Dylan Brogan
Police have been increasingly visible at the top of State Street to address complaints about crime and conduct.
Tyrone has lived in Madison for 30 years. For the past three weeks, he’s been sleeping outside. Like many other homeless residents, during the day he hangs out at the top of State Street near the small outdoor stage on the Mifflin Street side of the Capitol Square.
“Madison is a small town trying to grow. But it’s leaving the people who’ve fallen on hard times behind,” says Tyrone, who declined to give his last name. “They want us to leave here. People would be ready and willing to move if the city alleviated the problem of having nowhere to go.”
The top of State Street is the latest pressure point for poverty and homelessness in Madison. It’s a spot where people sleep, where outreach groups provide food and clothing, and where the homeless can find safety in numbers. It’s also a hotbed for crime and bad behavior, says Mayor Paul Soglin.
“Unfortunately, there is a lot of activity that’s not appropriate in most places but particularly in a public place,” Soglin says. “This includes consumption of alcohol and drugs. Sale of drugs. And then some other behaviors that raise that probability of violence.”
The mayor is leading a crackdown on illicit behavior here, similar to recent purges at nearby Philosopher’s Grove and at the City County Building. This effort is supported by Mike Verveer, the district’s alder, as well the business community. Soglin also wants to bring in food carts to encourage other people to congregate there.
Others condemn the crackdown, calling it a waste of money that fails to address the real problem of poverty.
“We all want the same thing, for people to be in housing and off the streets. It’d be great if we could work together on that, but the mayor can’t get past his ego and antiquated ideas,” says Brenda Konkel, an advocate for the homeless. “What we need is a mayor that stops wasting our time on ludicrous proposals that don’t have the votes. We need a mayor willing to sit down and openly discuss ideas that might not be his own.”
Soglin counters that homeless advocates are doing no favors for the homeless. “Some folks’ attitude on all this is ‘get over it. I’m morally superior to you because I can tolerate these behaviors and put up with it.’ The critics of what we are doing are saying that this is all about the city being oppressive and the city criminalizing homelessness. They are in complete denial.”
Madison police Lt. Brian Austin says the department increased its presence at the top of State Street a few months ago. A squad car and officers are now a regular fixture at this spot, which is next to Isthmus’ office. He says many people causing problems are not homeless.
“We’ve given citations for depositing human waste, urination. Disorderly conduct for fighting. Open intoxicants if we are finding people actively drinking. We’ve had people dealing synthetic marijuana and other drugs,” Austin says. “I’ve talked to women who have admitted they are engaged in the business of prostitution.”
Casey, who also did not wish to give his last name, currently has housing but has lived on and off the streets in Madison for two decades. He spends most days at the top of State Street.
“State Street’s been the one hub where you can get your panhandling on, your little hustle on and you basically have three liquor stores around here where you can get your booze,” he says. “Most people don’t cause any trouble.”
On July 30, activists Miles Kristan and Mike Walton led a demonstration against the crackdown after $439 tickets were issued to individuals for “occupy[ing] planting area.”
“How is somebody supposed to pay that when they don’t have any money?” Walton asks.
“All you’re doing is kicking people out of one spot and not addressing the root cause,” says Kristan, who vows to launch a recall effort against Soglin. “The amount of money that it takes to police some unconstitutional policy like telling people they can’t sit on a certain spot, that money could be spent better on something that could be more productive.”
Austin says although “dozens of warnings” were given to people for sitting on the planter, only a few tickets have been written.
“Citation has not been our first line of attack on this. It’s just been talking to people and getting voluntary compliance,” he says. “But we’ve received a lot of complaints about people sitting on the wall that are blocking the sidewalk, harassing people and saying lewd things to women walking by.”
Carrie, who has been homeless for three months, was ticketed for sitting on the planter.
“This is where we feel safe. Everybody knows everybody. Not everyone is homeless, but most of us are. My homeless family looks out for me better than my real family, and that’s fucked up,” says Carrie. “We drink to take care of the pain.”
Tyrone says most of the cops are “sweet as pie” but there are a few bad apples. “[The police] come over. They intimitate by standing in front of you or besides you. Listening to your conversation. Looking like they are talking or being friendly. But they’re not,” he explains. “They are up here to do what the mayor told the police chief to do: Get rid of us when the prissy white folks come through.”
Austin says police are being forced to deal with deeper societal issues.
“We’re doing this because we have to,” he says. “There are people who are engaging in behavior that is ruining it for everyone.”
Tiffany Kenney, executive director of the Central Business Improvement District, says store owners and employees on the 100 block of State Street are negatively affected by people congregating in the area.
“This is about addressing behaviors at the top of State Street and not homelessness,” says Kenney. “We have been in support of the increased police presence because there hasn’t been any improvement in the behaviors after trying to work with that group to ask for some improvements.”
The BID holds several free public events intended to “positively activate” the space. Kenney says the homeless have been welcome. The organization also held a meeting last week with homeless advocates, police, public officials and business owners.
“Not one person sitting in the meeting wants to give a homeless person a $400 ticket,” says Kenney. “No one has a miracle solution, but [everyone] understanding the complexity of the issue I think is going to be helpful.”
Soglin agrees that tickets are not the solution.
“We are not going to arrest our way out of this. It’s going to take more supervision and more mental health and substance abuse services. But we do need rules and regulations,” Soglin says. “Whether it’s the urine-soaked place, whether it’s the violence, whether it’s the harassment of pedestrians...it’s simply not tolerable. It’s very possible to have homeless people present without having these very challenging and in some cases dangerous behaviors.”
Tyrone says what the homeless really need are jobs.
“There are cranes all around us. The city should require that some of the general labor jobs go to the homeless,” Tyrone says. “Give people something to do. Because you kick us out of one area, we’ll just go somewhere else.”
Soglin says he’s happy to kick some people out: “If we are pushing out drug dealers and we’re pushing out people with guns — that’s fine with me.”
