Residents of downtown Belleville neighborhood raise concerns about homelessness and crime

Nichole Hettenhausen is a lifelong Belleville resident who says she defends the city’s reputation and stands “up to the negative comments about Belleville” whenever she can.

But Hettenhausen, who lives on Abend Street near downtown, said that in “the last few years it has become more and more difficult to stay so positive.”

“The homeless, the drug addicts roaming the streets, violent crimes, theft, break-ins,” Hettenhausen said. “It’s out of control and it makes me feel very uncomfortable. Living downtown with two small children should be a fun experience but in recent years I have stopped taking my daily walks with the kids because of what we were witnessing on a daily basis.”

Hettenhausen made her remarks to city officials during a community meeting of about 18 eastside Belleville residents from Ward 6 and Ward 7 Wednesday at the Belleville Police Department headquarters on West Main Street. The residents raised concerns about public safety, the number of homeless persons in the city and vacant homes.

Anna Myers, who lives near the intersection of Olive Street and Douglas Avenue, told city officials that she feels “rattled in my own neighborhood.”

“I no longer feel safe in my neighborhood,” she said. “I no longer feel safe to let my children bike to the East End Park, which I used to let them do.”

In response, Ward 7 Alderman Dennis Weygandt said he has lived in the area by Myers for 76 years and calls it the “best neighborhood” in Belleville.

Police Chief Matt Eiskant told Myers he hated to hear that she felt unsafe and she replied, “I do too.”

“I feel a different way,” Eiskant said. “I think Belleville is extremely safe.

“Anytime you feel unsafe, call us. If there is something that makes you feel unsafe, a suspicious vehicle or a suspicious person, we may not have enough to stop them but we can always go up and chat with them.”

Across the entire city, the number of violent crimes dropped 2.77% in 2023 as compared to 2022 and crimes against property dropped 1.77% in that time period, Eiskant said.

However, he told the residents that the numbers have ticked up since Sept. 18 when the state’s cash-bail system ended and was replaced with a detention hearing process as part of the SAFE-T Act. Eiskant noted that there had been some periods of warmer weather over the winter and that he hopes the increases will level off.

Eiskant also told the residents that most of the homeless persons he has encountered have a drug use problem.

“Basically, homelessness isn’t criminalized,” he said. “However, the acts that many homeless do are criminal acts. We do see, in my experience, homeless people drunk, drug users, urinating, defecating in our parks. We arrest them all the time.

“The struggle is, we arrest them, and unless it’s a violent crime, they’re right back out the next day,” he said. “We see the homeless getting off the MetroLink on a regular basis to come downtown and we arrest them for drug possession regularly.”

Eiskant said homeless people can receive food from Belleville churches.

“These people are not hungry,” he said. “They want their drugs. They get free meals and they save that money that they would have bought food with for drugs. They told me that.”

Belleville officers recently began using a form to collect information about homeless persons who need help. The form is emailed to a social services organization, Eiskant said.

Belleville has not had an overnight shelter for homeless people since the Salvation Army stopped operating one on West Main Street in 2009, when the city asked that the organization provide police with the names of the people residing there. The Salvation Army said that would break the group’s confidentiality pledge to clients.

Eiskant said police officers will give two-way bus passes for people who want to go to the St. Vincent de Paul homeless center on State Street in East St. Louis.

Jason Poole, the director of public works and parks, said the city is still planning to convert Ever and Anon Park in the 400 block of East Main Street into a dog park with a fence. Last year, the City Council approved a plan to open a controlled-access, membership-based park there in an effort to stop homeless people from sleeping on benches and having sex in the gazebo. Other problems included public urination, defecation, drug abuse and drunkenness.

Eiskant told the residents to contact their state lawmakers regarding proposed legislation that would ban crime-free ordinances for rental properties as well as occupancy permits required in Belleville.

Eiskant, who noted that 160 Illinois cities have crime-free ordinances, said in an interview after the meeting that wants the Belleville ordinance to remain in effect and that he opposes the legislation being considered by state lawmakers because he believes the ordinance reduces crime.

Belleville’s crime-free ordinance was enacted in 2013 and it requires landlords to do criminal background checks on tenants. It also states that tenants can be evicted for committing a felony or Class A misdemeanor.

As far as complaints about vacant homes, Eiskant told the residents that the process for the city to get permission and then funding for tearing down derelict homes can take a long time but that the city continually has this process ongoing.

In January, a homeless man was found dead 10 days after a fire in a garage behind a vacant house north of downtown off Illinois Street. The City Council has authorized $27,700 for the demolition of this house. The man, Trent Tuttle, 41, used methamphetamine and preferred homelessness to staying with family or friends because it required him to answer fewer questions, his mother said.

Ward 6 Alderwoman Mary Stiehl told the audience that the City Council recently approved a measure that requires the Public Health and Housing Committee have one alderperson from each of the city’s eight wards in an effort to hear complaints about housing problems.

Residents’ comments prompt meeting

Ward 7 Alderman Phil Elmore said the meeting was organized after he saw comments on the Facebook page titled “7th Ward Of Belleville, IL (Residents Only).”

Elmore described some of the residents’ concerns as “Dealing with the frustrating situation of people walking through alleys, checking car doors, sometimes homeless, sometimes not.”

“I tell this to every neighborhood watch meeting, unfortunately I can’t tell you what you want to hear but I’m going to tell you the truth.”

Elmore also said he was upset to see comments that appeared to criticize the efforts of the police department to keep the public safe. He praised the police department saying, “Our men and women … bust their asses every day.”

Hettenhausen told city officials that she spoke out “because I don’t want to continue to see people moving their families or businesses out of Belleville. I love Belleville. But I also have felt myself over the last few years feeling frustrated with all of this and I don’t want to be told it happens everywhere, because I’m aware of that but it doesn’t happen as often everywhere.

“Should we just expect it to stay this way forever?”

Myers, who posted the first comment that got the discussion going on social media, wrote that since she has been taking walks while on maternity leave, she was seeing more homeless people.

Myers, who has a 3-month-old child, told city officials that she wants to know what residents can do.

Weygandt said he gets calls late at night from residents who see someone acting suspiciously and he tells them to not call him. Instead, he echoed comments made by Eiskant and urged residents to to call the police department if they see something suspicious.

“I realize that all of these issues are extremely complex,” Myers told Eiskant and the city officials. “I do not envy your jobs and having to deal with these things but I know this is your job to do these things.”

News-Democrat reporter Teri Maddox contributed information for this article.