Packed city council chambers with council decisions pending

Nearly 100 community members signed up to speak at Monday night’s as the Duluth city council prepares to possibly vote on a number of the public safety ordinances.

City councilors and staff have been fielding input and amending the proposed ordinances over the last two weeks. And amongst the various opinions received, some members of the community express their support for them, especially in relation to business and downtown Duluth.

Hearing from some of the voices

Downtown Duluth

We heard from Downtown Duluth and CHUM on the matter. The head of Downtown Duluth, Kristi Stokes, shared with us impacts they have noticed and where they stand on the public safety ordinances.

“We are supportive of the public safety ordinances and really want to talk a lot about how it’s been impacting our business community, but also realizing that when we look at our downtown, we have to make sure that it’s fostering a safe and vibrant downtown for everyone, from the business community to those who are unsheltered.”

She continued to share some examples of the impacts that have been directly affecting local businesses.

“There’s just been a lot of quality-of-life issues that have really been impacting them, whether we’re talking about smoking in the skywalks or defecating in doorways and just many quality-of-life issues in our downtown. And so, we’re here and we’re saying, “We love our downtown. We want people to enjoy our downtown, but we also need to share the challenges in hopes that these public safety ordinances can help with that.””

CHUM

CHUM released a statement earlier this afternoon about their reaction and feedback they have gathered from those they support. Here is an excerpt given from their statement.

“On the issue of homelessness, we all agree that the status quo is not acceptable. Evidence shows that criminalizing involuntary homelessness is not a solution. While cities alone cannot resolve the complex issues causing homelessness, they play a crucial role in finding solutions.”

We also have the link to the official CHUM statement.

The Ordinances were not the same originally, as we have covered many conversations and meetings about versions of the ordinances as they have occurred.