Caffeinated Politics

In our city, people volunteer to make sections of this place we call home look truly wonderful. One of those Madisonians lives in the Marquette Neighborhood and has been instrumental with the Isthmus Path Prairie Garden (IPPG). It is now reported that random campers who want to pitch a tent and take over public property are undermining efforts to beautify this area.

The volunteer, whom I will leave anonymous for this column wrote the following.

For the past 10 years people have been camping along the Capital City Trail in the E. 800 block at the Isthmus Path Prairie Garden (IPPG), and in other blocks as well. In the last year the number of those camping has grown substantially to the point that it is incompatible with the garden unless the city does more to manage the camping. Trying to maintain the IPPG has become a camping management job more than anything else these days.

I frequently stop and talk with the campers and ask that they camp under the trees, where there are fewer plantings, and keep things picked up. The number of campers has grown (9 or 10 tents in the 800-block Monday, 7 tents today) to the point that, at times, it spills onto the bike path and there seems to always be “that guy” that spreads trash over a large area.

The current approach of the city kicking everyone out after a week’s notice is not working. Without city assistance to keep the camping in some order there is no way a garden can be maintained.

It is not hard to grasp the need for the city to step up and put some muscle into the efforts to address and curb this growing problem. I can speak about the years of work of this volunteer, the sincerity of those efforts, and how many people enjoy the planted results.  

We must be able to hold two truths at once within city government. We can have compassion for people experiencing homelessness while also demonstrating a firm commitment to protecting the shared spaces that give a city its character. Empathy means recognizing the humanity of those who are struggling, but empathy doesn’t require allowing tents to spring up in every park, garden, or historic corner of a community.  Every vibrant city depends on public spaces that are safe and clean.  Letting encampments take root in those areas can undermine the very places that we strive to create more of in our urban environment.

This volunteer is a good person who has shown compassion for the homeless and tenderness for the earth.   The city of Madison must step up and curb the tents.