Residents of Kalamazoo, Michigan, criticized city leaders Thursday during an appearance on Fox News after a vote to make “equitable changes” in city laws resulted in the decriminalization of littering and public defecation and urination.
City commissioners voted to change city ordinances that turned crimes like public defecation, public urination and littering from misdemeanors to civil infractions on Monday, Fox17Online reported. Residents immediately protested the effects of the law change.
“One day, we smell something in the bathroom of the store and I open up the door and there was human feces, and of course, called by landlord and they — nobody would do anything about it,” Cherri Emery, the owner of a coffee shop, told “Fox and Friends First” host Todd Piro.
Becky Bil, who owns Pop City Popcorn at the Kalamazoo Mall, told Piro about an increase of feces in the area near her store. The city also spent $100,000 on a public restroom near the mall, but Bil claimed it was locked at times.
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“I’m kind of a little ways from the main part of the mall, but my neighbor has had human feces outside of his door,” Bil said. “Just litter everywhere. We do have ambassadors that do come through and pick it up, but it’s still out there and just crazy.”
The Kalamazoo Downtown Project launched the ambassadors program to assist with cleaning, help tourists, connect the “street population” with resources and assist with events, according to an information packet.
“The part that really upsetting to us is people are approaching other people, people following some of our employees to their cars, asking them for money,” Emery said, describing how in one case, a person threw rocks at cars when employees didn’t give him money.
The Kalamazoo Mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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