POUGHKEEPSIE – Second Ward Councilman Evan Menist, a Democrat involved in a three-way primary this month, is blaming the mayor and the business community for the failed Main Street beautification plan, including the new benches, the plan that Menist drew up with a former city employee.
Menist, on the common council since 2020, had spent his allocation of ARPA funds on benches installed on Main Street that immediately attracted the homeless community to begin camping on them and increased panhandling along the Main Street corridor. The benches were removed by an executive order issued by fellow Democrat, Mayor Marc Nelson.
Almost a week after the benches were removed, Menist pushed the blame to Nelson, saying the mayor has admitted “he can’t control public intoxication and aggressive panhandling on Main Street in the downtown core.” The police department has blamed Menist and his policies for the rise in crime.
Menist has been at odds with the police department since taking office and aligning himself with former Council Chairperson Sarah Salem, who resigned in disgrace after a DWI conviction. In 2020 the city’s PBA blamed Menist and Salem for some of the city’s biggest problems. Former PBA Vice-president, Detective Chris Libolt, now-retired, said at the time, “Violent crime is on the rise in Poughkeepsie but Salem and Councilmember Evan Menist have priorities that focus on defunding the police, passing the Right to Know Act and the formation of a Civilian Review Board” rather than address the rise in crime, adding that the actions are taken “without any dialog with the PBA or the Police Department command staff.”
The controversial benches were not welcomed by the area businesses or members of the police department with officers telling Mid-Hudson News that the benches invite panhandlers and others to become “comfortable” and more likely to become a nuisance. One of the primary tenets of community policing, a proven and…
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