Social Justice Center Appealing Removal of Benches and Little Free Library/Pantry

The City of Madison is exercising is power against the Social Justice Center, to what end?  Removing benches and a little free library/food pantry accomplishes what?

Seems like a power trip.  I guess now would be a good time to say, the words here are mine and mine alone and have not vetted by or approved, and do not reflect the thoughts of the members of the Social Justice Center or Madison Street Medicine.  Or people are feeling powerless over how to solve homelessness and so they are wielding whatever power they do have just to say they did something to appease the neighbors.

BACKGROUND

Links will be added today.  If you are reading without links and want more information, check back later.  Bolded items are where I will add links.

Let me back up.  Here’s the shortest version I can muster for our ADHD society.

• (Some) Neighbors and (some) neighboring businesses and I guess the Marquette Neighborhood Association (or some members) don’t like seeing homeless people gathering around the Social Justice Center.
• We were aware of the complaints and in January or February of 2025 the Social Justice Center reached out to the Madison Police Department.  At the time, they didn’t seem to have significant concerns.
• Complaints continued – mostly from one very local, very vocal neighbor.  Social Justice Center called meetings with stakeholders and did some things we were requested to do – more lighting around the Public Health Vending Machine, camera in back parking lot, adjusted lighting timing, etc.
• Early summer we requested a meeting with the mayor’s office and relevant departments who were asking us to do conflicting things, so we could all get on the same page.  We were blown off and told to meet with the City Attorney and Police Department again.  They told us things like they wanted us to have 24/7 security, we needed to remove the harm reduction vending machine (we didn’t), they wanted us to move the Public Health Vending Machine to the Fire Department, they illegally kicked people off the terrace (people moved back when they got kicked out of the parks and the police didn’t try that again), they wanted us to put up no trespassing signs and have everyone in the building (hundreds of people) carry ID saying they are allowed to be in the building for when we get stopped by police in our own parking lot, they wanted us to install cameras, they wanted us to have our bathrooms open 24/7/365 (while Parks is telling us why they can’t) and those are just the craziest things I can remember, there was much more.
• Then we got the “summary letter of the meeting” calling the Social Justice Center a nuisance.
• Then we got the building inspection notifications to remove weeds and trim our rain garden.
• Then we got the building inspection notification to remove the art, benches and remove little free library/food pantry from the terrace, items that have been there 6 – 20+ years.
• So we applied for the Street Terrace Permit. Paid $50 and they said it was the wrong permit.
• So we applied for the Privilege in Street Permit.  Paid the $750 for that.  That was in September.  We went back and forth for 2 months trying to produce a satisfactory map for them.
• In January we got a letter from Matt Mikolajewski, the Economic Development Division Director denying our permit.
• Yesterday we submitted our appeal to the Board of Public Works.

UNINTENDED OR NO CONSEQUENCES

Let’s be real.  If we lose this appeal the little free library/food pantry will be moved 20ish feet to the east and be on both sides of the Public Health Vending Machine.  Not sure what this accomplishes.  Unintended consequences here are that more people will be forced to sit/sleep/store items on the terrace and sidewalks.

If we lose the appeal, one memorial bench will likely be moved onto our property along with the art and memorial items in the rain garden.  Unintended consequence here is it moves the bench closer the complaining neighbor.  Which means conversations people have on the bench will be louder for her.

Two other benches will be removed.  And then people will sit and lay in the mud and dirt or on the sidewalk.  Unintended consequence here is that more people will be forced to sit/sleep on the sidewalk.

What does this accomplish?  Will it in fact, make the things the neighbors are complaining about worse?  The amenities we provide will remain, the terrace will be uglier and people will still have no legal place to go.

POORLY WRITTEN ORDINANCE

This ordinance for the Privilege in Streets Permit is terrible.  It has no standards for the Economic Development Director to make his decision.  It just says if we can’t comply with basic requirements, it can be denied.  We can comply with those requirements, so the denial seems meritless.

The Director of the Economic Development Division or their designee (Director) shall not recommend that the privilege be granted unless the applicant shows that the requirements of this section will be satisfied, and that applicable ordinances, resolutions and Board of Public Works and Plan Commission policies will be complied with.

The ordinance would require us to:

• Following concurrence of the applicant with the conditions of approval, the Director, in cooperation with the City Attorney, shall prepare an agreement, setting forth the requirements and conditions under which the privilege in streets is permitted.
• become primarily liable for damages to person or property by reason of the granting of the privilege.
• shall be required to furnish a Certificate of Insurance, providing evidence of commercial general liability insurance with the City of Madison, its officers, officials, agents and employees named as additional insureds. The insurance shall include contractual liability coverage and minimum limits of one million dollars ($1,000,000) per occurrence.
• applicant shall remove said encroachment or obstruction upon ten (10) days written notice by the City of Madison (doesn’t say when they can require removal) . . .and if the applicant shall not remove the same upon due notice, it shall be removed at the applicant’s expense and levied as a special charge for current services rendered against the applicant’s property as provided by law;
• An annual minimum fee of five hundred dollars ($500) or an amount established hereinafter, shall be charged for the privilege of encroaching into street right-of-way.
• And the kicker . . . In accepting the privilege, the applicant waives any and all right to contest in any manner the validity of this ordinance or Wis. Stat. § 66.0425, or the amount of compensation charged by the City of Madison.

And, just for funsies!  The ordinance also says:

Although subject to the provisions of this section, there shall be no application fee or annual fee (if encroachment is approved) for the following:

• • • Neighborhood Identification Signs.
    • Bicycle racks.
    • Decorative Pavement Painting Design Permit under Sec. 10.42, MGO.
    • Little Free Libraries.
    • Bus Shelters and Transit Seating.

WHERE SHOULD PEOPLE GO?

Again, lets be real.  This isn’t about little free libraries/pantry or benches or art or terraces or weeds or rain garden maintenance, or public health vending machines.

This is about we have a major issue and no one has answers.

That major issue being, if you don’t go to shelter (don’t get me started about building a men’s shelter for 250 people when 400 people were sleeping there this winter) there is no legal place to be. To exist. To go to the bathroom.  To perform your daily functions as a human.

And the city has no plan.

So by default, the police respond to complaints and try to move people along, ticket or arrest people.  The parks respond to complaints, ticket, ban and move people along.  Engineering, responds to complaints and moves people along.  Neighbors and Neighborhood Associations complain.  Alders have meeting with neighbors. Videos are posted on YouTube, snarky comments are made on the socials, fingers are pointed and the city and alders blame and target service providers because they hold our purse strings. And then they turn to us as outreach workers and make it our problem to solve. Makes for shitty partnerships with “the city”.

AND HOW MUCH ARE WE PAYING TO MOVE PEOPLE AROUND AND HARASS THE SOCIAL JUSTICE CENTER?

Think of all the time spent in meetings, writing letters, enforcing ordinances, hearing neighbor complaints and ultimately moving people along so we can move them along, so we can move them along.  And jailing and ticketing people when they don’t comply.  It easily costs the city $1 million a year and likely a whole lot more. They even have 2 police officers assigned to this issue full time. What if we put that $1M+ into solutions.  Dairy Drive was one of those solutions that the city was only paying $200,000 a year for.  We could have 5 better designed Dairy Drives.  And instead of shutting down nonprofit housing, we could be opening it up so we can house some of these folks.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

For now, email the mayor@cityofmadison.com and allalders@cityofmadison.com and ask them to come up with better solutions, fix the stupid ordinance, allow the memorial benches and art and little free library/food pantry to remain.

Then, watch for upcoming meetings at the Board of Public Works where you can email, register or speak.