Two Sioux City Council candidates say that if elected they plan firm actions to reduce or remove the number of homeless people.
During a candidate forum by the League of Women Voters, Rick Bertrand said one of his three prime goals is to address the poor general condition of the city, with a need to reduce “the panhandling, the homelessness, the graffiti.”
Bertrand later spoke against initiatives that have placed clothes on racks in front of downtown City Hall for people in need, while adding that he suspects some homeless people in Sioux City are “being enticed from other communities into this community.”
Bertrand is a business developer, as is the other candidate, Paul Koskovich, who also spoke about tough actions to address the homeless people who can be disruptive.
Koskovich said he has talked with people in the Sioux City Police Department about the possibility for “a 90-day blitz of where we take these people and put them back, whether they're from South Sioux or North Sioux. Another meeting I was at, they suggested we put them on a bus and get them out of here."
Sioux City Police Department Spokesman Tom Gill on Thursday afternoon told Siouxland Public Media News that he has heard of no police planning for what Koskovich described.
Recent counts have shown the number of unhoused people in Sioux City is about 300.
Another council candidate, John Den Beste, said he wants a compassionate approach to homelessness, while also voicing support for a ban on people soliciting money at busy traffic intersections.
All seven candidates addressed a homelessness question, with Ike Rayford saying, “We should care about our unhoused.”
Voters on November 4 will fill three Sioux City Council seats for which no incumbents are running. The candidates are Rayford, Bertrand, Koskovich, Den Beste, and two former councilmen, Marty Pottebaum, and Craig Berenstein.
