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Tensions ran high at Summit City Hall as the city council debated Ordinance 11-8-71, which would restrict camping, sleeping, or storing belongings in public spaces—with penalties of up to $2,000 in fines or 90 days in jail. As FOX 5’s Jessica Formoso reports, more than 100 people packed the meeting, with advocates rallying outside in protest.
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Well, they're getting heated over homelessness in one New Jersey community, and it's all over
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an ordinance that's generating a lot of controversy, leading to a packed City Hall meeting tonight
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Fox High's Jessica Formoso is live in Summit, New Jersey with the very latest. Hi, Jess
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Natasha, that's right. And that City Council meeting is going on at this hour. It started
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roughly about 730. And as you mentioned, it is getting heated now. There was about 80 to 100
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people. They actually had to use the hallway of City Hall to accommodate the overflow. Now
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you know, the budget was on the list. That was the number one topic. But people came out
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because of the ordinance 11871, a piece of legislation introduced in the last city council
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meeting, which would restrict camping, sleeping, or storing belongings in public spaces with
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penalties, including fines up to $2,000 or up to 90 days in jail. Tonight, the mayor of Summit
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saying after much thought and speaking with service providers, advocates and others
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they have amended the ordinance. We know the focus will now be on camping and unattended personal belongings
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but at this hour we are still waiting to hear from the city council on the details of this amended ordinance
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which means, you know, are there going to be penalties? If so, what are the penalties
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The city council was originally set to vote on the original ordinance tonight
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but like I said, they have amended it. Now, the mayor and city council addressing the crowd, saying this is about public safety
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What we're talking about is a group of people that are pulling knives on kids
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They deprecating and urinating on es They fighting with police They harassing residents They writing terroristic graffiti in the bathrooms of the train station
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So I am going to... Now, before the meeting, homeless advocates gathered outside of City Hall to protest this ordinance saying there should be more housing, not handcuffing individuals
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About 14 months ago, the mayor and homeless advocates created a homelessness task force to address the issue
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The mayor saying at the time there were nearly 40 homeless individuals here in Summit
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The task helped 21 of them, providing them with services and housing
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According to advocates, right now they say the city has a population of five homeless individuals
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They say this is not a crisis and the city should be helping them, not trying to criminalize them
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Know that not only is criminalizing homelessness cruel, it is also ineffective and expensive
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It costs up to three times more to pass an ordinance criminalizing homelessness and enforce that ordinance than it does to get people into housing
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So like I said, this meeting is still going on now. We're up to the public comment portion, which there is a line
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There's a lot of people who have something to say about this. So it could be another hour or two
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It's going to be a long night here in Summit. But again, the city council has put aside the original ordinance and have amended the ordinance
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Of course, we're still waiting for the details. Hopefully, we'll have those sometime tonight
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That's the latest I have from Summit. I'm Jessica Formoso, Fox 5 News. Natasha
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All right, Jess, thank you
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