23 August 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Tuesday night, four initial solutions were brought up at Topeka City Council to help curb the growing homeless problem in our community. After discussing those, the body then talked about other ideas they had to help the problem.
The four main ideas consisted of banning camping in established neighborhoods, looking at camping location limits; meaning people can’t be in one spot for a set number of days, to ban camping from the times of 7:00 a.m., to 8:00 p.m., and finally the most drastic idea, to ban camping 500 feet from the center line of a trail or sidewalk.
After these initial plans were announced, council discussed a slew of ideas they also believe could help. Some of these ideas included banning camping on public and private property unless the individual has permission with the exception of an organized camping ground. Another was to link up with the county and see their ideas.
With all these ideas talked about, Mayor Mike Padilla says the only way he believes they can work is if the city has the means to enforce the proposed ideas. It’s important to note with all of these topics discussed, none of them are official at this time. Mayor Padilla says that the council will continue to offer suggestions and ideas on how to curve the problem.