City of Astoria City Council
Work Session on Homelessness
April 25, 2019
Youtube Auto-Generated Transcript

Welcome by Mayor Jones
Brett Estes, City Manager — Welcome
Geoff Spalding — Setting the Stage (HOST, focus on behavior)
Dan Crutchfield, Fire Chief
Jeff Harrington, Public Works Director
Tim Williams, Parks & Recreation
Jimmy Pearson, Library Director
Geoff Spalding, Chief of Police — HOST recommendations soon, policing
Brett Estes — Heritage Square (remove picnic tables)
Brett Estes — Property Watch
Geoff Spalding — Working With Business Owners
Geoff Spalding — Urban Camping (in the woods)
Follow-up Questions & General Discussion

Welcome by Mayor Jones
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=10 
hour:minute:second
0:00:10	well good afternoon everyone this is the
0:00:13	april 25 work session of the estuary
0:00:16	city council and thank you all for being
0:00:18	here
0:00:19	as you know we recently approved a city
0:00:21	council vision statement which uh
0:00:24	for those who haven't had a chance to
0:00:25	look i'll just read it and and then
0:00:27	it'll actually be part of the
0:00:28	presentation as well but the australia
0:00:30	city council's action
0:00:32	and decisions value preservation of
0:00:34	astoria's unique character livability
0:00:36	and quality of life for residents a
0:00:38	thriving local economy and resilience as
0:00:41	a community and then we have a number of
0:00:42	goals under that and throughout the year
0:00:46	for the most part unless a special topic
0:00:48	comes up that needs to be dealt with
0:00:49	we'll focus most of our work sessions on
0:00:51	some aspect of
0:00:53	uh implementing our vision statement and
0:00:55	implementing uh one or more of our
0:00:58	strategic goals for the two-year period
0:01:00	and we've asked chief spalding to
0:01:04	lead a presentation today on the work
0:01:07	of both
0:01:09	briefly touching on the work of the
0:01:10	homelessness solutions task force which
0:01:13	he has uh very capably led for the
0:01:16	number two years now i guess just about
0:01:18	a year and a half
0:01:19	and then and then diving into one
0:01:21	specific issue under livability
0:01:24	so we won't be even remotely touching
0:01:26	the entire
0:01:27	topic of homelessness today but uh just
0:01:30	hit a couple aspects of that with that
0:01:31	i'll turn it over to uh mr estes
Brett Estes, City Manager — Welcome
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=94 
0:01:34	so so mayor um
0:01:36	as you had noted uh the council has
0:01:40	passed a
0:01:42	new set of goals for the next two fiscal
0:01:44	years and and that city council vision
0:01:47	which you had just stated is up on the
0:01:49	screen
0:01:50	but we also want to highlight
0:01:53	one of the goals specifically that
0:01:55	applies to this work session which is
0:01:57	support the work and recommendations of
0:01:59	the homeless solutions task force as
0:02:01	well as other community efforts to
0:02:02	address homelessness
0:02:04	our
0:02:05	chief spalding is going to touch a
0:02:06	little bit on what the homeless
0:02:09	solutions task force has been working on
0:02:11	uh as a part of this as well as going to
0:02:14	some more specific issues
0:02:16	as well as our department heads which
0:02:19	are at the table before you on this
0:02:22	afternoon i do want to note one other
0:02:25	goal
0:02:26	which is a bit tangential but i think it
0:02:29	had a bit of a connection
0:02:32	to
0:02:33	some of the topics that were discussion
0:02:34	today and that was maintain astoria's
0:02:37	unique character and council decisions
0:02:39	including those involving growth zoning
0:02:41	and economic development
0:02:43	a lot of this
0:02:45	the way i took away this
0:02:48	goal was dealing with livability as well
0:02:50	is more livability in the the built
0:02:52	environment but it's it's a goal which
0:02:54	dealt with livability and while what
0:02:56	we're talking about here does not
0:02:58	specifically deal with
0:03:00	the development code or zoning ordinance
0:03:02	it does potentially deal with code
0:03:03	amendments
0:03:04	which could address some livability
0:03:07	issues and some ideas that will be
0:03:09	brought forward
0:03:10	moving forward
0:03:12	this afternoon
0:03:14	i do want to note
0:03:16	that
0:03:18	this work session is going to be maybe a
0:03:20	little bit different than some of the
0:03:23	prior work sessions which were
0:03:26	more
0:03:27	i'm going to call it free form open
0:03:29	dialogue
0:03:30	there is a presentation
0:03:33	which will be given
0:03:34	primarily by chief spalding who will be
0:03:37	leading the conversation but also
0:03:39	the department heads who are before you
0:03:41	are also going to be participating
0:03:43	we've been
0:03:44	working to be able to bring information
0:03:46	to you we recognize that this is the
0:03:49	city council's work session
0:03:51	this is not staff's work session but
0:03:53	we're wanting to be able to provide you
0:03:54	with information provide you with data
0:03:57	and provide you with some ideas
0:03:59	to be able to dialogue and hopefully at
0:04:01	the end of this time
0:04:03	we'll be able to
0:04:05	have maybe a broader conversation with
0:04:08	some direction you'd like to be able to
0:04:09	provide
0:04:10	in moving forward
0:04:12	so
0:04:13	after uh
0:04:15	um
0:04:16	the uh presentation um today and after
0:04:20	some direction there may need to be some
0:04:21	follow-up work sessions uh on touching
0:04:24	on some specific issues um
0:04:27	we're not looking at getting down into
0:04:29	the weeds about uh some of the specific
0:04:32	topics today um and if we're looking to
0:04:35	say council if there's something you
0:04:37	want us to touch on further give us that
0:04:40	direction we just don't want to spin our
0:04:41	wheels if this is if there's a topic
0:04:42	that you don't want us to look at
0:04:45	at all
0:04:46	so i'm going to turn it over to chief
0:04:48	spaulding and let him get rolling on the
0:04:50	presentation
0:04:53	all right
Geoff Spalding — Setting the Stage (HOST, focus on behavior)
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=294 
0:04:54	thank you mr city manager mayor members
0:04:56	of council jeff paulding your police
0:04:57	chief i appreciate the opportunity to
0:04:59	have this conversation today something
0:05:01	we've been looking forward to quite some
0:05:03	time
0:05:04	we really want to make sure if we
0:05:06	accomplish nothing else that we put this
0:05:07	issue in perspective we all understand
0:05:09	that this is a tremendous issue not just
0:05:11	for our community but for all the
0:05:12	communities throughout the state and
0:05:14	throughout the united states for that
0:05:15	matter
0:05:17	so as the mayor has requested and we
0:05:20	support and agree with is that we will
0:05:21	be briefly touching on the you know the
0:05:23	work some of the work the homelessness
0:05:25	solutions task force is doing but again
0:05:27	today's discussion is more narrowly
0:05:29	focused on some of the behavior we're
0:05:30	seeing from individuals in the community
0:05:32	so in order to convey that to you um
0:05:35	what we are going to talk about today or
