Charles Samuels' Community Meeting to Discuss Homelessness & Closure of Monroe Park for Renovations

Text adapted from the Wingnut Blog.

This meeting took place at the Carillon War Memorial, where Councilman Charles Samuels [2nd District] held a "community discussion" for groups who ‘serve the homeless’ to figure out what they should do when Monroe Park is closed for renovations. It was not a forum, nor really a big group discussion. However, there were about 25 or so folks associated with Food Not Bombs who came to promote the idea that the park need not and ought not be closed entirely during renovations. Many people spoke out questioning why the park was going to be closed in its entirety and suggested that moving services would not make up for destroying the community of people- homeless and not- who use Monroe Park on a regular basis.

Part 1/2 - Charles Samuels' Community Discussion on Homelessness & Monroe Park - Nov. 4, 2010 from Silver Persinger.

The first half of the meeting includes comments from Mr. Samuels, Homeward, and Embrace Richmond. They did not allow any questions or feedback from anyone attending the meeting, even when it was very clear that people had questions and concerns. Mo Karn, a Wingnut, interrupted the meeting [24:40] to say that the discussion was based on the false assumption that the park must be closed during the renovation.

Part 2/2 - Recommendations from Citizen Work Groups @ Charles Samuels' Community Discussion - Nov. 4, 2010 from Silver Persinger.

This 2nd section of the video shows how many of the groups in the room decided that the solution to the problems with closing all of Monroe Park was simply not to close the entire park!

Below is a highlight reel featuring comments supportive of keeping the park open.

Public Forum Participants: Keep Monroe Park Open from Kontra.