Funding for park cleanup, and renovation of Lincoln Middle School up for La Crosse city council debate

A spending decision could be made Thursday night, affecting parts of La Crosse where homeless people have been camping in recent years.

The La Crosse city council has its September meeting, where a vote could come on a proposal to spend $270,000 to clean the wetlands and finance extra security for areas where people have camped for weeks or months.

The money would come from the city’s general fund. City leaders imposed a camping ban at the end of August, and park director Jay Odegaard told a council committee that the number of people camping on city property dropped sharply after the ban took effect.

Another agenda item for the council calls for renovation to develop apartments inside the former Lincoln Middle School. The proposal, aimed at providing about 50 apartments in the old school, was approved by a council committee last week.

The century-old Lincoln Middle building was closed by the La Crosse school district a year ago, with the aim of preserving the outside of the former school.