CUMBERLAND — In a measure that pitted historical preservation against a local charitable practice, the mayor and City Council Tuesday unanimously banned food and drinks from Riverside Park.
The move followed multiple complaints in recent months from the Daughters of the American Revolution Cresap Chapter regent, which has cared for the George Washington Headquarters cabin at the park for nearly 90 years.
The group hosts tours of the building, but the city owns the property.
The park has also provided a centralized location for area church groups to take food to people in need.
The new ban addresses leftover “food and beverage remnants” that reportedly attract rodents to the public park.
Other folks have told the council the park is plagued by vagrancy, trash including beer cans, and strong odors of urine.
“Maintaining cleanliness at the site is challenging due to waste left behind by individuals consuming food and beverages,” it states. “The accumulation of waste is an eyesore, detracting from the aesthetics of the site and its attractiveness as a draw for tourists and visitors.”
Several folks at Tuesday’s city meeting said they were concerned about the ban.
“I know it’s been a frustrating issue over at Riverside Park,” Janet Heavner said.
However, she talked of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment that guarantees freedoms concerning religion and assembly.
Heavner questioned whether a tourist who violates the ban will face the same penalties as people accused of vagrancy.
“If not, it feels discriminatory,” she said.
“If you’ve never been homeless, you could never understand,” Elliott Slater said and talked of the high cost of rent as compared to employment wages in Cumberland.
Another resident read a poem that included the line “when being poor costs too much.”
Todd Cherkis, of United Workers, a Maryland-based multiracial poor people’s human rights organization that aims to end poverty, said problems at the park stem from lack of affordability.
The solution is for quality health care to be available, and local jobs to pay adequate wages, he said.
“People are really struggling,” Cherkis said. “We’re all drowning in this problem of affordability … This is (a) desperate, desperate time.”
The council members said they struggled with the decision to pass the ban.
Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss said the ban is needed “for public safety.”
If it doesn’t work, the council could make changes, he said.
“We’re open to reevaluating the situation,” Morriss said.
Councilman Rock Cioni talked of $750,000 the city gave the Union Rescue Mission, which promotes Christianity, to expand into a new location and serve more people.
“We think we’re as aware of the problem as anyone else,” he said of poverty and homelessness.
Councilwoman Laurie Marchini said the city has secured various grants for organizations, including the YMCA, that help people “in transition,” as well as those who fight substance abuse or need a place to eat or sleep.
“We feel desperate to protect this iconic city property,” she said.
The new ban “is a short-term solution to a much bigger problem,” Marchini said.
“It is a slippery slope,” she said.
“I am uncomfortable with it,” Marchini said. “But … we need to do this.”
Councilman Eugene Frazier said he empathized with folks in need.
However, the city relies on income from the tourist attraction, he said.
“This is hard to do something like this,” he said.