It’s been nearly three months since Charlotte reinstated criminal penalties for many quality-of-life infractions. Some uptown residents complained that dropping them emboldened people without homes to openly defecate and drink alcohol in parks. The hope was the threat of arrest would reduce those behaviors. The fear was that it would criminalize poverty and lead to many arrests. So far uptown residents say things have improved, while it appears there haven’t been many arrests.
Minnie Davis and her family live in an apartment overlooking Fourth Ward Park. She watched as her husband and son kicked a soccer ball at the park.
Davis wasn’t sure reinstating criminal penalties was the way to stop people from urinating and defecating openly in uptown. It seemed harsh. But she’s said she has seen a change since they went into effect on March 1.
“It’s been less and less in the last weeks. It was a little bit more prominent when we moved here a few years ago,” Davis said. "So, I can say that has definitely decreased.”
Many uptown residents began complaining last year that their quality of life was deteriorating as things had gotten out of hand. Friends of Fourth Ward pushed the city council to reinstate the penalties.
The group's president Lee Ann Roughton said citations alone weren’t deterring behavior like drinking alcohol in parks, but the threat of arrest has helped.
“What was 12 to 15 people at a time in the park openly drinking, not just one open container, but in many cases, bottles of wine, a 12 pack, and sitting in the park for ten to 12 hours at a time, just the awareness alone has helped,” Roughton said.
The city voted in February to re-criminalize six ordinances that also include soliciting from a street or median strip and lying or sleeping on city park benches. Roughton said the decision has reduced all the behaviors the ordinances targeted.
“To say it’s still not happening is not an accurate statement, but it has been noticeably less,” Roughton said. “I do attribute that to overall awareness and CMPD being able to talk to these individuals.”
That’s what CMPD leaders say officers do — ask people to comply. Arresting someone, they say, is a last resort. In 2021, the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed a law changing many misdemeanors to non-criminal infractions unless cities chose to keep the criminal penalties. But even before the change, CMPD had moved away from enforcing some minor infractions partly to cut down on routine interactions that could turn violent.
CMPD spokesperson Sandy D’Elosua said the department doesn’t track enforcement by ordinance. But she said in late April, the central division, which includes uptown, recalled making only one arrest for a violation of one of those six reinstated ordinances — a woman openly defecating.
Terrance Mcgathy lay on a boulder in First Ward Park. Next to him was his wheelchair — stacked with his belongings.
“The police don’t bother me,” Mcgathy said. "I’m not messing with them; they don’t need to bother me.”
Mcgathy has been residing in parks around uptown for the last couple of weeks. He said officers had stopped him, mostly to check up on his well-being.
Mcgathy didn’t know he could be charged with a misdemeanor for sleeping or lying on a park bench, but he’s not concerned about getting arrested.
“It doesn’t bother me because I know I’ll get right back out because I know I haven’t done anything wrong,” Mcgathy said. “I’m homeless; what can they do? I mean, help us; they feed us good but help us get somewhere to live.”
The city has added portable restrooms on North College and 11th streets in uptown. On a recent afternoon, those were getting plenty of use. There were also several people lying on benches around Fourth Ward and First Ward Park.
Uptown has one of the highest concentrations of people living outside. Roof Above operates a shelter program and connects people with housing and care. The group’s CEO, Liz Clasen-Kelly, said adding restrooms helps, but long-term solutions are needed.
“What we see nationwide is criminalization efforts really might do something to move an issue, but often aren’t fully solving an issue,” Kelly said.
But she’s encouraged the city manager has recommended asking voters to double the Housing Trust Fund to $100 million, and she hopes a new street outreach program dedicated to uptown and funded by the city will begin building relationships and ultimately mean fewer people living on the streets.
