Parks and preserves are for residents to enjoy for recreation. Please help keep them safe and clean and crime free. Use private property for these types of services, including needle exchanges and safe injection sites.

Clearly, given the last minute revisions and the huge amount of response from community health organizations and healthcare professionals, Council should take more time to research and gather feedback on this ordinance before committing to its implementation. I hope Council members take the time to consider their actions putting Phoenix residents at risk by aligning with Trump's war on public heath while thousands of our neighbors lose healthcare access.

I strongly oppose this ordinance. Why are trying to stop neighbors helping neighbors when you know that the facilities and organizations providing medical aid are at capacity because you aren't funding them? Why would you want to stop hygiene and wound care and overdose prevention? What is the benefit of more injuries, sickness and death? Is that not just cruelty? We are all deserving of care.

I am concerned about the unintended consequences of this ordinance. These restrictions will remove a critical access pathway for homeless to be redirected toward care and shelter, while increasing suffering, heat-related deaths, and utilization of already burdened ERs. Requiring City of Phoenix sponsorship will hinder already effective physician-led programs, such as Street Medicine Phoenix/Circle the City.
Respectfully,
Mary Seideman, Pharm.D, Phoenix resident and pharmacist (retired)

I strongly oppose this ordinance. It criminalizes lifesaving harm reduction and mutual aid in public parks, pushing vulnerable people further into danger. Evidence consistently shows that harm reduction reduces overdose deaths(I've seen first hand), disease transmission, and public waste. Treating care, prevention, and survival tools as criminal acts does not improve safety, it increases harm. Harm reduction outreach should not be policed.

Oppose. We need to support those that are most vulnerable. Leverage mentoring groups like Arouet, trade schools, etc. to give people the support and foundation they need to get through tough times.

People are struggling and healthcare is something that affects us all. When peole can't get care it damages all parts of their life. Diseases also spread to other populations when basic needs are not met. This is inhumane and causes more safety concerns than it addresses.

Not having a home is difficult enough without cities, actively finding ways to further criminalized homelessness. Restricting healthcare to the unhoused, is particularly cruel and unusual. Healthcare is the first thing that people need to help them get back on their feet. Lemonade access will only make the homelessness issue worse.

Harm reduction saves lives. Reducing access will result in more people at risk of disability or death. Everyone deserves access to medical care.

This ordinance is a step backwards into punitive policies that don't address the root cause of addiction or homelessness. Our parks are for everyone, including those targeted by this thinly veiled attempt to move the struggling population of this city out of visibility.

A barrier to health services is the weaponization of safety, not balancing care and responsibility. The council should reject this ordinance.

What a disgusting suggestion lacking any semblance of moral integrity.

Why do we need to block more access to medical care in public spaces? Do we not care about our own citizens? Or are you lining your pockets on bribes from rich health care executives?

I oppose this ordinance because it targets vulnerable populations. Harm-reduction approaches work and save lives. Policies that criminalize community care do not improve safety; instead, they cause harm by making it harder for individuals to access help when they need it. These types of policies are also disproportionately enforced against Black and Brown communities, reinforcing existing racial inequities.

I strongly oppose this as we should be encouraging harm reduction and mutual aid, not penalizing it.

I strongly oppose this ordinance. There is overwhelming research by various institutions (NIH, CDC, large universities) that have provided evidence that the strategies employed by harm reduction organizations (needle exchanges, narcan education, and overdose kit distribution) reduce improperly disposed of needles and overdoses. Harm reduction is a benefit to the city and surrounding community; local healthcare systems will not affordably meet this need, neither will the city. Leave them be.

I oppose this because of how it criminalizes harm reduction in our parks. Vote no!

I oppose this ban on medical care in parks. It is unethical because to criminalize this would largely affect one of the most vulnerable populations in our community.

I strongly oppose this. How is this acting in Jesus's teachings? Harm reduction to help those most in need of our support and compassion is exactly what Jesus asked of us. Penalizing those people acting in Jesus's footsteps is what the Romans would have done. Don't be some sort of heartless NIMBY because others are stepping up to act in love and compassion for those in need and making you feel guilty for your lack of empathy and God's love.

I strongly oppose this ordinance. Local federally qualified health centers currently provide critical care by medical staff and outreach teams to treat the most vulnerable in our communities and engage them in services. This ordinance prevents those existing services, including heat relief. There is a cost to the community from the increased burden on city resources in preventing street medicine and a lack of compassion for those experiencing homelessness if this ordinance is passed.

Needles and other biohazards have no place in our parks where children are playing. There are appropriate medical facilities where these activities can take place keeping hazardous waste out of our parks.

I oppose this proposed ordinance. Organizations use public spaces to deliver necessary services to those without access to private medical services. Without access to this, people without the financial stability to go to a doctors office will not receive care. Banning medical care in public parks, without any support towards the people who need this care, is dangerous, cruel and unnecessary. Please use your power to support the organizations providing care instead.