The Greenville Council approved the no-camping ordinance in public

The anti-camping ordinance was approved on Nov. 24. The new ordinance is scheduled to take effect 30 days after the city manager has certified all of the following provisions are in place: 24/7 bathrooms, storage facilities, policy review plan, outreach contract, arrangement to inform vagrants of all their resources, trauma treatment, law enforcement authorized to give rides to service providers, homeless shelter definition established.

There was a protracted and heated discussion among all factions.

Three council members voted no, including Gibson, Flemming, and Stall. The following council members voted yes to break the tie: Deworken, Brasington, Dowe, and Mayor White.

White said that misdemeanors are subject to standard rules.  By state law, initially violators are issued a fine, and if arrested, the offender is given 30 days in Jail; but this does not happen in Greenville, according to Mayor Knox White.

The vote on the amendment: Gibson, Flemming, and Stall said No. The other four councilmen voted yes.

Some opponents of the ordinance argued that the idea is offensive because the timing falls in the week of Thanksgiving and National Homeless Month.

One person compared the ordinance to a wolf with a painful bite that damages the most vulnerable by criminalizing a misdemeanor.