I must express my concern with the direction some members of the Grants Pass City Council are taking regarding the Pathway to Stability program. There appears to be a rush to push this initiative through without sufficient dialogue with the community. A troubling lack of communication and transparency is evident among certain council members.
When the new city council and, for that matter, the county commissioners took office in January, I urged them to prioritize transparency, especially when introducing policies or programs that could be considered controversial. Just as importantly, I encouraged them to ensure the public had an opportunity to understand, support, and participate in the decision-making process. Failing to do so only harms our community, creates division, and leads to unnecessary complications in the future. You must gain community support for your decisions, there is NO excuse for not doing so.
Unfortunately, both the city council (some members) and the county commissioners have failed in this regard. Our city and county are currently grappling with several serious challenges, many of which are rooted in poor communication and a lack of transparency. Since taking office, both governing bodies have not done enough to build public trust or secure community support for their decisions.
It’s time for the city council to treat the Pathway to Stability program with the seriousness it deserves. The public must be given a real opportunity to ask questions, gather information, and form their own informed opinions. The council should not rush or obscure initiatives that will affect our entire community for years to come. I urge the city council to slow down. Schedule a town hall meeting, with the city attorney, city council and chief of police in an open meeting for our community to ask questions and learn in greater detail about this Pathway to Stability program.
There is no legitimate reason to exclude the public from this process. Council members should listen to residents and take their concerns seriously. After all, city councilors work for the people – not the other way around.
We have a two issues going on with the homeless issue right now:
1) The injunction: This hopefully will be resolved soon in which NO campers will be allowed in any park. This is being done by expanding the current campsites. The city council is doing good in this area, for trying to get out of the injunction.
2) Pathway to Stability: This is the second issue. It is an issue for lack of transparency and the rush to undertake the program. There are two very concerning issues with this program.
One: It is my understanding that the large lot (8 acres) is for allowing up to 500-600 campers, we don’t need or want that kind of room (even if you factor in some car campers, we still don’t need that much room and it will result in increasing our homeless population).
Two: The Pathway to Stability program may not remove all of our current campsites that are in town. This is another very concerning issue.
This is why we need a town hall meeting with open discussion and transparency to ensure we all have the right information and all our questions are answered.
