PREVIOUSLY: Ordinance regulating public camping is one step closer to passing in Jacksonville <\/a><\/p>\nWCIA obtained a copy of the ordinance, which explains that the council found it appropriate, necessary and in the best interests of the city and its residents that they implement a public camping prohibition and related enforcement mechanisms to address the \u201cmyriad\u201d of public concerns they said public camping creates.<\/p>\n
The ordinance also explains that except for property specifically designated by the city in any subsequent ordinance, the city declares that none of its property is permitted nor intended to be used for public camping.<\/p>\n
The following definitions fall within the ordinance:<\/p>\n
Bedding: a sleeping bag, or any other material, used for bedding purposes<\/p>\n
Campsite: any physical space that is not within an established structure, where bedding or any stove or fire is placed, established or maintained for the purpose of maintaining a temporary place to live, whether or not such place incorporates the use of any tent, lean-to, shack or any other structure, or any vehicle or part thereof<\/p>\n
Exempt personal property: items which would otherwise constitute personal property under the terms of this ordinance, but which:<\/p>\n
Has no apparent utility of monetary value<\/p>\n
Personal property that is unsanitary to store or otherwise maintain<\/p>\n
Any weapon possessed illegally<\/p>\n
Items appearing to be stolen or otherwise appearing to be evidence of crime<\/p>\n
Items which the person cannot demonstrate the requisite lawful authority to posses<\/p>\n
Any items of food that can reasonably be expected to spoil or otherwise perish within the next 30 days<\/p>\n
Personal property: any item recognizable as belonging to a person and having apparent utility or monetary value, except for exempt personal property<\/p>\n
Public camping: means to cause or participate in the establishment of, or the act of remaining in or at a campsite<\/p>\n
This ordinance also addressed the city\u2019s protocol for the removal of a campsite. This includes the city posting a notice 24-hours in advance of the removal, unless they find it necessary to remove the campsite immediately. Once the 24-hour period passes, the campsite and personal property shall be removed on behalf of the city.<\/p>\n
Penalties for those that don\u2019t abide by this ordinance can range anywhere from $25 for first time offenders to incarceration for repeat offenders.<\/p>\n
During the public comment portion of Monday\u2019s meeting, multiple residents pushed back against the ordinance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel it\u2019s irresponsible to say to that individual, \u2018That\u2019s your problem,’\u201d one person said. \u201cBy passing the ordinance tonight without having an alternative location for them to go, you\u2019re basically saying, \u2018That\u2019s your problem.\u2019 That\u2019s not responsible legislation, and that\u2019s not humane.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Alderman Rubin De Celis said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to establish that the purpose of this ordinance wasn\u2019t motivated by a lack of empathy or a desire to stick it to homeless people, but really the recognition that we have a multi-level problem, and this is just the very beginning of trying to get a handle on this with idea of helping the people in need but also helping other people in the community who are being affected by it feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WCIA.com. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) \u2014 The Jacksonville City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting public camping throughout the city by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28670,116,4040,118,117,29041,73420,12028],"class_list":{"0":"post-152180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-camping","9":"tag-jacksonville","10":"tag-jacksonville-city-council","11":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","12":"tag-jacksonville-news","13":"tag-ordinance","14":"tag-personal-property","15":"tag-public-concerns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}