GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro City Council held its monthly meeting Monday night and discussed some pretty controversial topics surrounding homelessness in the city.
There were three different ordinances discussed and voted on to make revisions.
One was an ordinance that deals with blocking or impeding street and sidewalk access and sidewalk access putting dangerous objects or substances on the street and unlawful noise producing activities.
Let’s start with the unlawful noise producing activities – the revisions to this ordinance say certain acts and activities are declared to be unreasonably loud and disturbing.
The revisions include playing a radio, or any type of device that can be heard clearly 30 feet from where the noise is coming from whether that be a car, building or speaker.
The next ordinance is putting objects or substances on the street.
The revisions to this say it is against the law to put any object whether that be trash, ashes, dead animals, broken glass, cups, or anything dangerous to someone’s health on a street.
The ordinance says anyone who accidentally drops an item like this must remove it immediately.
Lastly and probably the most controversial, is the ordinance surrounding blocking streets and sidewalks.
The ordinance says objects should not prevent at least 36 inches of clear access to a pass through a sidewalk or entrance to a building.
It also says it’s against the law for an individual to block a sidewalk or public passageway, or to place an object or objects on the sidewalk or public passageway which blocks the sidewalk or public passageway.
The ordinance goes on to say that if an object blocks sidewalks or buildings, a law enforcement officer will dispose of it.
This had lots of people upset at Monday’s meeting.
Council member Zach Matheny said he supports the changes.
"I do come downtown every day and I see the same people every day living on sheltered and if we as a community think that that's OK we are failing,” Matheny said.
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