0:05:36	at least as part of our presentation
0:05:38	before we turn it over to you would be
0:05:41	talk a little bit about the host commun
0:05:43	committee we're working on
0:05:45	some of the current programs offerings
0:05:47	that are available in the community
0:05:48	today
0:05:49	that you will then hear from each of the
0:05:51	department heads or most of the
0:05:52	department heads about some of the
0:05:54	experiences that they're seeing i'm
0:05:56	going to talk a little bit more about
0:05:57	the current state of the problem talk
0:05:59	about some of the challenges we're
0:06:00	facing talk about maybe some potential
0:06:02	solutions and then
0:06:05	somewhat very well connected but a
0:06:07	little bit different is the urban forest
0:06:09	camping discussion as well
0:06:11	and i'd also like to mention that i also
0:06:14	have my deputy chief eric halverson in
0:06:16	the back room and also lieutenant matt
0:06:18	phillips from the county he's the jail
0:06:20	commander so
0:06:22	he's only going to be here for an hour
0:06:23	so if there's any questions that are
0:06:24	connected to this presentation he'd be
0:06:26	more than happy to answer those but he
0:06:27	will have to leave for another
0:06:28	commitment in about an hour so just want
0:06:30	to make sure i call that up
0:06:32	so i think it's important that um as
0:06:35	we're going through this conversation
0:06:36	that there's a recognition that we as a
0:06:38	police department and the fellow
0:06:40	department head team and city manager
0:06:41	all recognize certain guiding principles
0:06:43	and um for lack of a better term that's
0:06:45	what i'm calling them we could call them
0:06:47	default assumptions whatever we want to
0:06:49	call them but these are some
0:06:51	ideals that we all subscribe to and i
0:06:54	think
0:06:55	at least we use these in our
0:06:57	conversations to help guide our
0:06:58	discussions so first off i'd like to say
0:07:00	that the recognition of the problem
0:07:02	deals with all behavior not just
0:07:03	individuals experiencing homelessness
0:07:06	secondly not all homeless individuals
0:07:08	generate calls for service
0:07:10	thirdly individuals will not be targeted
0:07:12	based on their housing status or any
0:07:13	other protective status
0:07:16	fourthly holding people accountable can
0:07:18	assist in in directing them to
0:07:20	appropriate services and we talk about
0:07:22	accountable we're not necessarily
0:07:23	talking about somebody that just may be
0:07:25	standing on a corner somebody that
0:07:26	actually has done something that's
0:07:28	called them to our attention you know
0:07:30	committed a crime or a violation
0:07:32	and lastly uh that they're we all
0:07:34	recognize there are repercussions for
0:07:36	inappropriate behavior
0:07:37	so um
0:07:38	obviously if there's any discussion on
0:07:40	that i'm more than happy to hear that
0:07:42	i'd also like to say that there will be
0:07:44	natural breaks in between the different
0:07:46	uh segments so if there's questions
0:07:48	along the way you know obviously you can
0:07:49	feel free to interrupt us at any time
0:07:51	but we also uh have a slide that will be
0:07:54	a natural break for that as well
0:07:58	so we talk about some of the current
0:08:00	services and how how well connected they
0:08:03	are there's actually a lot of good
0:08:04	organizations in our community um
0:08:07	some of the the bigger ones of course
0:08:08	helping hands class of behavior health
0:08:10	class community action and then we have
0:08:13	other current services the classic
0:08:15	county veterans services our warming
0:08:17	shelter
0:08:18	the medically medication-assisted
0:08:20	treatment which is a little bit more new
0:08:22	phenomena that
0:08:24	lieutenant phillips has had some
0:08:26	experience in working kind of a hybrid
0:08:27	model in the jail it's something that
0:08:29	they may expand at some point and
0:08:31	basically this is the
0:08:34	principle where you provide individuals
0:08:36	medication to help alleviate the
0:08:37	withdrawal symptoms from opioid abuse or
0:08:39	other types of substance abuse and then
0:08:42	in conjunction you support that with
0:08:44	counseling and
0:08:48	what am i thinking here
0:08:51	behavioral therapy so it's a kind of a
0:08:53	three-prong approach and it's been very
0:08:54	successful and if you've seen the
0:08:56	seattle's dying video it was touched on
0:08:58	in there where they've had some
0:08:59	experience of up to 90 success
0:09:02	feeding empty bellies north coast
0:09:04	regional substance use steering
0:09:05	committee our homeless liaison kenny
0:09:07	hansen most of you know and of course
0:09:10	organ
0:09:11	dhs
0:09:15	so some of the things that the homeless
0:09:16	solutions task force are currently
0:09:18	working on
0:09:19	and most of this is through
0:09:21	subcommittees which we found to be very
0:09:23	effective uh we've had conversations
0:09:25	some of these we haven't talked about
0:09:26	yet
0:09:27	but the drop-in center i know uh
0:09:29	rickenell's in the audience and uh
0:09:30	they're very familiar with that that's
0:09:32	something that will be a presentation
0:09:33	coming up with our group affordable
0:09:36	housing of course is a big topic the
0:09:38	homeward bound program this is where
0:09:40	people are connected to individuals in
0:09:42	other communities where they live and
0:09:43	they have a better odds of success
0:09:46	from coming out of the situation they're
0:09:47	in because they have connections so
0:09:49	that's a program we'll be looking at
0:09:51	the clean slate program a lot of work
0:09:53	has been done on that and this is a
0:09:54	program again that
0:09:56	individuals can work off their debt so
0:09:58	to speak and allow them to be better at
0:10:02	have better opportunities to either get
0:10:04	a driving driver's license get
0:10:06	employment
0:10:07	so that's a program that we're looking
0:10:09	at then there's the fuse program which
0:10:12	is a frequent user system engagement is
0:10:14	what that means it's a program that's
0:10:16	been successful in lane county that was
0:10:18	modeled after several other communities
0:10:20	and in essence it looks at individuals
0:10:23	who are frequent users of the most
0:10:25	expensive systems including law
0:10:26	enforcement the courts emergency rooms
0:10:29	and other types of social service
0:10:31	agencies
0:10:32	and it targets those individuals with
0:10:34	support and so and even housing to get
0:10:37	them back on their feet to eliminate the
0:10:40	the drawing community
0:10:43	so i will turn it over to chief
0:10:45	crutchfield
0:10:46	[Music]
Dan Crutchfield, Fire Chief
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=653 
0:10:53	good afternoon mayor and council it's my
0:10:55	honor to speak
0:10:57	briefly on the impacts of homeless on
0:10:59	the fire department and our operations
0:11:02	and i kind of narrowed it down to just a
0:11:03	couple of
0:11:04	of highlights for you and i'll go
0:11:06	through that briefly
0:11:08	i first wanted to start with our core
0:11:09	values in the fire department this is
0:11:11	important to us that we treat everybody
0:11:13	uh fairly that we come in contact with
