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Yeah except that Eugenes situation is noticeably and markedly worse than those cities of comparable size. Very obvious to anyone who has spent much time there. The city council has little concern for the law abiding citizens of the community and done everything it could to enable the situation. I doubt their laws are much more lenient, its all about ENFORCEMENT. And the city has not backed the police in that area. People set up large encampments right in the traffic medians! Unbelievable.
Not sure about curb sitting and a few of the others, but Eugene really isn't to blame for not enacting laws against panhandling. You can blame that on the courts that have consistently ruled that the behavior is a First Amendment right.
Eugene certainly has a noticeable homeless population, but I can't think of any city of comparable or larger size along I-5 that doesn't.
Salem has nowhere near the visible homeless population of Eugene. Both cities are about the same size. I'm guessing it has something to do with the layout of the city, it's kind of more spread out with less going on downtown. So not as interesting of a place to hang out. But also Salem is a government town and not a college town so there are simply a lot less businesses and services catering to young people and the more relaxed lifestyles one finds in Eugene.
I didn't claim that Salem had a comparable homeless population to Eugene. I said that I-5 cities all seem to have a noticeable homeless population.
Quote:
Eugene certainly has a noticeable homeless population, but I can't think of any city of comparable or larger size along I-5 that doesn't.
So it does. I've lived in both, and the downtown area of Salem as well as a few public parks and down by the Willamette definitely have a noticeable homeless population. Again, I never said that Eugene didn't have it worse in that respect. It got even worse after Occupy, and I don't think Salem had much of an Occupy movement.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 01-28-2016 at 12:01 PM..
I didn't claim that Salem had a comparable homeless population to Eugene. I said that I-5 cities all seem to have a noticeable homeless population.
So it does. I've lived in both, and the downtown area of Salem as well as a few public parks definitely have a noticeable homeless population. Again, I never said that Eugene didn't have it worse in that respect.
Well, OK, I concede the point. Salem does have homeless. But I don't see anywhere near the same numbers or same types of tent cities when I visit my parents who live in Salem. So I don't think you can just blame state courts for creating the homeless mess in Eugene. There is something going on in Eugene (and Portland too) that has really made the homeless problem worse than in many other comparable cities. There are certainly a lot more activists for the homeless in Portland and Eugene compared to other cities. And, I'm guessing that the city governments from the Mayor on down to the public works and police departments are just more tolerant in those cities than on some others.
I'm not blaming state courts for creating the homeless mess in Oregon. What I stated was that panhandling laws have been found unconstitutional in many areas all over the country. Again, it was meant to be a simple statement of fact and not as "blame." Someone implied that the lack of these laws in Eugene were at least partially responsible for its large homeless population, and I merely pointed out that Eugene probably couldn't create this type of law even if it wanted to. Not sure how that translates into blaming.
I don't deny that certain cities have more homeless friendly policies than others and are probably more attractive to people living a transient lifestyle. Sheesh. All I said was that I-5 cities all seem to have homeless problems and that many courts across the country have tried to enact anti-panhandling laws that have later been struck down by the courts.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 01-28-2016 at 12:32 PM..
Thursday, September 27, 2012
ARCATA, Calif. — A judge says a Northern California coastal city’s law banning non-aggressive panhandlers within 20 feet of stores, intersections and parking lots is mostly unconstitutional.
Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Dale A. Reinholtsen released his ruling yesterday, saying the ban can only be enforced near unenclosed ATMs and on public transit vehicles.
The college town 280 miles north of San Francisco has long has been a magnet for vagrants who beg for money, booze or pot. The anti-panhandling law was passed two years ago.
The Los Angeles Timesquoted from Reinholtsen’s ruling: “Arcata may not restrict solicitation merely because it makes people uncomfortable. To put it simply, speech rights prevail in a public forum (e.g., public parks, streets, etc.) in the absence of unique circumstances.”
Yeah except that Eugenes situation is noticeably and markedly worse than those cities of comparable size. Very obvious to anyone who has spent much time there. The city council has little concern for the law abiding citizens of the community and done everything it could to enable the situation. I doubt their laws are much more lenient, its all about ENFORCEMENT. And the city has not backed the police in that area. People set up large encampments right in the traffic medians! Unbelievable.
Absolutely, couldn't have said it better. The city openly allows a takeover of city parks, street corners and playgrounds in Eugene. (ever see the playground behind Papa Soul)
When the police try to do something they're criticized when they are trying to clean up the city and do their job. The amount of trash created by this group of people is ridiculous they just walk away with no care for the environment or their surroundings. These people have an attitude that is very thoughtless. Look at the amount of trash along the river, near bike paths, left behind carts, its a mess and the mayor has done nothing to help.
