The vacant lot at Ninth Avenue and Jackson Street looked like this on Wednesday afternoon June 14, 2023.
A bike ride Wednesday took me past the vacant lot at 503 Ninth Ave. S.E., where the city of Albany plans to have homeless people camp if they can’t or won’t go to a shelter.
The 4,160-square-foot lot just south of the Pacific Boulevard viaduct has seen some changes since the city administration on June 6 picked it as its designated homeless camping ground.
On the northeast corner of Jackson Street and Ninth, it used to be a grassy lot. Now the grass and top layer of soil have been scraped off. You can see the outline of the concrete block foundation of the house that used to be there once upon a time.
Posts have been set for what will be a chain link fence on two sides of the lot, separating it from its neighbors on the north and east.
When I inquired at City Hall, I was told that the lot will be covered with gravel. Presumably that’s better for rough living than setting up camp on bare ground. Also it obviates the need for mowing.
Another city-owned lot, two addresses north at 817 Jackson, also has been cleared and provided with fence posts. That is where the city intends to place people living in their vehicles.
Under an ordinance the city council passed last month, the designated camp sites must be equipped with sanitation, water, trash disposal, and fire extinguishers.
The sites will be open to anyone regardless of drug or alcohol use.
How the city came to be in possession of those lots I did not find out. County records available online don’t say how long the city has owned them, and nobody at City Hall had any recollection of the circumstances.
All of this is in preparation for July 1, the effective date of a state law that bars cities from citing or otherwise hassling people camping on public property such as sidewalks, pathways and parks unless there’s a place where they can legally stay.
As for the costs and other administrative details of the homeless camping arrangements, I don’t yet have those. I’ll report on them when I get the facts. (hh)
Only government can turn a blighted property into something worse.
This isn’t “preparation”, as you called it.
It’s malfeasance by public officials.
And after the campers arrive with their drugs/alcohol and personal disorders, the intentional defilement of a public space will be visible for all to see.
Elections have consequences. Albany taxpayers and voters are about to experience what that means in a very real way.
This is not a good idea. Drug addiction Really who’s Brite idea is this. We the taxpayers don’t want this. Don’t let this happen.
If you don’t represent some minority faction, I don’t think your voice matters much to our current city/state government.
what are some old white men upset that they dont get their way all the time anymore?
we live in a democracy and that means you have rights and responsibilities. you have the right to vote and the responsibility to accept that you don’t get your way every time
I am shocked they have chosen gravel! I just love sleeping on rocks! I’ve been camping and I’ve been homeless, concrete is better than rocks!
And it’s MUCH harder to clean!
Concrete doesn’t drain when it rains.
having a gravel foundation is better than living in a mud pit
Can’t believe they are putting rocks down.The city council members need to lay down in a sleeping bag on those rocks and see how it feels.
This sounds like a really good idea. Only thing that I think should happen is. It would be best if they could put a emergency call box on the lot. So they can call someone just in case of an overdose.
I wonder how the people living right next to this spot feel about this. I have a hard enough time with a very large family and all their kids, and their kid’s friends, that live next door. This is going to be 24/7 mayhem for those people who live on either side and within 10-15 feet of this corner spot. That said, we have to start somewhere for the unhoused. Solutions are never easy for everyone. And as a side note, gravel? That is not a good idea!!
As long as the City on “our” behalf is spending our tax $$ how’s this idea? Make wooden platforms to put tents on.
The homeless problem is started to be treated like containment camps for the Japanese during world war II. All these band-aid solutions that money is funneled into is wasted and perpetuating the problem. Albany is turning into the city of homeless rather than the city of trees. When I drove by it looked like they were making a large dog kennel. Normally slum like areas are created by a slow decline in economic growth. Albany is somehow reasoning that cutting to the chase by creating areas of decline rapidly is a positive solution. Maybe drug sales are considered economic growth since they are not considered criminal activity. The future of Albany may rest on this new source of income as is managing the homeless and the newly released criminals.
Not big enough. There is a lot more people than can camp there camping now in various places.
Are the police going to start enforcing laws again on the 1st? I don’t care if people are sleeping in the park, it’s the screaming in the middle of the night that needs to stop.
Homelessness is hard on people, the ones in Kinder park seem to stick to themselves. Being homeless is rough enough, they can at least clean their trash up instead of just leaving it to take over that park.
The ones in Kinder Park do NOT “stick to themselves”. Three in particular spend a whole lot of time screaming at each other or at random people they see in the park or sitting on their porch. Every day I hear fighting about who gets to hang out there and who has to go. And from the chatter lately, the idea of them leaving the park and going to sleep on gravel is not something they plan on doing.
What I want to know is; if I call the police for criminal activity on or after the 1st of July, will they actually enforce laws in our parks or will they just still not care?
No. They do NOT “stick to themselves”. They scream their heads off every damn night. They harass the piss out of people walking by. They leave their dirty needles all over the place. They commit crime in Kinder Park. Like I said, I don’t care about people sleeping there, I care about how I can’t sleep at night because there are ZERO consequences for breaking the law.
Well as with a lot of others, I see potential for disaster and/or city, county, or state abuse. It all seems legit, what happens when there’s not enough room for all homeless to camp there? and there’s no room left in any shelter in Albany? Then the homeless who missed out on the rush for a camp spot, will they be left vulnerable to whatever fines and harassment are made legal under the new law, ordinance or whatever? Still some will be seemingly safe, but what happens when the alcohol and drug related issues develop? What happens when hazardous waste from drugs ie. used syringes with needles still left uncapped are found frequently on sidewalks, in bushes etc? Also around the neighborhood where a potential mishap with children can occur? Some questions that come to my mind anyway.
As one of the homeless, all I can say is that it’s a start. My 77 year old mother and I don’t want to live like this, but rents for apartments is out of control and that is why we found ourselves in this situation. As has been stated before, this is a band-aid answer to the bigger problem. There is is simply no affordable housing anymore, and these sites small size as an answer is a joke. There are far larger empty lots, unused wear-houses and store fronts are have been empty for years and could be turned into shelters. They would be away from most family housing and would allow for a more controlled environment. So while what the city of Albany is doing is commendable, the sites are to small scale and it seems to simply be the city being able to claim they have an answer but really don’t. These sites will be filled in hours and there will be countless others that won’ be able to get in.
Who comes up with these ideas? Like the selling of Hazelwood park and the destruction of Monteith…. Our city is being ruined and no-one seems to care.
Unfortunately, the working people are being pushed out of Albany. As they say no money, no honey. Our own property and income taxes are paying for our displacement. Anything that does not generate funds such as parks and natural areas are seen as a waste of the city’s resources. Meanwhile buildings that are still usable are left to rot until they have to be condemned and scraped. New projects require more government funds and/or feed more income to the city. Having a healthy lifestyle and enjoying our parks without elaborate attractions is contrary to economic growth. But don’t worry the city will fly a flag that has a hand with a finger and thumb in the shape of an “L” for us, to show they commiserate with our being the lower class residents of Albany. Anyone living in areas that are deemed dilapidated due to the lack of new construction are perfect areas to force the homeless to live.