0:11:15	it it doesn't matter to us who you are
0:11:17	or where you come from um integrity
0:11:19	pride compassion and professionalism are
0:11:21	the the things that we strive for and
0:11:24	under compassion and sympathy for the
0:11:26	suffering of others including the desire
0:11:27	to help and that's anybody we come in
0:11:29	contact with
0:11:32	the three things that uh i was really um
0:11:35	kind of able to hone in on for our
0:11:37	biggest impact is the increased
0:11:40	call volume for medical emergencies
0:11:43	camping and warming type fires that in a
0:11:46	lot of cases are left unattended
0:11:48	and then there is potential for people
0:11:51	to occupy dilapidated or abandoned
0:11:54	buildings
0:11:55	and i'll
0:11:56	break up the next few slides and just go
0:11:57	give you a little bit more detail on
0:11:59	those three things
0:12:00	so under the increased
0:12:02	volume for medical emergencies i wanted
0:12:04	to give you
0:12:06	a quick explanation for what causes some
0:12:08	of that in my opinion with my experience
0:12:11	in the fire service
0:12:12	um environmentally if they don't have a
0:12:14	home they don't have shelter so they
0:12:16	don't have the same protection
0:12:18	that we have and so if it's hot or it's
0:12:20	cold or any of those other
0:12:22	situations that can cause a problem for
0:12:24	people
0:12:26	in with rain and wind and all that type
0:12:30	of different weather situations are also
0:12:33	a problem that can create hypothermia
0:12:37	or any dehydration those types of
0:12:40	medical emergencies
0:12:42	also nutrition if they're not able to
0:12:44	get enough water to drink or have
0:12:47	the appropriate foods to eat to to be
0:12:49	healthy and to kind of feed their bodies
0:12:51	that can cause a problem and create a
0:12:52	medical emergency
0:12:54	and also
0:12:56	another issue that can happen is that
0:12:57	they don't have the means to get proper
0:12:59	medication
0:13:00	and be able to take that medication for
0:13:02	example if they were a diabetic and they
0:13:03	didn't have insulin and they didn't take
0:13:05	it it can cause their blood sugar to get
0:13:06	out of whack which would cause a medical
0:13:08	emergency or cause seizures things of
0:13:10	that nature
0:13:11	also
0:13:13	often some of these individuals may have
0:13:15	a mental illness and if they don't have
0:13:17	the
0:13:18	proper medications to help control that
0:13:20	too that can cause some issues for them
0:13:23	so many reasons for this to happen i
0:13:26	just wanted to give you a glimpse into a
0:13:27	few
0:13:28	i'm i'm working on capturing some better
0:13:31	data
0:13:32	but i would estimate right now probably
0:13:34	about five percent of our call volumes
0:13:36	about five percent of the calls we go on
0:13:38	do um
0:13:39	uh
0:13:41	involve a transient or homeless uh
0:13:43	person and i'm also estimating uh based
0:13:46	on some data that i have about five to
0:13:48	ten percent of the time we're on a call
0:13:50	we're starting to see additional calls
0:13:52	come in so we're leaving one call to go
0:13:54	to another call and that's the reason
0:13:56	why i kind of want to bring this this
0:13:58	point up is with the increased medical
0:14:00	calls we're getting more and more call
0:14:02	volume which is tying us up and then
0:14:04	we're having to leave to go to
0:14:05	additional calls
0:14:07	occasionally not all the time but
0:14:09	occasionally some of these individuals
0:14:12	can be or are impaired by an intoxicant
0:14:14	it could either be alcohol or some form
0:14:16	of a drug
0:14:18	and occasionally we also find
0:14:22	not always but sometimes
0:14:24	they can be verbally or
0:14:26	physically violent and so in a lot of
0:14:28	cases for us we will have the police
0:14:29	department
0:14:30	respond along with us to make sure the
0:14:32	scene is safe prior to our entering
0:14:35	not here but in my previous employment i
0:14:38	have found in many cases weapons on some
0:14:41	of the individuals that i've dealt with
0:14:43	and there's probably a reason for that
0:14:44	too if you're out on the street and you
0:14:46	may need to be able to protect yourself
0:14:47	i've seen knives and things of that
0:14:49	nature but for us that can pose a threat
0:14:51	to our firefighters so that's something
0:14:53	that we
0:14:54	usually ask the police department to
0:14:55	arrive first and make sure that it's
0:14:57	safe
0:14:58	and then there are other reasons why but
0:15:01	in many cases we are exposed to blood
0:15:03	vomit urine or feces
0:15:05	with some of these individuals
0:15:07	especially if we're dealing with people
0:15:09	at a campsite as one you'll run into
0:15:12	more of those types of issues
0:15:15	with the camp and warming fires that are
0:15:18	left unattended um again there's there's
0:15:20	kind of a reason for it i understand it
0:15:22	they start a fire to either stay warm or
0:15:24	they'll start a fire to cook or warm up
0:15:27	food
0:15:28	but what we find sometimes is
0:15:32	they're not identifiable and so all
0:15:33	people see driving by is is smoke and so
0:15:36	they report a fire so that generates a
0:15:37	911 call which can be taxing to the
0:15:40	9-1-1 center and then the fire
0:15:41	department generates a response and then
0:15:43	often we get there and it's it's a
0:15:45	pretty simple situation to deal with
0:15:48	but they can be in city right-of-ways or
0:15:50	public property or private property
0:15:53	which can can pose
0:15:56	other issues
0:15:58	and if they if they leave it unattended
0:16:00	which we find occasionally uh maybe in
0:16:02	the morning when they get up to go about
0:16:04	their day sometimes it's left unattended
0:16:06	and it can spread we found those to
0:16:07	spread and involve their camp and burn
0:16:09	up their personal property in tents and
0:16:12	and uh and things like that and that
0:16:14	could with a hot day or wind driven you
0:16:17	know cause a significant fire which
0:16:18	could spread to property
0:16:21	uh and the last uh point that i kind of
0:16:23	wanted to focus on was the occupying of
0:16:26	dilapidated or abandoned buildings uh
0:16:28	i've seen
0:16:30	where some have even rented uh storage
0:16:32	units and and moved into or lived in
0:16:34	storage units and again to make heat
0:16:37	sometimes they'll start a fire or if
0:16:39	they get into an abandoned building
0:16:40	they'll start a fire to to have warmth
0:16:42	or or cooking
0:16:44	type events and those those very easily
0:16:47	that's not how that's designed to happen
0:16:48	and it very easily can spread and cause
0:16:51	a significant issue
0:16:53	the big issue is most of those buildings
0:16:54	are not safe buildings to begin with for
0:16:57	somebody to occupy they don't have some
0:16:59	of the same modern conveniences that
0:17:00	most of us have with working smoke
0:17:02	alarms and things that would alert us to
0:17:03	a fire which makes it very unsafe for
0:17:06	them the the other thing is for a fire
0:17:08	department stance
0:17:09	um our very first priority is life
0:17:12	safety so as we respond to a house fire
0:17:14	we're looking for clues that maybe
0:17:15	somebody's there their cars in the
