COLUMBUS, Ind. — Leadership at The Commons is being criticized for proposed building rules that some view as against the homeless population in Columbus.
A group of about 10 individuals, including some members of the Democratic Socialists of America’s Bartholomew County chapter, showed up at The Commons Board’s meeting on Wednesday to express their concerns, offering comments that ranged from civil to accusatory.
Columbus resident Jacob Kennedy said that the question of who is allowed in the building is very important with him, as he’s been homeless off and on, as recently as six months ago.
“This was the only place I had to bring my daughters, you understand?” Kennedy said. “So it’s pretty personal to me. And there really aren’t a lot of great spots to be in Columbus.”
The proposed rules are still being considered, and the board is expected to vote on a final draft at its next meeting, which is tentatively set for 11:30 a.m. Aug. 23.
The Commons Board voted in April to approve new building rules that would prohibit a number of actions on the premises, including loitering, soliciting, panhandling, sleeping or lying down, cluttering spaces with personal belongings, bringing in outside alcohol, smoking and vaping.
In considering the rules, board members said that there should be some language added that helps explain or soften the “tone” of the list. This was incorporated into the motion, with the understanding that Columbus Parks Associate Director of Business Services Pam Harrell would revise the sign listing the rules based on members’ concerns.
The Commons facility will be the first Columbus parks and recreation facility to have these rules put in place, according to the Commons’ board minutes. “Once in place, the remaining parks facilities will adopt rules or an adapted version to suit their needs,” the minutes state.
While the agenda for Wednesday’s Commons Board meeting included no action or discussion items regarding the building rules, the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) Bartholomew County chapter shared on social media that the Commons Board would be discussing “a politically correct rebranding of their barbaric anti-homeless policies” at the session and encouraged individuals to show up at the meeting in protest.
Co-chair Blake Fields told The Republic the organization intended to have a “demonstration” at the meeting about what the group perceives as the board’s anti-homeless stance.
As the meeting got underway, there was some confusion among Commons Board members over whether the the board had intended to approve the final version of the rules, which are still being drafted, through a formal vote or informal assent.
After some discussion, the board agreed to vote final draft of the rules at its next meeting, Aug. 23.
When asked what the board hopes to accomplish with the rules, Harrell replied that The Commons has seen issues with people lingering in its spaces.
“We want to make sure that this is a building for everybody,” she said. “So we need to have rules on the wall somewhere that we can point to so that people understand what the rules of the building are. It’s not directed at any one group, it’s just basically, we rely on the revenue that comes in for the performance hall upstairs, and we want to be respectful for anybody who rents that space so that we don’t have distractions down in the lower lobby that would prevent them from renting that space again, because we rely on that revenue to support this building.”
This led some attendees to ask whether The Commons is intended to be a business or a public space for the community.
“It’s a balance between both,” said board member Mary Harmon. “It’s both a public space and a space for private events.”
Board president Tracy Souza acknowledged that it’s a challenging balancing act.
“I think the dream and the vision in Columbus has always been that we can have a public space that also hosts events and it pays for itself and that we’re kind of able to do both,” she said. “I mean, that’s the magic, Columbus has always liked to do both and not just one or the other. Maybe we’re at a point where we’ve got to choose one or the other, but I’m kind of not ready to give up that dream yet.”
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
