GREENVILLE — Downtown businessman and property owner Mike Jones says he welcomed Greenville’s public benches when they were installed. After seeing how they were being used, he came to support Mayor Jeff Whitaker’s decision to remove them.
Jones, whose family restored and reopened the Wayne Theatre, said his change of heart grew from concerns about overnight sleeping, a lack of restroom facilities and the effect on downtown businesses.
“When they first came up with the idea and the benches first came out, I thought that was a great idea,” Jones said. “I thought it was fantastic.”
What initially looked like a welcoming addition to downtown, he said, developed into a situation that required a different approach.
“We had people that was sitting on the benches all day, and then all of a sudden it was all day and all night, and they were sleeping on the benches,” Jones said.
Jones said he understands why removing seating drew objections. He liked the benches himself. But he believes Whitaker faced a difficult decision involving the needs of downtown visitors, business owners and people using the benches overnight.
“I think he did the absolute best solution that he could,” Jones said.
For Jones, a central concern was the absence of facilities for people remaining downtown for extended periods, particularly overnight. He described people urinating against his theatre building and questioned whether leaving people to sleep outdoors could reasonably be considered an adequate response to their needs.
“I have to believe there’s a better place for the people to stay than on a park bench, with no restrooms, facilities, and no protection from rain, snow, and extremes in heat and cold,” he said.
Jones said the discussion should extend beyond whether benches remain on a sidewalk. In his view, people who need somewhere to stay deserve access to shelter and bathrooms.
“Giving somebody a bench to sleep on in the rain is not humane,” he said.
He believes government agencies and nonprofit organizations should work toward better arrangements for people who need help. His comments reflected his view of what those organizations should provide, rather than an accounting of available housing or shelter services.
“If they need a place to stay, then by gosh, our government should be able to do that, and nonprofits back them up,” Jones said.
Jones said he had spoken with several people who used the benches and understood that some had rooms or apartments available to them. He also said he continues to see some of the same individuals walking downtown following the removal.
Those encounters helped shape his opinion that overnight use of the benches did not necessarily mean every person using them lacked another place to go.
At the same time, Jones said providing an outdoor bench does not resolve the needs of someone who does need assistance.
“It’s just a tough situation that we need to deal with,” he said. “It’s not by giving somebody a bench to sleep on that — that’s not answering anybody’s needs.”
Jones also sees an important distinction between seating on a downtown sidewalk and seating within a park that has posted closing hours. He believes park hours give police a clearer way to address overnight use.
He said he did not favor a downtown curfew as the answer.
Instead, Jones supports using the removed benches in park settings, where they can continue serving residents who want somewhere to rest, visit or enjoy the surroundings.
“They could sit there and fish right off of the benches,” he said.
Jones described the appeal of visiting the lagoons with his wife, Sherri, and having a comfortable place to sit near the water.
There are opportunities, he said, for the benches to remain useful public amenities even if they are no longer downtown.
His support for removing the city-provided benches also does not mean he wants downtown to be without places to sit.
Jones pointed to outdoor tables and chairs at a nearby coffee shop as an example of seating that adds to the business district. He favors arrangements in which business owners provide and manage furniture outside their storefronts.
“It makes it look nice,” he said.
In Jones’ view, that gives merchants flexibility to maintain seating during business activity and remove furniture when necessary.
“That leaves the businesses in charge of what they want to have happen in front of their store, and I think that’s totally acceptable,” he said.
Jones’ interest in the issue comes from his investment in downtown’s future. Along with the Wayne Theatre, his preservation interests include St. Clair Manor and the former Masonic Temple building.
He said downtown’s reputation matters to the people who have committed their money, work and livelihoods to its buildings and businesses.
“If the downtown gets a bad reputation, it takes forever for that to be forgotten,” Jones said.
He described a business district with a range of uses, from professional offices to toy stores, antique shops and other businesses. Maintaining an environment where people feel comfortable visiting, he said, helps protect those investments.
“You’ve got a lot of businesses that’s invested their livelihood into their store,” he said.
Jones emphasized that he was not labeling everyone who slept on a bench as a safety threat.
“I’m not saying that … the people who sleep all night on the park bench is a safety issue,” he said.
His broader concern, he said, was maintaining a welcoming downtown while addressing problems associated with extended overnight use and the lack of bathrooms.
“What we don’t need to have is somebody worrying about their safety when they’re downtown,” Jones said.
Although Whitaker has faced criticism over the removal, Jones said he believes the mayor approached the matter with the city’s interests in mind.
“Removing the park bench was not an easy decision,” Jones said.
Jones said an idea can be well-intended and still require reconsideration after experience reveals difficulties. That is how he views the downtown benches: something he initially supported, then came to believe needed to change.
“He’s a good guy, and he’s got the city concerns at heart,” Jones said of Whitaker. “He’s ready to do anything he needs to do to help the city out.”
For Jones, supporting the decision means recognizing both the needs of downtown businesses and the need for better accommodations for people requiring assistance.
“I thought when he first did it, it was a great idea,” Jones said of the benches’ installation. “And it just proved out to be not quite as good as what we thought.”
