FARGO, N.D. – Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn blasts what he’s seen of Mayor Dr. Tim Mahoney’s plan to help the homeless that is expected to be revealed at the Commission meeting December 23.
Mahoney has said he wants the North Dakota Legislature to fund $10 million to $12 million for the Fargo Community Care and Deflection Center. Instead of police officers trying to help those in crisis, they could go to the center and get help from a mental health professional. Mahoney says the center would include 30 services from 30 organizations including helping people with housing, job service, mental health issues and Native American issues rather than people being arrested and taken to an already full Cass County Jail. Mahoney has also said he wants to move the city’s engagement center out of Downtown.
“This deflection center, that’s a joke. This is just another liberal piece of junk. It’s unproven and on top of that, it’s going to cost millions of dollars,” Piepkorn said.
Piepkorn would like the city to model Tampa, Florida’s plan to help the homeless which he says is run by Catholic charities and not the city. He believes the city, county and non-profits should team up to fix issues with the homeless. He says Fargo can’t afford Mahoney’s deflection center because the city is “over the fiscal cliff.”
Piepkorn says he hasn’t been included or asked to be included in discussions on the mayor or other commissioners’ plans on homelessness issues.
The agenda for the Dec. 23rd Fargo City Commission meeting is scheduled to be released Thursday.
