'Missing the point': Concerns growing over lack of seating in downtown Melbourne due to homelessness
Could benches be fix for homeless concerns?
A downtown community in Florida has removed their benches due to unhoused people apparently sleeping on them. Some business owners asked that the benches be removed to deter homeless people from sleeping on them outside their stores. However, whether it's working or helping all the underlying issues that lead to homelessness is up for debate.
MELBOURNE, Fla. - Homelessness is so bad in Central Florida that cities are getting rid of benches because of it.
It’s a growing problem in Melbourne. The busy downtown core now only has three benches left, and some city council members aren’t happy about it.
This was up for debate at Tuesday’s city council meeting because council member Rachael Bassett went downtown for a meeting recently and ran into a pregnant woman. Bassett said the woman was exhausted and needed a place to rest, but the woman had nowhere to sit.
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Now, the council is looking into why all the benches were taken away in the first place – if that was the best move.
Small marks in the sidewalk are what’s left of nearly 30 benches that have been removed on New Haven Avenue. The city said they were removed because businesses were frustrated with how homeless people were using them.
The only spot with seating still left is at Campbell Park, where there are three benches bolted into the ground.
For years, the city was just moving benches around.
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If there was a hotspot for the homeless, they would take the bench somewhere else. But because reports of loitering, sleeping and people just hanging out got so bad, downtown businesses asked for the benches to be removed completely near storefronts.
Not everyone thinks that really did anything to help the issue.
"I don’t think that taking off the benches helped more. I think they should deal with the problem, instead of removing benches and thinking that’s going to help. Now, they just sleep on the floor," said Ingrid Llaverias, who works downtown and remembers the benches being a big issue.
Before the city started removing benches, they also added dividers in the middle to keep people from sprawling out. Now, nearly all the seating is gone from the busy downtown core.
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"Removing the bench does not help a homeless person. It does not help from my perspective make the community friendlier, nicer, better place to walk, come sit and enjoy a cup of ice cream. I think we’re missing the point," said Chris Thomas, who was out visiting downtown on Tuesday.
Vice Mayor Yvonne Minus said the city can look at the "design of the benches, so it would be just a single seat versus one full bench."
Tuesday's city council meeting facilitated a discussion on this issue. There was no formal proposal, nor was there a vote of any kind.