COVID-19 ticket at defund protest all politics, Hamilton woman says
Olivia Mancini and a friend had sat down for five minutes outside city hall to eat lunch when law enforcement ticketed them under Hamilton's COVID-19 physical-distancing bylaw.
Mancini chalks the $500 tickets up to politics, with a rally barely underway that afternoon in the civic plaza calling for the reallocation of police funds to housing amid a homelessness crisis.
It was very intimidating. It felt like they were exerting their power," she said about the Monday noon-hour incident.
Mancini, who is a social worker with a focus on homelessness and addiction, said five police and bylaw officers approached and chided them for not wearing masks as they ate their lunches.
The officers also showed a photograph of her and her friend, also a co-worker, sitting within six feet of each other on a ledge at the far west side of the city hall property.
Mancini questions why it took five people - encroaching on their personal space - to issue the tickets, which they plan to contest as a heavy-handed response.
She considers her friend a member of her social circle, which has been an exception in the city's bylaw, along with members of the same households. But the province paused" social circles of up to 10 as of Oct. 2 to help curb a second wave of the pandemic.
Amid the confusion of changing provincial policies, bylaw could have issued a warning, Mancini maintains.
Ken Leendertse, the city's director of licensing and bylaw enforcement, said he couldn't comment. If the person disagrees with the charge, there are avenues for them to dispute the allegations and the substance of the charge."
Police spokesperson Jackie Penman said officers are at demonstrations to keep the peace." Police often support bylaw to ensure the safety" of officers and those who receive tickets. Penman added the number of officers at the rally has been directly commensurate to the size of the group."
Mancini has written Mayor Fred Eisenberger and councillors to complain about the incident and urge action on homelessness in solidarity with the protesters, who have pitched tents in the forecourt since Monday.
The city has ordered them to remove the tents - which violate a city bylaw - by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday. But they will be permitted to gather in a group of up to 25, according to the province's pandemic rules.
We're going to be staying until we get some movement on our demands," organizer Sarah Jama said Friday.
The coalition is pushing for a 50 per cent cut to the police's roughly $174-million budget and called for those funds, along with a projected 2020 year-end surplus, to be put toward housing initiatives.
Police CAO Anna Filice said that preliminary surplus of roughly $567,000 as of Sept. 30 was likely to evaporate with expenses still to tallied before the end of the year. She added there's no fluff" in police spending plans, calling them mostly maintenance budgets."
During a city budget session Friday, Mike Zegarac, general manager of finance, noted the city will put $30.3 million in capital spending toward housing in 2021. He said the city remains the majority funding party" on that file among its government partners.
The city has also proposed to use its $10.7-million federal rapid-housing initiative allocation on four projects to create 45 affordable units.
But Jama said city spending on housing is nothing" compared to policing, especially in light of people sleeping outside as winter approaches. What they're doing is clearly not enough."
Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com