David Michael Miller
Well over 150 people packed into the old showroom of Messner Inc., a former janitorial supply company at 1326 E. Washington Ave., to air concerns about a proposal to turn the building into a day resource center for the homeless.
The crowd — primarily residents of the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood — seemed divided about the project, as comments became a tug-of-war between those for and those against.
Concerns ranged from the proximity to the Tenney Nursery and Parent Center to an increase in petty crime, as well as whether county money would be better spent on housing-first initiatives.
Bob Klebba spoke to the audience about his experience living near the 800 block of East Washington Avenue, where two different temporary day shelters were located in 2012 and 2013.
“If we look back at the shelter that was run at [East] Wash for four months, it was exceptionally well run, we had a great staff, and cooperation of those using it,” Klebba said. “However, during those four months there were over 90 police calls at that site; they ranged from minor to very serious issues.”
Klebba added, “This is not a NIMBY issue; you are inviting a lot of problems into the neighborhood, and we have not planned for it.”
While the project is still in the very early stages, neighbors expressed frustration that they learned about the proposed shelter through a press release just one month before the Dane County Board will vote on whether or not to approve the Messner site.
Supv. Heidi Wegleitner, whose district includes the proposed site, said she found out about the accepted offer the morning the press release went out — leaving no time to contact the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association.
“It should have been handled differently,” Wegleitner said before the meeting. “I’m hoping we can repair the mistrust that was created and that we can have a productive community and neighborhood engagement process going forward; tonight is the first step in that.”
Some residents encouraged their neighbors to support the project.
“We should be a model for this city and welcome people who need help. There’s no one in this room who has any belief that the people this proposal is designed to serve, don’t need help,” said Jeff Spitzer-Resnick, who has lived in the neighborhood for over 30 years. “I want to caution folks, don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This won’t be perfect, and we won’t find a perfect answer anywhere, but we know that this service is necessary.”
The proposed day center is expected to provide services to roughly 150 people a day. Those services could include connecting people to health care, mental health services, job skills training and housing assistance, as well as access to bathrooms, showers and storage.
According to Porchlight, a Madison nonprofit serving the county’s homeless population, over 3,500 people experience homelessness in Madison each year.
And the problem is on the rise, both locally and nationally. Meanwhile, Madison officials have been taking an increasingly tough stance on those sleeping outside.
Last week Madison police began enforcing a new ban on sleeping outside of the Madison City-County Building, and Mayor Paul Soglin has been accused of cracking down on the homeless.
Although county officials have agreed to buy the property for $1.4 million, its use of the property as a day shelter is not a done deal.
“I want to be clear that while we do have an accepted offer to purchase, that purchase must be approved by the county board,” Wegleitner said. “And before the county board vote, this will go to several county committees.
County Executive Joe Parisi — who was unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting — has budgeted an additional $750,000 to renovate the site, including plumbing work for showers and laundry.
The City-County Homeless Issues Committee will take the issue up on Oct. 14. The county board is expected to vote on it on Nov. 5.
If approved, the shelter would open sometime next year.