Star Tribune
Duluth proposes criminal penalty for homeless encampments
DULUTH — City officials here are poised to ratchet up its response to homeless and other types of encampments, with a proposal to make sleeping on city property a misdemeanor crime.
Mayor Roger Reinert and other city leaders announced 10 proposed ordinance changes Tuesday that will soon go before the City Council, each addressing offenses, including burning, graffiti and property damage, cited as the biggest complaint drivers in the city.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled late last month that fining or jailing people for breaking anti-camping ordinances when there is no shelter available does not violate the Constitution. The decision gives local governments the license to cite and possibly arrest people in homeless encampments or other public spaces.
Reinert said citations aren’t as effective as a misdemeanor, which can open the door for diversionary and restitution-type programs in lieu of jail time and a marred record. Those programs can help channel those experiencing homelessness to resources, he said.
The Sixth Judicial Court in Duluth recently began a specialty court that hears misdemeanor charges in an effort to stabilize those committing lower level crimes.
“We want to hold people accountable for their choices and their behaviors, but we in Duluth prioritize connection and diversion,” Reinert said.
He also said residents expect the fire and police departments to do their jobs, which includes enforcement. He doesn’t see the camping ordinance as criminalization of those without homes, he said.
While the city expects to educate and “encourage” before turning to enforcement, a misdemeanor can mean a $1,000 fine or 90 days in jail, although either is rare at that level. Police Chief Mike Ceynowa said the department is set up to offer rides to court hearings for those without transportation.
The idea isn’t to be punitive, said Duluth Fire Chief Shawn Krizaj, and the ordinance wouldn’t be enforced if there isn’t shelter space. The city, chronically at a shelter bed shortage, has a host of projects underway aiming to reduce the number of people sleeping outdoors.
The process for handling encampments would remain the same — visiting them with outreach workers and the city’s crisis response team “to find solutions to what’s going on in their lives,” Krizaj said, and encouraging them to “go somewhere else.”
John Cole, the director of CHUM, a nonprofit food shelf and emergency shelter in Duluth, said he hadn’t been consulted on the ordinance change and had no comment until he learned more.
Keitin Schmitz is among the roughly 20 people sleeping overnight outside Duluth City Hall, many for more than two months. A group assembled shortly after the City Council voted against an Israel-Hamas war cease-fire resolution. The number of tents has grown to more than a dozen, and Schmitz said protesters have no plans to move until the city divests from any ties to Israel, among other demands.
A camping ordinance would criminalize homelessness, Schmitz said, in a city that already struggles to support those experiencing it.
As for the camp, those not willing to deal with an arrest or ticket will disperse when people are warned, he said, but otherwise, “we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.”
Police have given warnings but not fined anyone from the City Hall encampment, organizers said.
Two men are dead and one woman was injured in a shooting at a homeless encampment in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, police said. It was the second shooting at a Minneapolis encampment this weekend.
At about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a reported shooting in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue near the railroad tracks at the small encampment between Snelling and Hiawatha avenues. At the scene, officers found two men with fatal gunshot wounds, said Sgt. Garrett Parten Minneapolis Police spokesman. Responders rendered aid, but both men died at the scene.
A woman was found at the scene with life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital where she was being treated Sunday night, he said. Police have yet to say whether the three were living at the encampment.
Officers detained three people, who Parten said have since been released after police found they were not believed to be involved in the shooting. No suspects had been identified as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
The shooting is the second at a southside homeless encampment this weekend. One man died and two were critically injured early Saturday at an encampment shooting near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. On Sunday, the man was identified as Deven Leonard Caston, 31, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“We don’t know if there’s a connection between this homeless encampment shooting and the one that occurred yesterday,” Parten said on Sunday. “That is a consideration of the investigation. We can’t rule it out.”
Ward 12 Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, who represents the area and lives nearby, was at the site of the shooting Sunday afternoon. She said officials need information about what happened to better understand how to address situations like this long-term.
“This is an absolute tragedy, and this type of violence should never occur within our city,” she said. “It really makes me think about how we need to look at this more systemically and not just take a whack-a-mole approach and expect the problem to go away.
During Sunday’s Twitch stream, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez played Madden while discussing making homebuying more accessible, building affordable housing, eliminating student loan debt and raising the federal minimum wage.
After the match, Walz showed off his Sega skills in a round of “Crazy Taxi,” the Y2K-era racing game where gamers play as a taxi driver picking up passengers and taking them to their destination for cash.
Walz called himself a “first-generation gamer” and recalled playing “Crazy Taxi” when he bought a Sega Dreamcast. He also mentioned the Minnesota Star Tribune’s coverage of how his old game console was sold and ended up with a Plymouth resident, who still has it.
Afterward, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez watched a short clip of Trump denying on Rogan’s podcast that he lost the 2020 presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden won that year.
Ocasio-Cortez during the livestream also showed viewers her farm on the cozy, indie game Stardew Valley. Walz said the game reminded him of Minnesota: “You’ve got mining,” he said. “You’ve got agriculture. You’ve got snow.”
Before Walz headed out to a rally in Nevada, he pleaded with viewers to vote. More than 12,000 viewers tuned into the livestream on Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch channel. More watched from Harris’ channel.
”Hey guys, they’re now scrambling and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, who draped a sparkly ”MAGA” jacket over the lectern as she spoke. ”And you know what they’re claiming, guys? It’s very scary. They’re claiming we’re going to go after them and try and put them in jail. Well, ain’t that rich?”
Declared Hogan in his characteristic raspy growl: ”I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.”
Trump has denounced the four criminal indictments brought against him as politically motivated. He has ramped up his denunciations in recent weeks of ”enemies from within,” naming domestic political rivals, and suggested he would use the military to go after them. Harris, in turn, has called Trump a ”fascist.”
The arena was full hours before Trump was scheduled to speak. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were overflowing with Trump supporters in red ”Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Streets were blocked off and access to Penn Station was restricted.
In the crowd was Philip D’Agostino, a longtime Trump backer from Queens, the borough where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to be speaking at a place bills itself as ”the world’s most famous arena.”
”It just goes to show ya that he has a bigger following of any man that has ever lived,” D’Agostino said.
