Frustration over city's homelessness crisis reaches flashpoint
Jan. 5—Frustration over the homeless crisis in Manchester reached the boiling point this week, with one alderman suggesting Police Chief Allen Aldenberg should resign if he isn't prepared to have officers move people and tents off downtown city sidewalks.
The angry tirade by Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur at City Hall on Tuesday night followed more than an hour of public comments by business owners, who say a growing homeless encampment outside the Families in Transition shelter on Manchester Street is hurting their livelihoods.
"I just legally cannot go over there and kick people off the sidewalk without a lawful violation to do so," Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg told aldermen Tuesday.
Levasseur said he was "sick" listening to "never-ending excuses" from department heads.
"You should quit today because you just told everybody in the city that you won't move them," Levasseur told Aldenberg.
"We're doing our jobs in the confines of the law," Aldenberg responded. "I'm telling you what we can do legally."
"It's not illegal to move people off sidewalks when they are blocking the sidewalks," Levasseur shot back. "It's not illegal to move people that are pissing all over the place. It's Camp Piss and Poop, that's what it smells like.
"When I have an officer who is the man in charge of the law in this city saying. 'I'm not gonna move them'.... These people came here for an answer tonight and the answer is they want them gone. I want them gone."
Levasseur said he walked the area of the encampment, which included upward of 40 tents on Tuesday, with Alderman Pat Long and several property owners and didn't feel safe.
"It's scary to be down there. It's not real, but you know what it is? For the first time in six years, I sat here and listened to real people, real property owners and business owners," Levasseur said. "They poured out their goddamned hearts and souls to this board and you sit there and say you're not going to move them. I'll move them."
Residents, merchants upsetLevasseur criticized City Solicitor Emily Rice for her interpretation of the U.S. Ninth District Court of Appeals' ruling in Martin v. Boise. Four years ago, the federal court found that prohibiting sleeping or camping on public property is unconstitutional when individuals do not have a meaningful alternative, such as shelter space or a legal place to camp.
In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the case, which let the Ninth Circuit ruling stand.
Levasseur, an attorney, said he interprets the ruling to mean homeless individuals can't be arrested when shelter isn't available, but they can be moved.
"Nobody here wants any of these people arrested," Levasseur said. "Nobody wants them put in jail. What we want to do is move them out of the way. I'm not telling the chief to arrest them. I'm asking him to move them."
"If we can do that legally, and we can stand behind that as a city, then let's have that deeper discussion," Aldenberg said.
Thomas Daskal, a Merrimack Street resident, said homeless people have urinated and defecated outside his home.
"I can't sleep at night, my stomach is turning," Daskal said. "I'm worried that something is going to happen to me, and I'm going to lose everything because of someone who has nothing."
A woman who identified herself as Victoria said she represented the owners of Saigon Asian Market, located about a block away from the shelter.
"They've been loitering on our property, doing drugs in broad daylight, and leaving huge needles everywhere," Victoria said. "The homeless hang out in the store's parking lot, leaving a lot of trash, used needles and waste on our property."
Michael Ketchen, who is developing several affordable housing projects on Manchester Street, said homeless issues are creeping into his job sites.
"The time for action is now," Ketchen said. "You are losing businesses, and you are losing residents, and you are turning outsiders like me away. We are now getting to the point where we had to kick off two people shooting up yesterday from the front stoop, only to step into human feces on the way to the job site. I am having trouble getting contractors there."
City takes some steps
Alderman Bill Barry said people in the city have "had it."
"I honestly don't feel that it's right that they can camp on our sidewalks," Barry said. "If anyone on this board, or anyone watching, had a business or lived in that area, we'd be pissed. We need to do something — they shouldn't be staying there because they don't behave."
Aldenberg pushed back on comments that his department isn't doing anything, saying officers arrested 21 people in December at the shelter at 199 Manchester St.
"We're taking enforcement actions," Aldenberg said. "I think we agree we're not going to arrest our way out of this problem."
Long said he is looking to move people off the sidewalk after driving through the area outside the shelter Saturday.
"I got a lot of fingers from people, this was the first time they weren't moving," Long said. "To me it's unconscionable that we don't control that street."
Rice said she was happy to discuss the issue in private unless the board waived its attorney-client privilege. Aldermen went into nonpublic discussion at the end of the session, before coming back into open session to announce the Cashin Senior Activity Center will open overnight as a winter homeless shelter starting Friday evening.
The shelter will be open from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and not impact the daytime programming at the senior center, the mayor's office said in a statement.
The mayor's office announced several other steps to address homelessness, which some say is nearing crisis levels in the city. The city will work to find a more suitable space for an emergency shelter.
Additionally, it will implement a round-the-clock police presence at the downtown homeless encampment, add trash receptacles and explore the feasibility of a mobile, staffed bathroom and shower facility.
On Friday afternoon, the city will open the Emergency Operations Center to coordinate a response to homelessness by various city departments: Fire, Police, Homelessness Initiatives, Health, Planning and Community Development, Mayor's Office, Welfare Department, Solicitors Office and Public Works.
