MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom did not mince words, accusing the legal non-profit Mountain State Justice of trying to intimidate local elected officials trying to address homeless-related issues.
Mountain State Justice requested the preservation of evidence and information regarding the county’s Pedestrian and Vehicle Safety Ordinance that was approved last October.
Letters were sent to Monongalia County, Morgantown, Star City, Westover, Granville, and West Virginia University. Copies of the letter were also sent to all three county commissioners, State Senator Mike Oliverio and Monongalia County Sheriff Perry Palmer.
“The irony of today’s certified letter from Mountain State Justice, I believe, is to intimidate the Morgantown City Council and members of other local government bodies,” Bloom stated during Wednesday’s commission meeting.
Homeless issues have been in the spotlight for the last several weeks. Frustrated business and property owners have described regularly being forced to clean up messes left behind and losing business due to the problems. During the Morgantown City Council meeting on July 2, Third Ward Councilor Louise “Weez” Michael asked for council to discuss expanding its ban on camping in parks and recreation areas to include the downtown.
That sparked backlash, including from Mountain State Justice.
“We’re going to keep showing up at every council meeting. We’re going to keep pressing for evidence-based solutions, and if we end up with bans, whether that’s at the city, county, state level, we’re going to look at legal ways to challenge any sort of attempt at further criminalizing the most vulnerable people in our community,” staff attorney Lindsey Jacobs said previously on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
Mountain State Justice was among the organizations opposed to the ordinance approved by the county commission, which prohibits any person from standing in medians or along busy intersections. It claims the ordinance unfairly targets homeless individuals and unfairly attempts to prohibit panhandling. Although no legal action challenging the ordinance was taken in the eight months since it was passed, Bloom is convinced the letters are meant to undermine efforts to address the issues impacting residents throughout the county.
“Instead of working with us on realistic solutions, they are here to undermine any form of cooperation,” Bloom said.
A FOIA request by Mountain State Justice filed on Dec. 19, 2023, sought much of the same information requested in the most recent letter. County Administrator Renetta McClure responded the request on on Jan. 5. Bloom said there was no further correspondence on the matter until the certified letter was received this week.
“I just want the public to know that we continue to try to continue to come up with solutions. We want to work with the other governments and this is very frustrating to receive something like this,” Bloom said.