots.
Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley sees the new ordinance as an enforcement tool that can be used in addition to education. People who violate the ordinance won’t automatically get a citation for but will be told why they’re in violation and what other options might be available, she said.
Activist Sandy Davila, a third-grade teacher, told the council that creating ordinances that essentially ban a group of people is not right. She described a conversation she had with a student who asked why the city couldn’t “make a building and put these people there then help them and give them food,” she said.
“If a third-grader is able to understand what social services can do, why can’t we?” Davila said. “We demand to see alternatives and see what’s being done. You continue to vote these in, but what are you doing to have choices for these people?”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
