C. Jack Ellis calls mayor a 'Grinch,' proposes alternative for homeless in Central City Park

Former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis criticized Macon-Bibb County Mayor Robert Reichert’s plan to evacuate homeless people from Central City Park and proposed an alternative plan to a few reporters who met him outside a dormitory-style county-owned downtown building that is for sale.

Reichert has ordered homeless people to vacate the park by Monday, warning them that the city is “going to pick all of your stuff up,” he said. The mayor offered no suggestions for where the tent-dwellers along the Ocmulgee River might go instead.

“What I’m saying is … we have a place for them to go,” Ellis said, standing in front of the old Virgil Powers School at Hawthorne and Second streets. "We all know the story of the Grinch who stole Christmas ... We have a man sitting at 700 Poplar St. who, at this Christmas season, is emulating old brother Grinch by taking homeless ... and telling them they must leave ... without having a place for them to go."

The county bought the old brick school in 2009 for $926,332, tax records show.

It was once an elementary school then a pre-vocational school, according to Telegraph archives. Most recently, the Georgia Department of Corrections renovated the 74,600 square foot building and used it as a halfway house for newly released prisoners, Ellis said.

It is the “perfect place to put the homeless on a temporary basis as we transition to a more permanent solution for them," Ellis said.

As long as the homeless aren’t causing harm to themselves or others, Ellis said he thinks its OK to let them stay where they are, “But we at least ought to know who they are and where they are and they should have an option. We should give them options.”

Reached by phone Friday afternoon, Reichert said Ellis did not tell him about the proposal he had made hours earlier in front of three news cameras downtown.

Sending the homeless back home

"Since I have become 'The Grinch,' several happy stories have resulted," the mayor said, adding that a homeless couple and another man had accepted help to improve their circumstances when it was offered to them.

The Bibb County Sheriff's Office, using recent donations, started a "Home for the Holidays" program, which pays for a one-way ticket from Macon for "people who have been here for less than 6 months ... and they want to go back home," Sheriff David Davis said.

"We've not yet really had that many takers," he said.

One man took the offer and hopped on a bus. A couple who had been living on the river for the last 60 days was recently accepted into a rehabilitation programs and is staying in a hotel, the mayor said.

"Others have relocated themselves to places or parts unknown," Reichert said. "I'm sure we will find them again and they will continue to be with us."

Reichert said he is committed to working with a task force of service providers to find a long-term solution to the homelessness problem in town. So far, no one has come up with one.

As for Ellis' proposal, Reichert said it is a "slap-dash back-of-the-envelope idea," noting that details, such as who would oversee the facility, were lacking.

Macon-Bibb is pumping $2.5 million of special purpose local option sales tax money into the ballpark in Central City Park. The improvements are among $15 million in big ticket renovations in the area.

The mayor has said some people are uncomfortable with the homeless living around the ballpark and the Ocmulgee Heritage Trail, the city’s expanding greenway. He also said that the lack of bathroom facilities for them poses a sanitation issue.

Ellis disagrees.

“I didn’t think that all of them presented a safety hazard to the city and to the population,” Ellis said. “So, some of them, if they wanted to sleep by the river, let them sleep by the river. This is America.”

In recent months, homeless folks living along the river have been forced to relocate downstream due to land being cleared by the Georgia Department of Transportation for the widening of Interstates 16 and 75, the sheriff said.

On Monday, a handful of deputies will join employees of the county's public works and parks and beautification departments as they start to clean up the park and persuade people to leave. The sheriff said he will not arrest homeless people for trespassing, but the deputies will be on hand should someone become violent.

Laura Corley 744-4334; @Lauraecor

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 1:11 PM with the headline "C. Jack Ellis calls mayor a 'Grinch,' proposes alternative for homeless in Central City Park."