HASSO HERING

Looking south along Jackson Street on Nov. 23, 2024. Parking along this entire stretch will require permits to discourage homeless campers.

When I rode the bike to the top of the Pacific Boulevard overpass Saturday and looked down on Jackson Street, I saw no sign of trouble with parked cars. But trouble there has been, and the Albany City Council plans to do something about it.

The council plans to expand a ban on parking without a permit to the section of Jackson Street that runs along the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, jail and evidence yard.

Last Wednesday, Sheriff Michelle Duncan told the council that homeless people living in vehicles parked along Jackson were causing trouble along the street for the sheriff’s un-sworn employees.

One dispatcher was accosted by a naked male, the sheriff said. Other employees had been screamed at. Used needles and bodily waste left on the ground have added to the problems, making the street and parking lot unsafe for employees and others.

She asked for an expansion of what the city calls the “Central Albany Parking Area” around 11th Avenue and Jackson Street.

Across from the sheriff’s office there is the Second Chance homeless shelter. Emma Dean, executive director of the CHANCE recovery nonprofit, and John Phelps, director of Second Chance, supported the sheriff’s request. They said the people staying in vehicles on the street outside Second Chance had been “trespassed” from the shelter for aggressive behavior.

In response, the council voted 6-0 to have the staff bring back “an ordinance expanding the existing parking enforcement area to include both sides of Jackson Street from the Pacific Boulevard overpass to south of 1117 Jackson Street.” (That’s the address of the former Albany police station, now the parole and probation office.)

In the enforcement area, parking on the street without a permit is banned. People working in the area can get permits, but everybody else caught parking there risks getting a ticket.

On Saturday’s bike ride up and down that section of Jackson Street, I saw only one possible homeless vehicle parked there. Maybe the others got the word and had already left. (hh)