0:17:16	driveway you know toys in the front yard
0:17:19	things like that so if we respond and we
0:17:20	show up to a building that looks like
0:17:22	this our
0:17:23	normal assumption would be that it's
0:17:25	probably not occupied
0:17:27	which creates a hazardous situation for
0:17:29	an individual that may have
0:17:31	decided to occupy that building
0:17:33	uh and also if we do become aware that
0:17:36	somebody's in there then it puts us in a
0:17:37	situation where you know or we we have
0:17:39	to make a life or death decision if
0:17:40	we're going to go in there or not in a
0:17:42	building that is dilapidated and run
0:17:44	down already um is is very dangerous and
0:17:48	then under fire conditions they don't
0:17:49	hold up that long and there's potential
0:17:51	for collapse which would danger uh
0:17:53	really endanger my firefighters
0:17:56	um so that creates a very unsafe
0:17:58	situation for all of us that are that
0:18:01	would be involved
0:18:03	i just want you all to understand that
0:18:04	we know that not all homeless people we
0:18:07	encounter pose threats
0:18:08	or any risks to us
0:18:11	and that was just a very brief general
0:18:13	overview of a couple of
0:18:14	areas or issues that i was able to
0:18:17	to identify and i'd be happy to answer
0:18:20	any questions that you have
0:18:25	i guess the only
0:18:27	um kind of general question is that you
0:18:29	are new to our community and you've come
0:18:31	from cruise bay and
0:18:33	you've lived there all your most all
0:18:35	your life i think prior to this and
0:18:37	and i'm just kind of curious about uh
0:18:40	the homeless situation in coos bay
0:18:43	whether you
0:18:45	see some similarities
0:18:47	uh to what we're experiencing here
0:18:49	uh i i do see similarities uh and i you
0:18:52	know i spent 43 years there and i can
0:18:54	tell you 26 years in the fire department
0:18:56	when i started we had about um
0:19:00	26 years ago there were about five
0:19:01	homeless people in town and they were
0:19:03	local people
0:19:05	and most of them
0:19:06	had a substance abuse
0:19:09	issue
0:19:10	and um
0:19:12	they
0:19:13	were out on the streets but they were
0:19:14	very polite and courteous when we dealt
0:19:16	with them
0:19:17	and it changed uh to a more similar
0:19:20	situation to i think what we're seeing
0:19:21	here in astoria where there
0:19:23	there were i would go so far as to say
0:19:25	hundreds when i left
0:19:27	um living in city parks uh living
0:19:30	in the woods all over the place um
0:19:33	private property under bridges uh they
0:19:35	were in lots of places and and they were
0:19:37	not local uh to coos bay they had come
0:19:39	many of them had come from somewhere
0:19:41	else and they were not always pleasant
0:19:44	to us or or treated us very nice even
0:19:46	though we were there to help them so
0:19:48	that was my experience we had storage
0:19:50	units um on fire we had abandoned houses
0:19:52	on fire we had lots of brush fires that
0:19:55	were that were
0:19:57	camps that had been left and the fire
0:19:58	had spread so i personally experienced
0:20:01	these things in coos bay i haven't
0:20:03	experienced all of them here but i
0:20:05	suspect
0:20:06	there's the same potential here
0:20:08	thank you you're welcome
0:20:12	chief um what agencies in astoria have
0:20:15	the ability to administer is it narcan
0:20:17	is that the anti-overdose
0:20:19	uh naloxone or narcan is another name
0:20:21	for it uh the fire department the
0:20:23	ambulance carries it and i would assume
0:20:25	almost all police agencies are probably
0:20:28	trained in carrying that now
0:20:30	i know i saw some statistics in the
0:20:32	paper recently i think from warrington
0:20:34	with a pretty significant number of 39
0:20:37	in
0:20:38	times they'd administered that
0:20:40	i'm not sure if it's this calendar year
0:20:42	have we had any instances in astoria yet
0:20:45	of having to administer that
0:20:47	i'm not aware of us in the fire
0:20:48	department administering it since my
0:20:50	arrival but it's it's been carried
0:20:53	by fire departments in the ambulances
0:20:55	for years and over the last couple of
0:20:56	years i think the police departments
0:20:57	have been
0:20:59	starting to carry it too i know the
0:21:00	state police
0:21:01	is carrying it too and for different
0:21:03	reasons also the police officers are
0:21:05	um
0:21:06	inherently at risk of
0:21:09	being in certain places and being
0:21:10	exposed to certain drugs and other
0:21:12	things and so it's it's not only to
0:21:15	maybe provide to um
0:21:17	a person or citizen that may need it but
0:21:19	but also for their safety they they may
0:21:21	come in skin contact with a drug that
0:21:23	that could harm them so it's good for
0:21:25	them to have for for all those reasons
0:21:28	thank you
0:21:31	okay
Jeff Harrington, Public Works Director
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=1293 
0:21:33	okay um
0:21:34	jeff harrington public works director um
0:21:36	i'm going to just cover some of the
0:21:38	issues that public works deals with on
0:21:40	cleanup we primarily do um cleanup of
0:21:42	camps and um
0:21:45	security and unsecured areas around town
0:21:49	first of all just like to say that we're
0:21:51	very concerned about both the safety of
0:21:53	the campers and and the workers in
0:21:55	general
0:21:56	based on the conditions we've seen
0:21:58	there's there's some areas that um
0:22:00	present some challenges
0:22:02	uh safety-wise to do the work that we
0:22:03	need to do to clean them up
0:22:05	so um
0:22:06	some of these are very steep areas um
0:22:09	tend to be doing cleanups in in time of
0:22:12	the year when we don't have a lot of dry
0:22:13	weather so their
0:22:15	clay clay is wet and slippery and we
0:22:18	have can potentially have trips and
0:22:19	falls so we have to be very careful um
0:22:22	sometimes you're carrying objects that
0:22:23	are kind of awkward to carry
0:22:25	i know there's a needle danger we have
0:22:27	not had any any incidents yet
0:22:30	but we're very careful about needle
0:22:31	danger and same thing with unknown
0:22:33	biohazards chemical dangers
0:22:36	and
0:22:36	safety equipment we've
0:22:39	been
0:22:40	needing to buy you know of course more
0:22:41	and more and sometimes you have to
0:22:43	dispose of it which just adds to the
0:22:45	cost when you can't reuse it
0:22:48	briefly talk about fire hazard it's
0:22:50	already been talked about but two
0:22:52	particular concerns for public works is
0:22:54	uh one of our bridges at irving 39th
0:22:57	street is a timber structure
0:22:59	and we have found campfires underneath
0:23:01	that bridge and been very concerned
0:23:03	about that aft you know extinguished of
0:23:05	course we weren't there during the fire
0:23:07	and then of course our forested areas
0:23:09	are very dry in the summertime
0:23:12	very susceptible to
0:23:14	wildfire danger if uh camp fires are
0:23:16	unattended
0:23:18	um
0:23:19	in town
0:23:26	but it's not working okay in town um
0:23:29	most of what we have to deal with is the
0:23:30	the chair wall and vaulted sidewalk
0:23:32	security
0:23:33	and we've been spending
0:23:35	it varies on different years but it's in
