Dear Mayor and City Council,
I feel we are being betrayed by the very same people we helped elect and put our faith in. There has been no real outreach effort with the community on this shelter proposal. Many questions and concerns have gone unanswered.
We have a vagrant drug addiction problem more than anything else. That is what is destroying our community, fix that issue and you have solved the worst part of our problem.
If any shelter is built it must adhere to:
1) No larger than what we are required to have, I think injunction spelled that out. The larger it is the more people we attract from the outside, built it and they will come. Think small, not large acreage.
2) Any new shelter must allow the city to close down the current campsites, or it is worthless. This has NOT been formally addressed by city officials. It does not solve the main problems that businesses or people are facing in the middle of town. Think outside of the main city, semi-isolated, not in the middle of the city.
3) There must be some rules and management of the shelter.
4) In addition, when people are trespassed out of this shelter – just what does that mean. Are these people allowed to now sleep in the parks? This question needs to be addressed along with the other concerns mentioned above.
5) There must be a real discussion concerning the lawlessness and lack of enforcement of our or laws, period! This alone would go a long way in solving the community faces daily
Put the brakes on this proposed shelter until you have addressed the concerns and questions and have actually listened to the people of this community.
Respectfully,
Bill
Perhaps the real answer to the homless problem is for the City to do what they used to do and Pay the County $1 million a year to house the criminals. Then actually enforce the law and arrest the drug abusers. then we need to get the DA’S office on board to file charges on these people. the Prosecutors office is supposed to be paid for by the State. However the County contributes a goodly portion of tax money to support it. If we ask them to remember that, or pull the funding if they are not going to work for the taxpayers maybe they will prosecute these criminals and get them into a state prison. Get them out of JoCo. The social services are available, they just need to do the work to help the truly (not druggies) homeless. There is also a domicile at the VA in White City for homeless veterans. There ARE places for these people to go. We do not need a bunch of NGO’S running the homeless show in GP. All they will do is extend the “homeless life” for those who use it to be irresponsible non-productive people.
I might add the Republican Central committe took and passed a no confidence vote on two new City Council members that they worked to elect. The two that favor this latest “Pathway to Stability” conglomerate of NGO’S.
Interesting suggestions and I wonder if they could be pursed. I really do think if we had 24/7 enforcement of our laws we would not being have many issues with this. If I had it my way, which I can’t – round up all the drug addicts and gibe them three choices, 1) jail, 2) monitored rehab. 3) leave the county. The rest of the people who really need a help hand – find the proper services for them whether it is in our town or Medford.
But we can’t do that and there is this state law called HB3115 that really needs to be repealed ASAP. So we either have an unmanaged camp area (like we do now) and make sure it meets ADA rule and everything other thing or we have a “small” managed site (by nonprofits, no 7.8 acres Vine St) in which it is taken off the city and put on the backs of nonprofits (but it must be as small as we are allowed to by law). Those seem to be the most known choices we have, not great in any way you look at it.