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City and state struggling to find effective solutions
by Guy Page
Montpelier’s Progressive-minded City Council repealed a ban on panhandling in 2018, and refused requests to ban loitering in 2019.
In 2021 it adopted a “general non-involvement approach” towards emergency (read: homeless) encampments, except those located in ‘high-sensitivity areas.’
In 2023, former City Councilor and newly elected House member Conor Casey argued on the behalf of homeless city residents for the construction of a public restroom on the State House lawn.
Casey struck out. But Montpelier’s street population is still here and the problems they are causing are now front page news in Vermont’s state capitol.
Literally.
“Montpelier Officials Frustrated by Repeat Criminal Offenders,” proclaims the Page One, above-the-fold headline in the Dec. 4 edition of The Bridge, the city’s twice-monthly community newspaper.
To summarize:
Sexual harassment of girls on the bike path. They’ve been chased, propositioned, pushed. One dad said a man propositioned his nine-year-old daughter. The culprits are mostly men who hang out there, especially near the bus station/low-income housing building on Taylor Street.
Arrests overall are up in Montpelier. September 2019 – 10 cases referred for prosecution. September 2024: 31. 16-20% of all cases involved the ‘unhoused,’ Police Chief Eric Nordenson said.
The pandemic and the state’s aggressive response of providing free housing without strings – now somewhat curtailed – are cited as reasons for increased crime and ‘deteriorating behavior downtown.’
So are state laws, judges and prosecutors overseeing revolving door courthouses. City Manager Bill Fraser says: “These cases almost always get dismissed out of court….There are no consequences. People get cited, get released, no action, next day they are out there, same thing. Wash, rinse, repeat. Our officers are frustrated.”
Overworked, too. The small department is down two officers.
Something the story doesn’t mention is the City’s historic tolerance of unwelcome behaviors associated with street people: loitering and panhandling. When local landlord David Kelley called for an anti-loitering ordinance in 2019, he was rebuffed.
The Vermont ACLU helpfully points out that Montpelier is among the panhandling-friendly cities in Vermont.
“As of 2018, officials in Bennington, Brattleboro, Montpelier, Rutland Town, and Winooski protected the constitutional rights of their residents by repealing their anti-panhandling ordinances. Barre City placed theirs on indefinite moratorium. That means these cities should not ticket or arrest you for panhandling.”
Not that panhandling and loitering ordinances result in real enforcement, anyway. The city’s open-container ordinance carries a one-day jail sentence or $50 fine. Judges won’t sentence the time, and offenders can’t or just won’t pay the fine.
Solution: more money?
“One thing both city officials and the state’s attorney likely agree on is the need for more state resources to deal with the roots of recurrent behavior problems and criminal activity,” reporter Phil Dodd concludes.
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Categories: Local government, News Analysis
Quick, make guns illegal on the bike path!
My daughter and I were asked if we wanted to buy heroin on the bike path. Definitely not a safe place.
@Darcy – Always carry a quality OC spray (not expired) and a reliable gun in a safe quality holster on your person. Protect yourself and your family. Know all your draw to first shot times and go signals. Practice dry fire to meet your 1.5 second national standard. Always be aware of your surroundings, and if someone is approaching you, react before they get too close. Give them the step back warning if you can’t get away, and then spray in the face if they don’t comply and get to safety immediately. My opinion…
I haven’t tried this one, but I hear this is a good one for women, especially if you are biking – https://www.phlsterholsters.com/phlster-enigma
“Not that panhandling and loitering ordinances result in real enforcement, anyway. The city’s open-container ordinance carries a one-day jail sentence or $50 fine. Judges won’t sentence the time, and offenders can’t or just won’t pay the fine”
Fine, then why have the law in the first place if it’s not going to be enforced? Not enough manpower? Hire more cops. Not enough local lockup? Build more cells. Judges unwilling to follow the law? Get rid of ’em and put in new ones.
Offenders can’t pay? Give them supervised community service cleaning up trash on the streets, I really don’t care.
