The city attorney accused the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Southern Legal Counsel of “moral posturing” during Tuesday’s Ocala City Council meeting.
City attorney Patrick Gilligan made the remarks at the end of the meeting reference to a recent class action lawsuit filed against the city of Ocala.
Gilligan spoke at length against what he suggested was an attempt at “usurpation of council’s legislative prerogative.”
The named plaintiffs (Patrick McArdle, Courtney Ramsey, and Anthony Cummings) filed the complaint on September 19 “on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated,” alleging that specific policies and initiatives of the city of Ocala and Mayor Kent Guinn have been an effort to “force homeless people to leave town.”
“I take this personally, because it was a usurpation of council’s legislative prerogative. There’s a moral posturing to it,” said Gilligan. He described the complaint as being filled with “vitriol” for the mayor and accused the organizations of trying to attack the mayor’s reputation.
“They don’t politic council to say here’s what we need to do, here’s the money we need to spend. Do it the old fashioned way. They don’t do that. They don’t put up candidates to go run against you guys, and the various city council members, because that’s their agenda. They don’t do that. They issue press releases that impugn the character of our mayor, and I think impugn the character of our council,” said Gilligan.
He went on to suggest that the situation was akin to the growth of homeless communities in Los Angeles, using a doctor’s characterization of the issue as “slow motion manslaughter.”
“What they’re suggesting to us through the lawsuit is, you fund all of this, they don’t know what the price tag is, you fund all this, you do all this, and if you don’t do it, you simply let these people do whatever they want out in public wherever they want to be, and then you have Los Angeles. Then you have the slow-moving manslaughter. I don’t see that as moral. I don’t see that as caring for your fellow human being,” added Gilligan.
His concerns were ultimately echoed by the mayor.
“We need to really fight this suit, because if we don’t, then what Pat described is exactly what’s going to happen. We can’t be another Los Angeles or San Francisco. We’ve spent millions and millions of dollars, and the public has spent millions and millions of dollars to do a lot of great things in this city. And we can’t let it turn into that,” said Mayor Guinn.
Both Gilligan and Guinn indicated that although they could not offer an adequate alternative solution, the complaint did not do so either.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the “lack of adequate alternatives” are creating situations where the homeless have no choice but to sleep in the woods, on streets, sidewalks, parks, or other outdoor areas around Ocala.
According to the complaint, the three plaintiffs have cumulatively spent 210 days in jail and been assessed over $9,000 in fines, fees, and costs due to the City’s enforcement of its “’open lodging’ ordinance and practice of trespassing homeless people from public places.”
The complaint additionally attacks the mayor’s “broken windows” policy and suggests it is a method of “driving homeless people out of the city.” It accuses the city of issuing trespass warnings to ban homeless individuals from public places (including public parks) in “circumstances when the individual committed no criminal violation.”
“Is there a solution? Yeah, I think there is. That’s why when I got elected one of the first things we did was create Open Arms Village,” said Guinn. Open Arms Village is a community that provides services to homeless individuals in the community. The program currently offers 20 beds for single men facing homelessness.
“The answer is not to just allow them to sleep anywhere they want to, out on Citizens Circle, out on City Hall, and anywhere else in town that they want,” added Guinn.