0:23:36	the thousands of dollars to
0:23:38	provide either new fencing or repair of
0:23:40	vandalized fencing it gets cut up
0:23:43	occasionally
0:23:45	some of it is
0:23:46	private uh areas that uh are the
0:23:50	property owner's responsibility but we
0:23:51	don't generally get the call and then
0:23:53	have to assist with that
0:23:54	um uh the intruders are cutting uh um
0:23:57	hardened steel locks to get into some of
0:23:59	these areas and the big concern when
0:24:01	they get in is that these are um for the
0:24:03	most part confined spaces and have
0:24:06	unknown uh dangers to the to the person
0:24:08	going inside and that could be a sewer
0:24:10	gas or um
0:24:12	lack of oxygen for example so when we go
0:24:14	in to do any work in these utility
0:24:16	vaults we we have equipment that we can
0:24:18	test and monitor the conditions
0:24:21	and then of course we have a team so
0:24:23	there's someone on the outside that's
0:24:25	tracking
0:24:26	the staff that's on the inside
0:24:28	in case something happens and if you're
0:24:30	not prepared for that it can be a very
0:24:33	dangerous situation
0:24:34	especially if um if an emergency
0:24:36	happened
0:24:37	so um some of these areas where we're
0:24:40	seeing more and more repairs needed over
0:24:41	the years um one last concern in the
0:24:45	vaulted sidewalks is a water leak that
0:24:47	could potentially flood an area so
0:24:49	somebody could break into an area being
0:24:51	a confined space and maybe be sleeping
0:24:54	and have a water line break and be
0:24:56	immersed
0:24:59	and then as far as staffing issues it's
0:25:01	you know camp cleanups um
0:25:03	i've placed some volumes here for you
0:25:05	but even if you go back to 2016
0:25:08	these are these are smaller um periodic
0:25:11	cleanups where
0:25:12	now just like with the the last
0:25:15	large cleanup last fall
0:25:16	um it actually became a pretty big
0:25:18	project when you have to coordinate all
0:25:19	the dumpsters and coordinate the people
0:25:21	and
0:25:22	we worked closely with the the police
0:25:25	department of course is taking the lead
0:25:27	on that but we're we're helping with the
0:25:28	cleanup
0:25:29	um so there's some numbers uh this year
0:25:32	so far it's it's actually not looking
0:25:33	too bad there's only been six
0:25:36	as of april 5th
0:25:39	any questions
0:25:44	i'm curious jeff
0:25:47	we heard yesterday at a
0:25:49	meeting with some of the merchants down
0:25:50	on the waterfront regarding the
0:25:52	waterfront bridges project that some of
0:25:54	the
0:25:55	some individuals have been breaking into
0:25:58	the fencing where the construction is
0:26:00	occurring have you
0:26:02	heard about that happening regularly
0:26:04	i've heard about it happening
0:26:07	that's why when they when they talked
0:26:08	about
0:26:09	putting that black fabric up we weren't
0:26:11	excited about it because then you can't
0:26:12	see what's going on in there
0:26:15	but that you know the contractor when
0:26:16	the contractor takes over the project
0:26:18	he's in charge of that control so
0:26:21	we will have a talk with him about
0:26:22	securing things best they can but
0:26:24	there's you know like like with our
0:26:26	um
0:26:27	like i said we had hardened steel locks
0:26:29	that get cut open and someone wants to
0:26:31	get in somewhere they're going to i'm
0:26:32	not sure what the attracting attractant
0:26:34	is unless unless they're looking for
0:26:36	tools or equipment and things like that
0:26:39	but we will talk to the contractor about
0:26:41	okay securing areas and not leaving
0:26:43	anything valuable
0:26:45	i would attract someone in because yeah
0:26:47	of course we're most concerned about the
0:26:48	safety especially
0:26:49	when there's
0:26:51	not a structure there anymore and they
0:26:52	can fall into the water yeah
0:26:55	thank you
0:26:59	thank you
Tim Williams, Parks & Recreation
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=1624 
0:27:04	good afternoon mayor and members of the
0:27:06	council and and city manager estes
0:27:09	um i'm tim williamson with the parks and
0:27:11	recreation department
0:27:13	i just want to kind of uh compare
0:27:16	uh our situation
0:27:18	uh we
0:27:19	in this whole country have this
0:27:20	situation that occurs in every
0:27:22	municipality in areas without within
0:27:25	this the whole united states
0:27:28	and i'm really appreciative that we have
0:27:30	this opportunity to
0:27:31	uh
0:27:32	present to you uh what we encounter here
0:27:35	with the parks and recreation department
0:27:37	we have not always been very good on
0:27:39	tracking what we deal with the homeless
0:27:42	in the parks and recreation department
0:27:44	but this is a good awakening for our
0:27:46	department to continue to
0:27:49	document and track that and find ways
0:27:52	that where we can we can help in
0:27:56	help with the homeless
0:27:59	most of our encounters are on the on the
0:28:01	riverwalk and in some of the parks
0:28:05	on outside facilities it's very similar
0:28:08	to what public works deals with with the
0:28:10	risk and
0:28:11	the liability that comes along with
0:28:13	cleaning up encampments
0:28:15	most of the encampments are down on the
0:28:17	the near pier 39 in that area that we've
0:28:20	broken down a few over the over the over
0:28:22	this past few few months that
0:28:27	caused a lot of
0:28:28	time and consumption takes people away
0:28:30	from their jobs to
0:28:33	do their parks work because it's done by
0:28:35	our parks maintenance crews that do that
0:28:37	that clean up
0:28:39	we work closely with the pd when we
0:28:41	encounter these things so we can have
0:28:43	those documented through the police
0:28:45	department
0:28:48	the the biggest issue that we've had is
0:28:50	just the trash that's left behind in the
0:28:52	parks
0:28:53	we have a lot of people that are
0:28:55	homeless in cars and campers in and
0:28:57	around our parks
0:28:59	mainly in our aquatic center i don't
0:29:02	know if you've been down to the aquatic
0:29:03	center but along exchange and and in the
0:29:06	parking lot sometimes you'll see campers
0:29:09	that are there that are overnight
0:29:13	most of the time they're very harmless
0:29:16	very cordial
0:29:17	in the aquatic center we we welcome the
0:29:20	the homeless into the aquatic center
0:29:23	because they're citizens of our our city
0:29:25	also
0:29:26	and we have a policy when they come into
0:29:29	our facility that we treat them like
0:29:30	anybody uh anybody else they come in and
0:29:33	lift weights they'll they'll come in and
0:29:35	swim
0:29:37	they'll also use our restrooms and
0:29:39	showers
0:29:40	and the way that they pay for that is
0:29:42	through our foundation scholarship
0:29:44	program
0:29:45	uh we've had uh situations where
0:29:48	uh
0:29:50	they've beco uh homeless people have
0:29:52	been belligerent and violent
0:29:54	uh in in that facility but i would say
0:29:57	more more than 90 percent of those cases
0:30:00	are very calm and very welcoming into
0:30:02	the facility
0:30:03	uh we've had some complaints from from
0:30:06	customers on
0:30:08	being in the same facility using the
0:30:10	same restrooms the showers
