Only a few items were left Thursday evening at Ninth and Pacific.
On Thursday evening I got off the bike and looked around near the Ninth Avenue ramp on the south side of the Pacific Boulevard viaduct in Albany. The site had been almost completely cleaned up.
For three weeks since the closure of Marvin’s Garden, the City of Albany’s former designated homeless camp site at Ninth Avenue and Jackson Street, people had settled down a block to the west.
The Oregon Department of Transportation owns the property there, bordering Highway 20 or Pacific Boulevard and across the ramp from the Helping Hands shelter. In early September, ODOT posted notices saying the encampment had to be gone by Sept. 14, and any belongings left there after that would be removed.
But it took longer for the people staying near the ramp to move, most likely because, well, where could they go?
This was the scene near the Ninth Avenue ramp on Sept. 16.
But as I say, the next time a bike ride took me past the location, on Sept. 26, almost all the stuff that had been there a few days before had disappeared. And the campers had, too.
Looking at the site from near the highway on the evening of Sept. 26.
About the only thing left was this stake holding ODOT’s notice that camping there is prohibited.
The people who had been camping at the site since Aug. 29, when Marvin’s Garden closed, might have numbered about a dozen or so.
I didn’t see them leave, and I don’t know where they went. I hope they found a spot somewhere that is sheltered and reasonably safe. (hh)
I second your hope that they found a spot that is reasonably safe.
Everyone in charge always wondes how to stop the amount of homeless people???? Do something about the land lords…figure a fair amount for their rental, and cap it ! No rent hikes every year…no evictions…less homeless!
Debra, you truly don’t know, or understand being a rental property owner in the state of Oregon.
Rent hikes? The most the state allows is 10% a year max. If I rent a property for $1,500.00 a month that’s $15.00 a month extra…not hardly what I call a rent hike.
Evictions are nearly impossible, and require going to court several times with renters often being given extensions (no rent to the landlord) so they can get back on their feet.
We private small property owners are not abusing the system… more often it’s the tenants who are abusing it.
I don’t know about the complexities of the rental market, but I know that 10 percent of $1,500 is $150, not $15.
They will be back
Start charging the campers rent then there wouldn’t be so many people homeless
LOL
Winner of the dumbest comment of the month! Year? Decade!