CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Charlottesville City Council decided to table an ordinance regarding camping and storage of personal property on city property during Tuesday night’s meeting.
The goal is to regulate the use of public property to preserve public health, safety and welfare by addressing camping and unlawful storage of personal property. The draft ordinance would prohibit such activities on all public property, particularly the Downtown Mall.
The speakers included Police Chief Michael Kochis, who said the city owes as much to its unhoused neighbors just as much as its housed neighbors and business community.
“We are all directly affected by unsafe encampments,” he said. “And we owe it to our entire city to approach this issue with compassion, fairness and responsibility.”
Kochis said his officers can’t help address the situation without an ordinance being in place, and city council expressed its reluctance to pass an ordinance without enhanced support for the people who would be moved, for example, a new low-barrier shelter.
Many of those who gathered to hear the presentation felt the ordinance ignores the needs of Charlottesville’s unhoused population.
The discord and general complications led councilors to put the measure on the shelf, which means it can be heard again at any time.