0:30:13	sometimes we have loitering in within
0:30:15	the aquatic center that we have to
0:30:18	kindly ask them to move on
0:30:21	but uh
0:30:22	we've had problems where people have
0:30:24	locked themselves into a restroom
0:30:28	in the locker rooms that
0:30:30	they've either passed out or they've
0:30:32	they're they're
0:30:34	on on
0:30:35	drugs where we have to
0:30:37	have police intervention
0:30:39	um
0:30:41	it's it's uh it can be an issue it's
0:30:44	remote
0:30:45	most of the people that come in there
0:30:46	are very
0:30:48	cordial they they use the facility and
0:30:50	then they go out they don't they don't
0:30:52	hang around or loiter
0:30:54	i attribute the the aquatic center being
0:30:56	an attraction because of those shower
0:30:58	facilities those restroom facilities and
0:31:00	it's near the downtown area
0:31:02	uh some of our other facilities like the
0:31:05	rec center is so
0:31:06	uh it's more remote where we don't have
0:31:09	those problems at the rec center uh
0:31:11	we've had a few encampments down at the
0:31:13	rec center but they've been
0:31:15	handled with more with
0:31:18	with much ease
0:31:20	[Music]
0:31:22	moving forward we we continue to hold
0:31:25	our policies
0:31:27	to
0:31:28	allow the homeless to come into the
0:31:30	facility
0:31:31	and use and use our amenities there as
0:31:34	long as they do that
0:31:36	uh again they get their uh their
0:31:39	their they pay for their fees through
0:31:41	the foundation which provides a
0:31:43	scholarship for them
0:31:45	so i stand for any questions you may
0:31:47	have
0:31:50	i had a question um you mentioned a lot
0:31:53	of the encampments near
0:31:55	over towards pier 39
0:31:57	and along the riverwalk some of the
0:31:59	feedback that i've heard
0:32:01	from that ward constituents in that ward
0:32:04	is
0:32:05	just the lack of they feel that's
0:32:07	attributed in part to the lack of
0:32:10	lighting in that area
0:32:13	do you think that that is
0:32:15	are you what's your perspective on that
0:32:17	like if that area was well lit would
0:32:19	that help as a deterrent
0:32:22	yes there there are studies out there
0:32:24	along uh
0:32:25	trails across the country that that does
0:32:28	deter
0:32:29	homelessness encampments so lighting is
0:32:32	a key component to that
0:32:35	thank you
0:32:36	also a lot of the areas on the north
0:32:38	side of the
0:32:40	riverwalk on the water edge are pretty
0:32:42	overgrown i know some of those are
0:32:44	private property i think the safeway
0:32:45	property they let their waterfront get
0:32:47	pretty overgrown and the george brew
0:32:49	property is pretty
0:32:50	horrendous
0:32:52	or but i and i'm not clear on which
0:32:54	sections are city-owned park or
0:32:56	city-owned land
0:32:58	that goes right to the water's edge and
0:33:00	and i know our contract for maintenance
0:33:02	they're just as basically lawn cutting
0:33:05	we don't do any clearing out of it
0:33:07	sometimes between the trees you get all
0:33:08	that scrub that starts to overgrow them
0:33:10	before you know it it's a thicket which
0:33:11	is a kind of a haven for camping i'm
0:33:14	going to say um if you're looking at the
0:33:16	area from the maritime museum headed
0:33:19	east the majority of the waterfront is
0:33:20	privately owned we own a 50-foot swath
0:33:24	25 feet on
0:33:25	[Music]
0:33:26	on either side of the rail line
0:33:30	is city owned
0:33:32	for the riverwalk
0:33:34	but
0:33:35	many times there's private ownership of
0:33:37	the bank line
0:33:39	right north of that uh rail former rail
0:33:42	right away the um the port over by the
0:33:44	east end mooring base and they did about
0:33:46	a year a year and a half ago clear out
0:33:47	their area pretty well just they left
0:33:49	all the trees standing but everything
0:33:50	between the trees they which had been
0:33:52	like 18 foot tall under brush they
0:33:55	cleared that out have we ever asked any
0:33:57	of the other private property owners to
0:33:59	clear out we have we actually
0:34:03	conducted a
0:34:04	cleanup of the area that was owned by
0:34:05	the maritime museum
0:34:08	east of the the maintenance shop
0:34:11	where
0:34:14	actually there are city volunteers i was
0:34:15	out with a chainsaw with mayor lemire
0:34:18	pulling uh pulling brush out probably
0:34:21	about four years ago
0:34:23	we have reached out to other property
0:34:25	owners like mr brew who has
0:34:28	let us know that he was not interested
0:34:29	in cleaning up nor have anyone come
0:34:32	clean up his property thank you
0:34:35	mr mayor we've we've also done some
0:34:38	removal of scotch broom out in those
0:34:40	areas
0:34:41	that that are on our property so we we
0:34:44	try to keep that down as best we can
0:34:46	yeah thank you
0:34:56	[Music]
Jimmy Pearson, Library Director
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=2100 
0:35:00	good afternoon mr mayor councillors
0:35:02	mr city manager my fellow department
0:35:04	heads
0:35:05	i'm jimmy pearson your library director
0:35:08	and i'd like to talk about a couple of
0:35:10	things the first thing is exterior
0:35:12	versus interior behavior
0:35:14	i
0:35:15	have the building that is about a block
0:35:17	and a half from the warming center and i
0:35:19	also have three covered all coves
0:35:21	so we have seen as the picture set
0:35:25	reveals
0:35:27	people come out of the warming center of
0:35:29	witnesses myself and they come over to
0:35:30	the library and they
0:35:32	are essentially at the 10th street
0:35:34	entrance it's a little bit larger and
0:35:36	for the most part we have seen this type
0:35:39	of behavior
0:35:40	going on through the
0:35:42	time the warming center's been open
0:35:45	we've also experienced
0:35:47	some of the bodily fluids we've had
0:35:49	defecation at the back staff entrance
0:35:51	which i am not equipped
0:35:53	to deal with in a proper way
0:35:56	given my experience in my past in the
0:35:58	medical field
0:36:00	there's a perception surrounding the
0:36:01	library and i quoted an
0:36:04	article written by our esteemed reporter
0:36:06	katie frankowicz and it's no moffett
0:36:07	made a comment when they were discussing
0:36:09	drop-in warming or drop-in centers day
0:36:11	centers
0:36:12	that the library is one of the
0:36:15	drop-in centers for the community along
0:36:17	with the hospital
0:36:19	and i've also heard more than one
0:36:21	occasion and actually heard it last
0:36:23	night again from one of my department
0:36:25	heads that are one of our department
0:36:27	heads sorry that they don't people don't
0:36:29	want to bring their children to the
0:36:30	library because there's a perception of
0:36:32	the people that are present it's
0:36:33	frustrating for me because as i
0:36:36	look at things if i was a business owner
0:36:38	uh of course that would
0:36:41	drive down my revenue
0:36:42	we treat just as the parks department or
0:36:45	any other department they are people
0:36:46	coming in and using the library they're
0:36:48	library users
0:36:49	so they
0:36:51	we have a you recently
0:36:54	i'll go on to the next slide
0:36:57	one of the things that we've done and
0:36:59	you've done recently has updated our
