GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – A discussion on removing playground equipment from a downtown Green Bay park evolved into a conversation on how to address homelessness in the city.

On Wednesday evening, the Green Bay park committee voted unanimously to recommend to the common council to remove the playground equipment from St. John’s Park. Alder Melinda Eck emphasized that they’re just recommending removing the playground equipment and aren’t shutting down the entire park.

The city’s Parks, Recreation, & Forestry director Dan Ditscheit said the playground equipment at St. John’s Park is about 30 years old. He said every other year they have to add fresh woodchips at the park for safety reasons which costs the city between $2,000 and $3,000.

Ditscheit noted that the playground isn’t used very often by kids in the area and that there are other playgrounds just a few blocks away. He said for all these reasons it doesn’t make sense to keep the equipment there.

Green Bay city officials didn’t explicitly lay out a reason why they think kids don’t come to play at the park. However, several people who spoke during public comment said they believe it’s because of the large homeless population that hangs out at the park.

“If I had a child I would not let them play there because they might find hypodermic needles or something else,” said one man who spoke during public comment.

Those who spoke said drug and alcohol abuse is a huge problem at St. John’s Park and often drug paraphernalia litters the grass and the playground equipment. Local 5 News spoke with a woman who spends a lot of time in the park and said people openly use meth and heroin. Some of the speakers at the meeting said they’ve seen some of the people at the park engage in sex acts in the open as well.

A woman who said she owns property near the park said she’s seen feces and urine on buildings and drug paraphernalia in bushes.

Many people offered opinions on how to address the situation at the park.

“We have to have expectations, we can’t give, give, give and the more comfortable we make people the longer they will stay and the more that will come there,” said one woman.

“I would see no problem with having my children play at the park just because there’s some unhoused people there,” said David Badillo who said he recently moved into a home near St. John’s Park. “To assume they’re dangerous is to view them with some sort of criminality.” 

City officials said they initially encouraged homeless individuals to gather at the park, so they’d be close to available resources. One of those resources is St. John’s Ministries. Officials there said they support the committee’s recommendation to remove the playground equipment.

St. John’s Ministries’ director of community engagement Tony Schneider said it’s important to find a compassionate solution to help those who make the park their home.

He offered a new vision for the park’s future.

“I think you can look at making it more of a service-oriented park,” he said. “A common gathering space for some of those service agencies to connect with some of the people who might benefit who are already congregating at that park.” 

Ditscheit told Local 5 News there aren’t plans to remove the pavilion from the park. This is where many of the homeless individuals gather during the day until the homeless shelters open up for the night.

He said St. John’s Park has a deed restriction meaning it can’t be used for anything else other than a park. He told Local 5 News that he doesn’t know how much it will cost the city to remove the playground equipment.

The parks committee also voted to recommend to the common council to direct city staff to start planning for future uses for St. John’s Park. The common council’s next meeting is on Tuesday and they will likely vote on whether or not to remove the playground equipment then.