CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Charlottesville City Council got an earful Monday evening from a contingent of city and county residents upset with the city’s apparent intention to break up the Free Bridge unhoused encampment.

A number of speakers during a public comment portion of Monday’s meeting expressed they believe the city has the wrong priorities when talking about removing the residents who have set up a makeshift campsite at the location.

“Instead of catering to the comfort of joggers on the Rivanna Trail, what we really should be doing is realizing that we should be really uncomfortable,” said city resident Emily King. “We should be uncomfortable because of the systems that have gotten us here. We should be uncomfortable with the fact that anyone would not have safe and secure housing in a town this filthy rich.”

Another speaker said a crackdown on unhoused people across the city has driven that population to congregate at encampments like Free Bridge.

“People are getting pushed off of everywhere else in the city,” she said. “People are being run off of everywhere and that’s how we end up with so many people concentrated (there), and the issues that come with a bunch of people really concentrated in one spot who really maybe don’t want to live together but are forced (to) by the over-policing in the rest of the city.”

Some residents suggested the city needs to station portable restrooms, drinking water, fire extinguishers and dumpsters at the scene.

“This is not hard to accomplish, these are very simple things to ask for that are not expensive but will immediately improve the quality of life of people who are in the Charlottesville community,” said a city resident who identified himself only as Josh. “If that isn’t something that the members of Charlottesville City Council are interested in, I’m starting to wonder if you should be on City Council in the first place.”

City Councilor Lloyd Snook said the vocal attendees Monday only represent one side of the debate.

“I know from our emails and so on we have a lot of folks who are very concerned about the encampment and about the dangers to public health,” Snook said Tuesday. “It’s impossible to try and govern by just sort of taking a head count or a thermometer reading of the temperature in the room.”

Snook does agree with those who told Council that the people at the encampment are members of our community who need help and to be treated with respect.

“What we’re likely to end up having to do in this case is not going to be to hurt them, in many cases it’s because of the health hazards that they’re posing to themselves, that we’re more than likely going to be taking some actions,” Snook said. “It’s an entire community we’re trying to protect and to help, and it’s a hard thing as we catch a lot of grief on nights like last night, but I think it balances out.”

City Manager Sam Sanders said last month the situation at the encampment is not sustainable and the city is working with the working group at 2000 Holiday Drive to find if they can open a temporary overnight shelter as the building is now.

Snook said the hangup at this time is finding someone who will run that operation and that the groups in that working group don’t agree yet on how that should be done.