Mike Wolanin | The Republic An exterior view of The Commons through a c-shaped bike rack in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022.
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.”
As long as the lower lobby isn’t rented out, the public can come in and walk through, said board member Kevina Schumaker.
However, she added that there have been issues with people bringing in crockpots and cooking in the space, and it’s hard to remove people unless they have official rules to point to.
“We’re trying to find that balance,” said Commons manager Shanda Sasse. “We want that building to be open to everybody, we’re trust trying to find the balance of how the building can operate safely for everyone. We cannot just avoid issues.”
In discussing the language of the rules, board member Erin Hawkins said that she and other Commons officials met with one individual, Sarah Kilbarger-Stumpff, about her concerns.
“I learned a lot from her,” said Hawkins. “So she was encouraging us to really look at each rule and specifically what we’re trying to address. So the use of the term loitering, that implies that there’s something wrong with a person just existing in a public space. So through conversation with Shanda, Sarah helped us understand that really, what’s at the heart of that ‘no loitering’ is people making a bunch of noise in the lower lobby when there’s an event happening upstairs. So maybe rather than saying ‘no loitering’, the rule is ‘maintain a respectful noise level that allows everybody to enjoy the space.’”
Jared Loper, who runs a homelessness outreach program in Indianapolis and has family in Columbus, said that a lot of the rules seem to be targeting “unhoused neighbors” to keep them from entering the building.
“I realize The Commons relies very much on rentals and relies very much on that revenue coming in, but it just feels very unfortunate that it feels like it’s being prioritized, like prioritizing those with money versus those without money,” he said.
“I think some of the revisions are exactly addressing the point that you raise, that this is a pretty negative set of rules, and how do we create, how do we say the same thing in a more welcoming kind of way?” said Souza.
However, some attendees felt that the board was trying to be deceptive with its wording rather than inclusive.
“You said before you want to implement the rules but use a nicer language,” said Payton Emberton. “And to me that shows your actual intentions of, oh, you want to push people out, but you don’t want to actually be honest about what you’re doing to do.”
City Council liaison Grace Kestler said that the intention of creating these rules is not to say that unhoused individuals are not allowed in The Commons and added that some of the people who are causing problems are kids and teenagers.
“We understand that it is a public space, but I think there is — as taxpayers, we don’t want our individuals to, we want our public property to maintain quality,” she said. “And so I don’t think it’s — again, this isn’t about just unhoused individuals. It’s about really anyone who might be (making) loud noises, talking, taking a conference call in the lower lobby when there’s a private meeting upstairs.”
“We all know that good intentions can go bad ways,” replied Chelsee Adams. “I’m not demonizing any one person or saying anyone here’s trying to be hateful, but when we say as a community that we want this place to have quality, what we are also saying is that some people are of lesser quality and don’t deserve to be here.”
Schumaker said that this is not what the board is saying, and reiterated that their goal is for the building to be respected.
Part of the discussion also centered on attendees’ concerns over whether The Commons would be a warming site in the future, as it had been during a particular severe winter weather event last year.
In discussing the proposed building rules, Kestler said that the situation raises questions around what alternatives are available for unhoused individuals in Columbus.
“The Commons Board and Commons staff has done a really good job trying to educate themselves on the resources in our community,” said Kestler. “And I think we know that they are lacking some of those outreach type of resources. And we’ve got ASAP (Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress) and Stride and a couple of others now that are doing a great job, but I think that’s what we have to continue to do, is educate ourselves.”
She added that some city council members are organizing a listening session around the topic of homelessness, with tentative plans to hold the event in October.
Laura Carmer said that the potential rules at The Commons affect not just unhoused individuals but other community members who use the building as well.
The Commons is not the only public place considering these kinds of questions, said Souza.
The Bartholomew County Public Library’s board of trustees is considering plans to update their code of conduct for patrons, with a recent draft emphasizing that individuals have rights within the space and the responsibility not to infringe on the rights of other users.
However, the board is continuing to discuss revisions to the draft and has not yet voted on the update.
“We want everybody and anybody to feel welcome and feel comfortable in our spaces and on our property but that means everybody needs to feel welcome,” said library director Jason Hatton at a recent meeting. “So if you have somebody who’s disrupting or somebody who’s not making that a safe environment in any way, then we need to remove that individual.”
Library staff often have to ask people to leave due to issues such as yelling, fighting, drug use and sleeping, he said. Columbus police have been called to the facility to “trespass” individuals from the library due to disruptive behavior.
