Fort Wayne City Council voted Tuesday to hold off the vote on funding a proposed downtown homeless service center until September.
The 5 to 3 vote fell straight along party lines.
Following the vote to hold off on the funding structure, Mayor Sharon Tucker broke tradition by making a final statement to the council that she was unsurprised by the decision.
“I, again, ask you to grow the courage, because while we hold this in an opportunity to look for more locations, you too will see that the problem will not go away,” she said.
Tucker also pointed out that the vote fell strictly down party lines and that she wasn’t interested in “political theater.”
For the past two weeks, the proposed Anchor Resource Center drew crowds to city council chambers to largely express support for the plan. Fort Wayne’s Director of Homeless Services Amanda Fall and Tucker gave presentations on the project.
Third District Councilman Nathan Hartman, (R) proposed the hold, requesting further information about safety and the proposed location.
He requested an open forum community meeting, for the administration to engage a real estate professional to look at other locations, for the operation plan to be made public, a security plan and a good neighbor plan created and an amendment to allow council to revisit the center after three years if they see it as a failure.
“I believe it increases the transparency of this project and provides answers to our citizens and helps answer some of their concerns,” Hartman said.
But councilmembers Rohli Booker and Michelle Chambers, both Democrats, both argued Hartman’s concerns had been answered in the presentations given by city officials.
“Councilman Hartman just laid out five items, all of those items have been addressed or are in process,” Chambers said. “You’re asking for things that have been already spoken to. You’re asking for things that are in motion already.”
Those opposed to the project cite concerns over the proposed location at 333 Washington Street, across the street from The Rescue Mission.
