Cameron Park is fenced off for cleaning, as La Crosse City Hall bans camping at more locations

A La Crosse city committee has banned camping at two more locations, in an effort to limit the properties where homeless people can gather downtown.

The board of public works voted on Monday to prohibit camping on the City Hall block, and on land north of the Oktoberfest grounds. The vote came hours after campers were moved out of Cameron Park, which has been fenced off for cleaning this week.

City park director Jay Odegaard tells WIZM’s La Crosse Talk that private security will have to be brought in to help police enforce the camping ban.

“We just don’t have the staff internally to monitor these, so between our staff and some private security assistance, we’re going to be monitoring those locations pretty heavily,” said Odegaard.

Mayor Mitch Reynolds has said that the ultimate decision on whether to prohibit camping at a specific site lies with the public works board, and he expects there could be more requests for bans in the coming weeks.

Many of the personal possessions that were located in Cameron Park have been moved to the other side of King Street, and some campers appear to be spending time in a nearby parking ramp for now.