0:37:00	we've updated our standards of user
0:37:02	conduct
0:37:03	and that was not specifically chosen to
0:37:05	address this type of behavior
0:37:07	would it however did have input from my
0:37:10	staff including megan
0:37:12	lynch who is my head of circulation who
0:37:14	is the front line for the library
0:37:16	and in talking to her and observing the
0:37:18	behavior that we've seen from all users
0:37:21	that gives us a little bit stronger a
0:37:23	little bit better tools in our toolbox
0:37:25	to deal with any behavior
0:37:27	i realize after sending this to chief
0:37:29	spalding that staff training is not the
0:37:30	right term it should be staff guidance
0:37:32	i'm coming from a system in denver
0:37:33	colorado where we are able to use and
0:37:36	have funds and hire social workers they
0:37:39	actually have two and a half now on
0:37:40	staff it makes a difference when you're
0:37:42	out in the field and you have an issue
0:37:44	you can call them for guidance and so i
0:37:46	have had formal training
0:37:48	on this issue and i've passed what i
0:37:50	have learned onto my staff we treat
0:37:52	everyone the same
0:37:53	i
0:37:54	um
0:37:56	have one of my staff members as a
0:37:58	coordinator for the warming center so
0:37:59	that is served as a bridge i myself have
0:38:02	volunteered at the warming center to see
0:38:03	them let people see me in a different
0:38:05	light
0:38:07	and
0:38:08	we also have a positive relationship
0:38:10	with the astoria police department with
0:38:13	my background i understand the
0:38:14	conservation of resources so my staff we
0:38:16	don't reach for our phone when we have
0:38:18	an issue we deal with it on our lowest
0:38:20	level possibly before we escalate it
0:38:23	and and thankfully that has not happened
0:38:26	or occurred
0:38:28	that much with this kind of behavior we
0:38:30	have had one incident where the police
0:38:31	were called and it was not us that
0:38:33	called in it was another it was a
0:38:35	library user
0:38:36	and however we would have intervened and
0:38:38	called them
0:38:40	if it escalated to beyond our control
0:38:43	it
0:38:44	the library is a welcoming place for all
0:38:47	we're doing what we can to address this
0:38:50	issue
0:38:50	i know that the city manager is going to
0:38:52	talk about an initiative that he may
0:38:54	have with you
0:38:56	because when they're at the 10th street
0:38:57	entrance i've spoken with the police
0:38:59	about this there's nothing i can do we
0:39:00	have witnessed people smoking marijuana
0:39:03	i don't jump to the conclusion that
0:39:04	they're homeless right away
0:39:06	they're right out front in the doors you
0:39:08	smell it you go out you assume it is we
0:39:11	all know what it smells like tell them
0:39:13	they can't do that there there's loud
0:39:14	music playing i have heard feedback from
0:39:17	staff in the mornings i think that
0:39:18	they've varied their routes into city
0:39:20	hall from the city parking lot because
0:39:22	they've been catcalled
0:39:24	they've
0:39:25	been asked for money
0:39:26	as people are walking by
0:39:28	so it is an issue and i know that we're
0:39:30	all working together and discussing it
0:39:32	to
0:39:33	better address it with in the city and
0:39:36	within the community
0:39:37	subject to your questions that is my
0:39:39	presentation
0:39:41	[Music]
Geoff Spalding, Chief of Police — HOST recommendations soon, policing
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=2383 
0:39:43	thanks jimmy
0:39:49	all right uh mayor members council
0:39:51	back to me
0:39:52	um one thing i forgot to mention earlier
0:39:54	we were talking about the host committee
0:39:56	and again uh mayor you mentioned that
0:39:58	you know we're gonna have a brief recap
0:40:00	on the host committee but one of the
0:40:01	things that's been the goal from day one
0:40:03	is that
0:40:04	we would have a slate of
0:40:06	presentations to bring back to council
0:40:08	at some point and that still is is on
0:40:10	the horizon so we're you know coming to
0:40:11	fruition on several of the programs and
0:40:13	so there will be a presentation in the
0:40:14	near future so i look forward to
0:40:17	bringing some ideas back to council as
0:40:18	far as that goes um the other piece i
0:40:20	just want to mention too about the
0:40:22	homeless task force is one of the
0:40:24	biggest values especially for me but i
0:40:26	know for many others too is just the
0:40:27	relationships developed and connecting
0:40:29	all the resources that we have in our
0:40:31	community i've learned a lot over the
0:40:33	past year and a half and i know many
0:40:34	others have as well so
0:40:36	if we accomplish nothing else the
0:40:38	relationships that have come out of that
0:40:40	task force uh to me have already you
0:40:42	know paid dividends so
0:40:44	just forgot to mention that earlier so
0:40:47	um as we look at the statistical side of
0:40:50	things uh in 2018
0:40:54	uh based on
0:40:56	individual anecdotal comments from
0:40:57	people in the community and in my own
0:40:59	organization
0:41:00	i had heard that you know many people
0:41:02	felt over the past two to three years or
0:41:05	so that there's been you know
0:41:06	significant increase in the
0:41:09	what they perceived as the homeless
0:41:10	population so in 2018 in january of 2018
0:41:13	we actually started tracking calls
0:41:15	related to homeless activity
0:41:18	and in part we did this because we
0:41:20	wanted to know you know if if the data
0:41:23	would support what many people are
0:41:25	telling us and what some of the officers
0:41:26	felt uh and again this is all not to
0:41:29	target any one particular individual
0:41:31	because as i mentioned earlier we don't
0:41:33	uh we can't say that necessarily because
0:41:35	a person is dressed a particular way
0:41:36	that that means they're homeless so
0:41:38	that's not what we're saying but at the
0:41:39	same time that we know that some people
0:41:42	are and you know to better direct them
0:41:44	into services and find out the extent of
0:41:46	the problem and exactly what we're doing
0:41:48	here today to to update council on what
0:41:50	we see is is
0:41:51	the increase in the problem so in 2018
0:41:54	we started tracking the homeless related
0:41:56	calls for service in 2019 we also
0:41:59	started tracking the aggressive homeless
0:42:01	calls for service i'm often asked you
0:42:04	know what is the criteria for that well
0:42:06	it's not real scientific because it is
0:42:08	officer discretion everyone then
0:42:09	perceives it somewhat differently and
0:42:11	what may be aggressive to an officer is
0:42:14	probably a much higher threshold than
0:42:15	most community members but my direction
0:42:17	to them is essentially if you you know
0:42:19	have an encounter with an individual
0:42:21	that
0:42:22	is identified as being homeless that
0:42:25	goes beyond the normal compliance that
0:42:28	we typically see we want to record those
0:42:30	and and again uh the vast majority of
0:42:33	homeless encounters we have uh the
0:42:35	individuals are compliant they move on
0:42:36	when the officer contacts them but we
0:42:39	started seeing an uptick in that and