Seriously, its the first city from here to the east coast that I've seen public park bathrooms with no door stall. How is that fair to law abiding folks? What about privacy? That's what you'll find at Alton Baker Park and the bottom of Skinner.
Obviously what the city council, mayor and other officials are doing isn't working. It's only gotten worse and will continue to until they start to use enforcement like mentioned above.
Absolutely, couldn't have said it better. The city openly allows a takeover of city parks, street corners and playgrounds in Eugene. (ever see the playground behind Papa Soul)
When the police try to do something they're criticized when they are trying to clean up the city and do their job. The amount of trash created by this group of people is ridiculous they just walk away with no care for the environment or their surroundings. These people have an attitude that is very thoughtless. Look at the amount of trash along the river, near bike paths, left behind carts, its a mess and the mayor has done nothing to help.
Seriously, its the first city from here to the east coast that I've seen public park bathrooms with no door stall. How is that fair to law abiding folks? What about privacy? That's what you'll find at Alton Baker Park and the bottom of Skinner.
Obviously what the city council, mayor and other officials are doing isn't working. It's only gotten worse and will continue to until they start to use enforcement like mentioned above.
Bingo. And im usually considered on the left of things and have tremendous sympathy for the poor and working class. So when a place like eug upsets even ME? Cant imagine how the conservative or middle of the road citizens of eug feel about it. Only reason i care is that eug has more potential than the vast majority of american cities and was once a very pleasant place. More friendly hippie types and fewer scary meth freaks. Now its just moochers who want people to buy them cute little tiny houses rather than a traditional homelesss shelter.
Absolutely, couldn't have said it better. The city openly allows a takeover of city parks, street corners and playgrounds in Eugene. (ever see the playground behind Papa Soul)
That park has been sketchy forever - even 12-15 years ago the advice was not to use it because of the risk of stepping/sitting on needles. I've walked/biked past it dozens of times, but never stepped foot in it at least partly for that reason.
As the Whit gentrifies, the park will probably be the last holdout unless the city agrees to sell it to be developed, which would be interesting. There'd probably be a groundswell of public support to "save the park" that almost everybody is too wary to actually use.
It really became an issue for us ( meaning my family) when the Occupy mess began. Prior to Occupy mucking things up, Eugene had a visible homeless presence and the community was taking steps to deal with it... not loud aggressive steps but slow and steady steps. But the angsty/misdirected/chaotic Occupy mess sort of latched on to the homeless as a way to validate themselves and all of a sudden the homeless problem in Eugene just sort of exploded. I was a volunteer with a non-profit at that time who worked directly with the homeless population, and our organization was suddenly swamped with homeless who had been bused in from other cities. They were honest about it, too, telling us "they bused us in..."!! And then once the occupy medical took off and a few of the other services... well now Eugene is known as a good place to be if you want to live that lifestyle. I actually know several people who have jobs but choose to be homeless because they do not believe in paying bills, paying taxes, owning property, etc. They are paid in cash and they choose to be homeless and they benefit from homeless services that we - taxpayers - provide. I had to stop volunteering with the homeless because witnessing this and being involved with these people was changing me and not for the better. I went from being compassionate and trying to understand them and help them as individuals to just feeling like most of them were just lazy or freeloading. Or just unwilling to face their addiction issues. I was getting bitter, so I had to stop.
As a citizen, though, and not as someone working directly with the homeless, the riverbike trail was where our family noticed the negative change pretty much immediately, as we went from spending nearly every weekend along the trail biking with our kids, to deciding it was no longer a safe or enjoyable family outing due to the people that had decided to camp or smoke or do whatever along the river. A couple of times I even saw people I had "helped" earlier in the day. Very disappointing. The downtown library also became much worse - and much more smelly. We even stopped geocaching, as we got tired of finding illegal camping spots and piles of trash and human poop, used condoms and used foil and needles and junk in areas where there were geocaches hidden.
Anyway - I cannot speak for other Oregon cities along I-5 as I've only ever lived in Eugene as far as Oregon is concerned. I have lived along I-5 in other states (CA and WA) where there wasn't as bad a homeless problem as what we've experienced in Eugene. All I know is that we are getting uncomfortable in Eugene because of the growing problem. We bought a home in a nice neighborhood and we are seeing an increase in homeless/transient people climbing fences to get into people's recycling and trash (we put a lock on our gate but that doesn't stop the two guys we find at night crawling over our fence to dig through our stuff), and even digging through unlocked mailboxes! We had to get a PO Box and the neighbors all got together and we bought locking mailboxes because these homeless guys on bicycles were coming around stealing mail. And not just stealing it... but taking what they wanted and then tossing what they didn't want in the bushes, along the street, whatever. It makes us really sad because we used to really love Eugene, but we're just not feeling the love as much anymore.
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