On June 21, gravel was ready to be spread on the lot Albany has designated for homeless tent sites.
Preparations continued this week on two city-owned lots Albany officials have designated as places where homeless people can stay when they’re barred from sleeping on other public land.
The two lots designated for camping are near the corner of Jackson Street and Ninth Avenue, just south of the Pacific Boulevard overpass.
The corner lot at 503 Ninth Ave. S.E. has been designated for tent camping. Kris Schendel, the code compliance officer in the police department who is coordinating this effort, says the lot can probably hold 15 tent spots.
Just to the north, the lot at 817 Jackson St. S.E. is intended for people who live in their cars, and Schendel estimates there is space there for nine vehicles.
Both lots have been screened from their three neighbors with chain link fencing laced with plastic strips. Two of the neighboring houses are owned by the Helping Hands homeless shelter. The third is privately owned.
The designated camping sites have been cleared of vegetation and this week were being covered with a layer of rock or gravel. At 817 Jackson, one mature tree remains. (The city has removed a sign that someone had nailed to the tree. It said trespassers would be shot and survivors would be shot again.)
Getting the lots ready is expected to cost the city about $13,000, Schendel told me. That’s for the fencing, the rock, and for dividing the site into camping spots.
The ongoing city cost — for a toilet, sink and trash service — is estimated at about $500 a month.
The city council authorized the city manager to designate the camping sites on city property in an ordinance it passed last month.
The council acted because a state law taking effect July 1 says cities cannot enforce a ban on camping in public places unless the homeless people affected have a place where they can legally rest. A federal court ruling in an Idaho case had the same effect.
For Albany, designating a public homeless camping area is a new thing. In the coming months we’ll see how it works out. (hh)
This is the lot at 817 Jackson S.E., designated for people living in their vehicles.
Yes, i will be watching your space Hasso.
I hope to never drive by or catch my dear eyes on this organized mess but…
We NEED to do something. I hope you talk about the 500 hundred a month next.
Annual operating costs estimated at $6000.00/year.
Seems like a very good deal for all concerned. The homeless can have a place to sleep where they won’t be harassed by those with ill intent. The citizens of Albany will have “contained” their unsightly problem and everyone can go back to pretending it’s the 1950s here in Our Fair City. And now, you can even pump your own gas. I’d say a real good deal.
Any form of containment camp attracts those with ill intent. The shelter has always been a place that attracts the negative groups of people who sell drugs and sex, and exploit the vulnerable homeless. It is convenient to put all their “clients” in contained groups (fish in a barrel). Repeating the same concept in many different forms is making it worse. The shelters only positive is that is generates donations to pay the people who run it. While it may seem like it is a good deal for all, it is not for the fish in a barrel and the area that has to witness the negative consequences.
Not enough space.
You got 9 people living in one of these spots. 2 o’clock in the morning and one of them decides to scream their lungs out. Neighbors wake up to obnoxious racket. What do they do? “Excuse me, could you please not scream after 8pm?, thanks.”, “I asked you nicely an hour ago to stop screaming, what’s the deal?”, “Knock it off or I’ll call the cops!”, “Fucking stop already!”…Eventually the police are called. Cops show up, say “If I had to come back out here, someone’s going to jail.” Screaming continues, police gets called again.
What happens next? Do they take all nine people to jail? Or do they just not bother to show back up? Do they just take the loudest screamer? Does that screamer return to the same camp the next night?
Currently, this same scenario plays itself out frequently in Kinder Park. And in this situation the end result is the cops saying, “it’s not our problem.”
What is going to CHANGE on the 1st? I fully expect the camps on the Periwinkle Bike Path to remain there and the screaming won’t stop. Am I wrong?
Where can I camp with my children just became homeless don’t really want to be with a bunch of homeless people so looking for free camping areas around Albany