Mayor removes benches to force homeless out of downtown Michigan City. Debate ensues.

MICHIGAN CITY — Mayor Duane Parry ordered all park benches in Michigan City’s Uptown Arts District be removed to prevent homeless people using them to sit and sleep.

Some downtown business owners claim the homeless people targeted are not simply down on their luck but seem to have mental health and drug addiction issues.

Some store owners report they, their employees and customers have been threatened with harm by some of the people inside and outside the businesses. Merchants also report panhandling.

Parry issued the order, which also included tables used by homeless people at the grounds of the nearby Farmers Market, on July 28.

Not all residents are pleased with the removal of the benches.

Anatasia Gumms of Michigan City said she was upset about the mayor’s decision, calling it “short-sighted.”

She said removing the benches will only push them to other parts of the city while doing nothing to solve the cause of their homelessness.

Gumms also said the people, regardless of their situation, are human beings and benches allow them to at least take the weight off their feet.

“It’s definitely an issue," she said. "I just think there’s a way you can be proactive versus reactive.”

“I don’t know if removing the benches was necessarily the right thing to do, but I can tell you that something definitely needs to be done,” said Renee Fennell, owner of Paris House of Bridal and Prom at 728 Franklin St.

Jessi Cundiff, owner of the Hoity Toity resale shop at 703 Franklin St., said hosing down feces, urine and vomit from the sidewalk in front of his store became almost a daily routine.

A number of times, Cundiff said, he locked up his store with customers inside as a safety precaution because of homeless people fist-fighting each other.

“Some of them are really aggressive," he said. "Some of them will confront you if you don’t give them any money. It’s unfortunate, but it’s running off customers.”

The mayor said he also felt the problem and timing had reached the point for something to be done for business owners and especially for the recent 14th annual Great Lakes Grand Prix featuring powerboats racing along the Lake Michigan shoreline at Washington Park.

More than 200,000 people have attended the racing and related events.

The events include the boat parade and Taste of Michigan City, both held in the Uptown Arts District.

Before the benches were taken away, Cundiff and Fennell said, it was not unusual for homeless people to be sitting or sleeping on every one of them in the six blocks making up the arts district on Franklin Street.

Cundiff reported seeing few, if any, homeless people since the benches were removed.

Cundiff said there’s always been a homeless issue downtown since he opened his store 10 years ago, but the people on the streets then were more stable in their behavior and friendly.

Now, he said, the make-up of the homeless population downtown over the past two years changed drastically and so have their numbers.

“We’ve always had some homeless people, but we’ve never had the dangerous issues that we’re having,” Fennell said.

The claim homelessness in Michigan City has increased is not undisputed.

Jim Musial, executive director of Citizens Concerned for the Homeless, said he does not believe there’s been an increase in homelessness locally judging by things such as yearly estimated head counts.

Musial said the shelters run by his organization are housing more people, though.

He blamed that on the higher cost of rent and people having to stay longer until they can find a home at a price they can afford.

“We have an affordable housing crisis,” he said.

Musial said people at his shelters are offered programs and other resources aimed at helping them become more self-sufficient.

Gumms is a reference librarian at the Michigan City Public Library, which is on the northern edge of the Uptown Arts District at Fourth and Franklin streets.

She said homeless people come in daily to use the restroom, drink from water fountains and enjoy the air conditioning.

Gumms said they’re welcome to come in and efforts are also made to interact with the individuals, who are offered resources to help them get off the streets.

“We’ve got a pretty steady population here,” she said.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Mayor removes benches to force homeless out of downtown Michigan City