If you’re not willing to take on the problem, then eliminate the laws you can’t or won’t enforce. And if that’s the case, nobody should be complaining if everyone using that path for personal enjoyment is armed for personal protection. Nobody!
As I said weeks ago on this topic, if nothing is done about this situation, does Montpelier want to be responsible for the next Laken Riley?
Montpelier’s Progressive-minded City Council will likely cite the vagrant perpetrators for sex discrimination, and insist that in future sexual assaults, that they include boys in their harassment…
When a criminal act is perpetrated, particularly one that involves a vulnerable victim, does the domicile status of the offender really matter? It is arguably stereotypical but also likely statistically valid to assume that someone with no address is at a higher likelihood to be “justice involved” than someone who has a permanent address. The lamestream media consistently refers to the person on the subway who was prevented from harming others by Daniel Penny as “homeless”. That victimhood reference, and his skin tone has brought about a lot of angry responses to Penny’s recent acquittal.
Crimes committed by “street people” likely also are due to them having a lot of time on their hands, with most being unemployed. Also, our criminal justice system basically grants a license to commit crime to someone who suffers from a serious mental illness. Innocence by reason of insanity or the inability to grasp the proceedings in court are excuses granted by most civilized societies to not hold people responsible for their actions. Although there is probably a higher likelihood of a “street person” having a serious mental affliction than the general population, simply having no address should not be an excuse to harass others.
They need to be arrested!!
Unfortunately, that will never happen in VSR. Vermont Vermonter above has the solution.
The number of homeless people in this country can not be blamed on mental illness. You have a problem with this economy and no one wants to take the blame. Waiting for events in 2025 and see where we end up.
Progressives are a threat to society….
I am sick and tired of all you hear is these poor homeless souls, yes some have a mental condition and should be in a mental institution, oh wait, we shut down all the institutions and the others have major drug problems all released to fend for themselves on the streets………liberal policies front & center.
Then you have the so-called homeless ” panhandlers ” on every street corner or intersection standing by signs stating ” No Panhandling or We’re Hiring ” and these look to be able-bodied people, homeless, yeah as they don’t want any responsibility for their lifestyle that probably consists of booze & drugs…… their choice.
I refuse to give one dime to these scavengers. Yes, scavengers, I will help anyone willing to help themselves. all they want is handouts and the bleeding hearts that give these people cash, you are not helping these people, you are promoting this scourge, Secondly, how many of these so-called are actually from Vermont?…….. Not many.
And now you have Girls in Montpelier who street people sexually harass them, yes and you let it happen, by electing progressives and their nonsense policies, and this is what you get cesspools in every town…………………….. Wake up, people !!
I have 35 years of experience in law enforcement and over 30 of it in Chittenden County. I have had hundreds of encounters with homeless individuals and the biggest thing that I learned is that the majority ofg them are not Vermonters. They came from other states because the handouts here are better and more abundant thatn where they came from. These people learn of this on the street and then come to Vermont. If the state had fewer of these handouts these people would go back to the places they came from and others would not be tempted to come here.
Men who proposition 9 years girls actually don’t need to be arrested as some have suggested. There is no delicate way to put this, so I’ll just say it. Men that proposition 9 year old girls need to be mercilessly beaten, trust me they’ll get the message…they may even leave town and settle somewhere else, until they’re run out again.
Problems such as this were handled the way you suggest 40 and 50 years ago- and the solution worked well. However, I’d suspect that michelle donnely, Washington Cty. State’s Atty. would have no issue charging and prosecuting anyone that did harm to “vulnerable populations”-ala Daniel Penny.
Sad. Another DemocRAT run s*hole city with a sprinkle of progressiveness to sweeten Montpelier even more.
Impossible! An underserved population acting in an uncivilized manner? Perhaps they can be over served on to a bus someplace else?
Nope, I think they are here to stay.
Better get used to them and associated headlines.
Thisis what you get when you elect a bunch of left wing wackos to run your city. You will reap what you sow .
