GREENFIELD — City councilors voiced their opinions on Mayor Ginny Desorgher’s decision to remove the park benches from Miles Street — a choice that supporters see as a public safety measure and opponents view as an anti-homeless infrastructure change.

The cluster of benches and a chess table at the end of Miles Street abutting the Main Street sidewalk was installed in 2021 as a pocket park, through volunteer work and a $23,000 AARP Community Challenge grant.

Speaking before City Council Wednesday evening, Desorgher said removing the benches was “the hardest decision that [she’s] had to make” in her nine-month tenure as mayor. She said she did not take the matter lightly, but amid growth in the city’s homeless population, there has been an uptick in drug overdoses, illegal activity and arrests in that area.

“I’ve been down there, actually sitting down there having lunch, and talked to people about things escalating in that area” Desorgher said. “One night there were two arrests, another night there were three. There was an overnight overdose on the sidewalk there and we received multiple complaints from business owners and just citizens on the street that were afraid. It affected businesses [and] people who were down there with their children.”

Precinct 7 Councilor William “Wid” Perry opened discussions on the park bench removals by saying that while he understands the decision was challenging, he does not believe the bench removal addressed the safety concerns that it was intended to remedy, as people are still congregating in the area, but have moved farther down from the sidewalk into the park.

Echoing Perry’s comments, Precinct 8 Councilor Lora Wondolowski suggested that the issue be discussed during a Community Relations Committee meeting. At-Large Councilor John Garrett agreed, adding that while he supports the mayor’s decision, a lot of the alleged vagrancy in stems from addiction — which he defined as a public health issue, not a criminal one.

“It’s a difficult situation. I don’t know the answer, but I think removing the benches maybe wasn’t the right solution,” Wondolowski said. “I was wondering if this could be an item for a future Community Relations Committee meeting, because I think there needs to be more discussion on how we can help folks to have a place to be.”

Expressing strong support for the mayor’s decision, At-Large Councilor Wahab Minhas said the area, commonly known as “The Bee,” has become a known spot to procure and use drugs. He noted that he had personally seen the use and sale of heroin in the area and witnessed instances of sexual harassment.

“A lot of people don’t actually realize what happens at those places. They just hear, ‘Oh, my God, benches are being taken away from homeless people,’” Minhas said. “The Bee is a place where you can go get meth, heroin, crack, any drug that you want — a place where people were actively using, a place where I have personally witnessed people being sexually harassed. That’s not OK. That should not be allowed in any public park, in any area, especially a main commercial district. … Just a few hundred feet away is the ice cream place. There’s kids there, there’s families there. You don’t want a threatening, drug-infested atmosphere over there.”

Precinct 5 Councilor Marianne Bullock, on the other hand, called the park bench removal a “terrible idea,” arguing that drug addiction is not localized to The Bee, but present throughout the community. Bullock said she and her children often spent time at that park and, even without the benches, saw people lying in the grass. She argued that everyone deserves a comfortable place to sit and that people should not be punished for their living situations.

“There’s this undertone that there’s a certain element of folks who aren’t residents of our city and that needs to stop, because it’s just not true. Unfortunately, many children in our city see people doing drugs in their home because we have a high rate of substance use in our city,” Bullock said. “I would like to see our public resources, time and energy put toward prevention and solving the problem, and not toward taking away things that are part of a public good. Public benches, they serve a benefit beyond just a place for folks that are houseless to sit, even though that alone would be great.”

In a lengthy public comment period, Dani Letourneau, former chief of staff under Mayor Roxann Wedegartner’s administration, echoed Bullock’s remarks and referred to the bench removal as an “insult” to the city’s homeless population.

“People, no matter what their living circumstances are, deserve dignity and deserve to rest,” Letourneau said. “I was very disappointed to see the benches taken away. I find it insulting and offensive some of the words that are spoken in the city about other people based on what they see them looking like or acting like.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.