City Manager working on plan to help unhoused sleeping in Market Street Park
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - City Manager Sam Sanders says he is working on a plan to help the people who sleep in Market Street Park overnight. This comes after an alleged incident prompted Charlottesville to keep the park open 24/7.
Tents have been set up in the public park in downtown Charlottesville. They’re being used by the unhoused community, which the city is allowing for the time being.
“It’s a step that is necessary, because I don’t want to have additional challenges with just kind of dealing with the unhoused population in the park. They have nowhere else to go,” Sanders said Friday, September 22.
This decision follows issues that were raised during City Council’s meeting Monday, Sept. 18. Several spoke up during the meeting about an alleged incident between a police officer and an unhoused man in the park.
The City Manger says he and the police department are looking into what happened. In the meantime, Sanders says the unhoused are allowed to stay in the park overnight.
Sanders says he will have a plan to present councilors at their next meeting on October 2.
“The goal is to figure out what’s the priority? What can we do? What can we do first? And then we’ll continue to work on it after we start doing some of those things,” Sanders said.
When asked how long the park will remain open 24/7, Sanders says he does not know.
RELATED:
- Changes may be coming to Market Street Park
- Police open administrative investigation regarding Market Street Park ‘incident’
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