On Wednesday May 17th the Mpls Park board passed a resolution (2020-253) which allows anyone to pitch a tent, sleep in a tent and live in the tent in the Minneapolis park system. This resolution is procedurally and legally improper for several reasons.
First, it was not on the agenda given to the public days before the public hearing. It was added to the agenda during the hearing. In fact several commissioners, they didn't know it was coming up and didn't know language was in the resolution. It simply wasn't proper with no public debate and it not having gone through any type of committee.
Second, many members of the park board seem to believe that Gov. Walz in his order (20-55) tells them that they can't do anything to homeless encampments. Well, that's legally incorrect. There are exceptions to project the public. And, police can still protect against the formation of camps. So the park boards understanding of the Governor's order is just incorrect.
Lastly, we just can't have people living in parks. It's just not safe. There's no security, no police officers or someone who has the authority to enforce the law. It's not healthy there's lack of clean water and we just can't have people and families living in public parks.