Cleared and fenced, the former designated camp site at Ninth and Jackson looked like this on Friday evening.
After a week out of town, on Friday the bike took me past what used to be the City of Albany’s designated camping site for homeless people.
It was, of course, empty. Both city-owned lots of the former camping site at Ninth Avenue and Jackson Street were surrounded by a sturdy 6-foot chain link fence.
The city closed the camp after one year because the site had become the scene of frequent trouble requiring a police response. A cleanup crew dismantled what was left of the camps on Thursday as the police stood by.
The Albany Democrat-Herald had a vivid account of the dismantling and cleanup. Many of the people who remained there on Thursday clearly didn’t know what to do or where to go next.
On Friday, it was clear that dismantling the camp didn’t solve anything. Now the south side of Ninth, opposite the fenced former campsite, had sprouted at least a few improvised shelters.
Other people had settled around the corner of Jackson and Seventh, under the Pacific Boulevard viaduct.
The city council has adopted an amended camping ordinance. This allows for organizations to operate emergency shelters for the unhoused, but apparently this is meant to apply to buildings, not assemblages of Conestoga-type huts as one group has proposed.
A year ago the council named its designated camping site “Marvin’s Garden.” It turned out to be anything but.
Until our society decides it has had it with this epidemic of vagrancy and does something about its causes, we can expect this issue to return to the council again and again. (hh)
The south side of Ninth Avenue east of Jackson Street on Friday evening.
Well written Hasso. Thank you for your measured and thoughtful journalism.
There is a good reason in the past they had insane asylums for the mentally deranged and poor farms for those that had little money. They also had jail for the drunk to get sober. We need to think about bringing it back.
Thank you for hitting the streets of Albany and providing news stories worth reading.
In 2013, Eugene modified their codes to allow Community Supported Shelters to place 14 successful communities of Conestoga huts on public and private land.
The Albany HUTS project would place well managed Conestoga-style huts in strategic locations, but our City has no building code for them, thus preventing Albany HUTS from happening. Visit AlbanyHUTS.org for more project details.
Albany outlawed ‘camping’, yet allowed Marvin’s Garden to develop for over a year on City property, until it imploded with no management. Now the situation has exploded onto the streets around Albany, causing a greater public hazard.
Come on Albany, we can do better than this! We are all in this together. Address the drug-induced mental health crisis leading to this problem before it gets worse. We need solutions now.
Please join me at the next City Council Meeting on 25 September, where I will present the Albany HUTS project and hopefully hear more solutions from other Albany residents.
Eugene looks so good now, I think not! Until we are willing to address the real issue of the homeless we will continue to see this type of thing. Every time someone of some importance comes to any City these people are moved on so the upper crust don’t have to see them! If we move them along they should be moved to the Governors front yard or street and to the places that the ruling class live! Drugs and alcohol are the problem, stop legalizing all this crap!
You’re right drugs and alcohol are the problem Linda but the problem is people judge the homeless people they’re not out there listening to their stories and why they’re homeless those families in Albany Oregon that have lost their homes their jobs and everything else so what do they do they turn to drugs and alcohol because it keeps them warm at night and it helps him cope with daily life because some people are society judges the homeless before they even know who they are and what they are and why they’re out on the streets and why they’re homeless judge not for you shall be judged I will stand up for the homeless people I don’t care who you are I will always stand up for them I always have and I always will my name is Lydia Miller I live in Albany Oregon thank you very much Linda
Albany needs to pull together and come up with solutions to help those who are homeless I think the hut idea is a good solution I will definitely be at the next council meeting for Albany Oregon I will support the homeless people I don’t care if they’re on drugs or drugs they’re homeless for a reason you listen to their stories and you’ll know more about the homeless and understand why they do the things that they do my name is Lydia c Miller and this is my comment and reply thank you Albany city council for exploring Marvin’s garden into what it’s not because I have people that I knew people that were staying there and now they don’t know where to go because there’s nothing in Albany for the homeless there’s nowhere for these people to go and that’s sad that’s sad come on get together
Yes they are homeless- where do you expect them to go if you dont help them relocate? Your plan did NOT work. Think again and maybe include Mayor Alex
Albany is lucky the City Council realized the error of it’s ways after only a year or YOU would have had to pay to clean up the mess like Eugene did. They put in this camp 1.4 miles from us. Within weeks we had them going through our trash and this I didn’t mind but the mess they left behind I had to clean up! My friend came to visit me with her young child and had to drive by here where they were treated to a man completely nude from the bottom “enjoying himself” if you get my drift. Another one came down our street screeching at the top of her lungs early on a Sunday morning and when I looked outside to see what the heck was going one she made a mad dash for my door and wanted in! The last straw was a night where I had just spoke to my husband a few hours earlier on the phone as he was working a late shift & I hears someone trying to get in our front door. I could see through the blinds & thought my husband had come home early but his truck was not in his parking spot! I ended up warning whomever was on the other side of my front door “If you don’t have permission to come in you will be carried out! You’ve been warned! I used to leave for work early in the morning and never see the homeless but after they installed this camp I not only saw them and their mess but several times I had to maneuver around them in the friggin streets! like standing in the middle of the road and 1 even tried to come up to my car! Graffiti also started to show up in an area where we never had to deal with it before! When we moved to Albany 5 years ago we loved the town but we decided to leave last October partially in part to having to deal with this crap!
Happy Halloween?
And I hope we all can clean up our act. Wishful thinking’s. Definitely needed
Oh you poor thing do you really think they were going to come in and hurt you really why didn’t you go out and give him some food or clothing or ask them if they were hungry or thirsty I’m glad you moved out of Albany cuz this is my hometown and I stand up for the homeless and I always will shame on you
There is no one answer. So many different needs and some don’t want help at all, and are perfectly ok living like that. We need more shelters and even the problem will still exsist.
A noble idea for humanity. BUT…ya give them something for nothing with NO RESPONSILITY you get Marvins Gardens. Improper planning, poor site prep, NO structured supervision and no “buy in” for those living there. Why should they care??? I sure hope that Hub City deal makes them pay a little…like 5$ a day/week… Otherwise it will turn into those “toilet areas” Eugene has had to clean up??
James,
Hub City Village is a low income rental community. Everyone who lives there has to have income and pays rent.
They come from homeless situations like shelters, friends couches, and staying temporarily with family but they aren’t the Marvin Gardens people. The homeless problem is a lot bigger than you think and what you see on a couple blocks in Albany.
Please do some research, ask questions, and don’t just believe the rumors.
Thank you Grace for sharing your story. More people need to tell the city about their experiences. People want to help the homeless but the past and proposed efforts will not help. The city needs to explore other options that have been more successful than expecting the same nonprofits that have failed and to continue to fail. Albany needs a fresh start and move away from making bad areas of town. Starting a new facility in a more open area of Albany where businesses and residents will not suffer. Bus routes can help the homeless travel to needed areas of town. Albany is still small enough that living right in the middle of town is not necessary to get to any needed resources.
Dennis has a good observation. However, a couple more are, cost of rentals and where did all these people come from. Remember, Oregon gives out free stuff .