Marquette 's bike paths are used for exercise and recreation, as seen in this file photo. On Monday, however, Marquette city commissioners heard from residents of Snowberry Heights apartment complex, who described a different type of behavior taking place on and near the bike path between Fifth and Seventh streets. (Journal file photo)

MARQUETTE — At Monday’s meeting of the Marquette City Commission, several members of the community spoke during public comment about concerns relating to behavior along the bike path between Fifth and Seventh streets.

Several of the speakers were residents of Snowberry Heights, an apartment community for those 62 and older or those with disabilities located on Fifth Street.

One speaker, Jane Russell, referred to the wooded area and section of bike path located behind the building and said “unfortunately, this is a gathering place for transients and homeless persons causing ongoing problems that affect Snowberry residents and their property.”

Russell said that she had recently witnessed campfires, people sleeping, people digging an outdoor latrine and people leaving belongings such as sleeping bags, telephones, bottles and syringes in the wooded area between Snowberry Heights and the bike path. She also said that she has heard “screaming and fighting.”

“It’s just not acceptable,” said Russell. “I can’t imagine what out-of-towners using that bike path must think of us.”

Russell said that she had reached out to central dispatch, who told her they had received 49 police calls, 29 fire and rescue calls and 31 EMS calls to the area around Room at the Inn, Flannigans Bar and surrounding businesses during the months of May and June.

“I do want to apologize (to) Snowberry for some of the actions that have occurred on their property, in which, I will inform you, the people that are doing this are not residents of Room at the Inn,” said Richard Abbott, a public commenter who identified himself as a current Room at the Inn resident.

“… Many times in the last week we’ve had officers over and like the lady said at Snowberry, in which some of the hospital calls and ambulance and the fire department are called for our residents who are having (emotional) meltdowns in which they need to go to the hospital,” continued Abbott. “… Because I am homeless and I don’t have a place to go, this is the best opportunity for me to go through SSI and other programs to help me, because of my health issues that do occur all the time. I do apologize to Snowberry.”

Abbott also said that he did not appreciate the shortening of ‘Room at the Inn’ to “RATI,” due to it sounding like the word “ratty.”

“‘Ratty’ is a negative term that means rodent,” said Abbott. “I am not a rodent, I am a human being. I am 48 years old … we are not rats, we are not vermin, we are human beings and we deserve respect just like every one of yous sitting up here today.”

Employees and representatives of the BP gas station on West Washington Street also spoke during public comment, saying that they have had issues with people abusing the social district and becoming publicly intoxicated around their property, along with other issues which have resulted in the store “losing business constantly.”

“It is so sad to go on Facebook and see pictures of these people trying to sleep, seeing pictures of people having the lowest day of their lives and being in an active crisis,” said Daisy Rae Nelson, who identified herself during public comment as a local resident affiliated with Room at the Inn. “I get that it’s very uncomfortable to deal with this … if you’re jogging along and you see people drinking, using the bathroom outside, but … we need to move with compassion, rather than disgust.”

Potential solutions presented by constituents during public comment included removing some of the cover from that area of the bike path and installing more public bathrooms.

During commissioner comments, Commissioner Jessica Hanley said that, “We are not the first city who has had an issue with constituents being inappropriate, and I won’t label the constituents that are doing it, because it is more than just one group of people that causes problems. I will say that I do believe we should look at it with compassion and in the right regard, well at the same point protecting the residents of the local area and finding a way to work forward.”

“To the folks at Snowberry, your concerns are 100% valid,” said Commissioner Jeremy Ottoway. “We want to make sure that our senior community is safe and I think that there were some actually decent ideas brought forward … potentially removing the shelter areas and ultimately make it not as easy for somebody to sit down and embed themselves and put others in a dangerous situation and I do think that that’s something that as a city we need to look at.”

“The homeless issue, or the use of our public walkways and things from what I’m going to assume is our homeless population overflow, is definitely something that we have to keep on our radar,” said Mayor Paul Schloegel. “But we also have to understand that there’s a lot of people out there that are really doing their best to work towards getting back on their feet, and the Room at the Inn is a really essential part of that process.

“We have to really keep in mind the stretching overreach that is having to happen with all of our services. With our fire, with our police, with our EMTs and first responders. And not to say that those calls are not valid and that they need help, but … the numbers we are talking about, it is really quite excessive, and we have to hope that maybe some of the members of that community can work together inside of the organization to come up with some positive answers to help us.”

City Manager Karen Kovacs also weighed in.

“As the local unit of government, we really see this as a community need to approach and all levels of government need to be at this table working with the local nonprofits and organizations to find better solutions for addressing homelessness in our community,” said Kovacs.

“… Municipalities are extremely limited on what we can spend public funds on. We cannot give money to nonprofits unless we are contracting with them to do something that we should be doing as the government agency, or a service that we would otherwise provide, so our support for serving the homeless is not as obvious or direct as some may demand or expect of the local government.

“… We are doing everything we can with the tools that we do have currently. We can’t promise easy solutions, but we can continue to act decisively, compassionately and transparently. But let’s be honest that mental health and substance abuse disorders, not necessarily saying that is tied to homeless (people), but mental health and substance abuse disorders are pressing challenges in this community and what’s even more troubling is the lack of adequate resources in the Upper Peninsula to respond effectively. This is a systemic issue, we all know this, and we need stronger support from our county, state and federal agencies in order to help.”

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.