Well what did the legislature expect? They kept on funding hotels and other freebies for the homeless knowing it would not and COULD not last forever. With people who don’t want to work sitting in a basement playing games and such, the program isn’t sustainable. Are we, the taxpayer, supposed to continue funding these people? Sorry but no. I was homeless once and did something about it that didn’t involve fleecing the system. These people were told that you have a year. That year has passed and not they’re upset. They had a year to figure things out. They did not. Their problem, not mine.
Yea, throw more money at it. The Vermont answer to every problem.
The progressive solution to this problem is to build more bike paths along with safe infection sites
Like the Bean Man says, “You get what you pay for”.
As the number of atheists increases in our society, the greater disregard of what happens when you waste your life as cited in Matthew 25:14-31.
I’ve been homeless twice. Far fron panhandling, I turned down money when offered. I harassed no one.
It’s high time we stop lumping all the “homeless” together. Other than breaking vagrancy and public camping laws, some are law abiding and just want to be left alone. It’s the 90% who give the other 10% a bad name.
Before the path was built, was there an issue? This path was built right through where the homeless navigated to and fro, and camped… no predictions on the problems that would cause? the path might be the problem or at least part of it.
Women have been subjected to catcalls, propositions, and harassment – ongoing – since recorded history began and before the Bible was written… we learned to pull up our big girl panties and walk on… its a part of being a woman in a still male dominated society (in spite of appearances). That is a cultural thing… born and bred. Own it. Until the attitudes that breed this kind of sexualization of women everywhere everywhen even when we out in public… the problem will exist. Its a big city problem now rooted in VT. Thank you libs.
Also… demonizing the homeless reflects on those doing so…and your hardheartedness. Homelessness is the RESULT of societal failure to take care of each other. Period. That’s it. Some people deserve to be taken care of and some not?
Welp…the next step is to follow the UK and Canada (ongoing, NOW) in euthanizing ‘useless eaters’ for the ‘good of society,’ or so that you don’t have to deal with the cooties and hopelessness of being seen as useless and taking up too much space.
Be careful what you wish for people…because we all get sick, we all grow old, and but for the grace of God, we can ALL hit bottom and find ourselves abandoned by a heartless society…perfect set up for euthanasia.
This is the solution your hatred is tilting towards, and is right in line with Vermont’s history of eugenics… own it. Or see it arrive in our State.
We already kill people with a doctor’s consent… watch for relaxation of those rules that keep that among those terminally ill. In Canada, depression, Alzheimer’s, hearing loss, poverty, homelessness, and long-Covid are all legal reasons for doctors to coerce patient’s into agreeing they are worthless pieces of caca and don’t deserve the aid and care of a …heartless society… and of course, suicide is the choice of many in such circumstances…
You people need to look at yourselves before you cast those stones at those who are down and out and NEED your help and compassion and love and understanding.
But for the grace of God, anyone of you could be in their shoes, and may well be soon…
God Bless those who are on the streets with these people showing them Christ’s love and forgiveness…
Ridiculous comment. 10% “need” the help and no one is against that. 90% choose the lifestyle because they just don’t want to work and with all of the handouts here in VT, they don’t have to. Drugs on every corner, steal their lunch with no consequence, beg for and receive cash from virtue signalers who don’t understand, on every street corner and ramp. These people could work, they choose not to and expect us to give them everything. Supporting that is not part of the Lord’s plan.
If ever a “Street Person” laid a hand on a female member of my family, in the famous words of Kurt Russell as Wyatt Erp, “You tell em I’m coming, and hell’s coming with me!” With God as my witness, that would be the last woman he ever touched.
Point of reference. When I was about 15 years old my father stood me up, looked me square in the eyes and command, “Never let anyone harm your sister. No matter what you do, I’ll back you.” Later years, duck hunting trips to the endless marshes of Dead Creek he would comment, “hell of a place to plant a body.”
Absolutely, positively, right. I’m with you….