0:42:40	just a general feeling and so we want
0:42:42	again see if the statistics would
0:42:44	support what the officers are feeling
0:42:45	and what some people in the community
0:42:47	are telling us
0:42:48	so i don't have any data to compare this
0:42:51	to because we only started just recently
0:42:53	tracking as of january 1st but i will
0:42:55	tell you we've had so far we've had 27
0:42:57	calls that were logged as being
0:42:59	aggressive uh some of those were a
0:43:00	couple of more assaults some of them are
0:43:02	non-compliant behavior some of them were
0:43:04	fighting behavior um disorderly conduct
0:43:07	type things
0:43:08	so again that's
0:43:11	i'm not drawing any conclusions out of
0:43:12	that other to say that's what we know
0:43:14	with only four months of data
0:43:16	so looking at all calls for service in
0:43:18	2018 we logged 349 calls for service
0:43:23	related to homeless activity for the
0:43:24	entire year for this year
0:43:27	year to date we logged 334
0:43:30	calls to service and that was as of
0:43:32	yesterday so we're not even in four
0:43:34	months and we've had about the same
0:43:36	amount of calls as we've had all of last
0:43:37	year
0:43:38	so the graph here if you look at the
0:43:40	graph obviously the the light green
0:43:42	color at the bottom is 2018 the orangish
0:43:45	color is 2019 and for whatever reason
0:43:49	we're already seeing a significant spike
0:43:50	in april as i think the weather is
0:43:52	improving maybe that's part of it
0:43:54	the remaining months of the year are
0:43:56	projections
0:43:58	this is based on what we're seeing is a
0:44:00	call volume of about 2.92
0:44:03	almost three calls per day and so we
0:44:05	projected those out for the remainder of
0:44:07	the year and i suspect that's going to
0:44:09	be somewhat conservative
0:44:11	however that remains to be seen so
0:44:15	again
0:44:16	if you look back at last year our
0:44:17	highest months were september and
0:44:19	october again i think those are probably
0:44:21	some of our better weather months
0:44:23	so as we're looking at the data um
0:44:26	all we can draw from what we're seeing
0:44:28	here is that we've had about a 306
0:44:31	increase so far in the calls for service
0:44:33	this year over last year
0:44:37	so
0:44:38	that does not include the fire calls for
0:44:40	service or
0:44:42	all the calls that aren't recorded
0:44:44	in my conversations with people and even
0:44:46	with some of the officers we're finding
0:44:48	that a lot of people are simply not
0:44:49	calling us anymore on some of the calls
0:44:51	or things that concern them and i don't
0:44:55	know exactly why some of the things we
0:44:56	hear is that there's some concern
0:44:59	that we don't have the tools to do what
0:45:01	we need to do there's also some concerns
0:45:03	that we won't do anything
0:45:05	so we
0:45:07	unfortunately i almost feel like we've
0:45:09	come to the new norm and you know that's
0:45:11	not a place we want to be
0:45:13	again this is anecdotal nothing to back
0:45:15	that up scientifically but that's part
0:45:17	feeling and part conversations with
0:45:18	people in the community so this is our
0:45:21	calls for service so before i move to
0:45:23	the next slide i will
0:45:25	ask if there's any questions on this
0:45:27	particular slide or these calls or i'll
0:45:28	just keep pressing on i had a quick
0:45:31	question and this certainly may or may
0:45:33	not be related to
0:45:35	the homeless
0:45:37	statistics but has your department in
0:45:39	general seen an increase in the number
0:45:42	of calls for
0:45:44	like personal property theft or
0:45:47	people breaking into cars or things like
0:45:49	that overall good question and i can
0:45:51	answer that with the next slide oh great
0:45:54	good timing
0:45:55	before you move on i have one question
0:45:57	not counting for the aggressive calls
0:45:59	for service what are some of the other
0:46:01	reasons that you get calls for service
0:46:04	regarding homelessness i would say the
0:46:06	vast majority of them are alcohol
0:46:08	related
0:46:09	i haven't done a real deep dive i
0:46:10	haven't gone through all of the calls
0:46:12	from last year and the you know the um
0:46:15	600 calls we've had to date but in
0:46:17	looking at the the spreadsheet you know
0:46:19	i can see because they're broken down by
0:46:21	type um some of them simply say others
0:46:23	so that's why i got to dig in a little
0:46:24	bit deeper but a lot of them i've seen a
0:46:26	lot of trespassing type violations i'm
0:46:27	seeing a lot of alcohol related
0:46:29	violations um there are some assaults in
0:46:31	there
0:46:33	and uh trying to think what some of the
0:46:35	other categories i don't have in front
0:46:36	of me but so that is something i'm going
0:46:39	to produce at some point so we can find
0:46:40	out you know get a little bit more
0:46:42	deeper dive on that okay so alcohol
0:46:43	would be for example people drinking in
0:46:45	public correct well and intoxication of
0:46:48	course and substance abuse and those
0:46:49	types of issues and and we also know and
0:46:52	actually talking to some of the
0:46:54	individuals that we've encountered that
0:46:56	there's also a lot of crime um homeless
0:46:58	amongst homeless that is not being
0:47:00	reported as well so
0:47:02	that's obviously a concern of ours and
0:47:03	we we encourage everybody to report
0:47:06	crime regardless of your status
0:47:08	and uh and i recall at the uh at the
0:47:11	host meeting last week you had your
0:47:13	officer um and i apologize for
0:47:15	forgetting yeah nicole yeah right nicole
0:47:18	so uh she gave a nice presentation and
0:47:20	she gave numerous examples of occasions
0:47:22	where she's been out on one call and on
0:47:24	the way either to or from that call has
0:47:26	seen
0:47:28	individuals
0:47:29	publicly drinking or public intoxication
0:47:31	and but she said other things to do she
0:47:33	said other police business that
0:47:35	more pressing that she prioritized on
0:47:37	the spot to take care of and
0:47:39	and the indication i got from her is
0:47:42	that there are numerous other instances
0:47:43	that would be logged as calls for
0:47:45	service but aren't aren't logged at all
0:47:46	just simply for lack of time to respond
0:47:49	that is correct and then one of the
0:47:51	things she mentioned too was just as one
0:47:52	example she was sitting there talking to
0:47:54	some individuals and she's talking to
0:47:55	them i don't even know if they knew she
0:47:57	was there but they were intoxicated one
0:47:58	of them came up and punched the other
0:47:59	one in the face right in front of her
0:48:00	and so um and we have lots of this
0:48:02	muslim it's all captured on the
0:48:04	officer's body cam as well so we have
0:48:05	lots of fluffed examples of you know
0:48:07	some
0:48:08	again aggressive behavior
0:48:10	thanks
0:48:12	so uh
0:48:14	kelsey west thank you so this uh you
0:48:16	know i want to caution everybody that
0:48:19	they're we're not drawing any
0:48:20	conclusions from this because we simply
0:48:22	don't know
0:48:23	uh why the you know
0:48:25	what the calls are it's mostly
0:48:27	conjecture on our part but we're not
0:48:29	seeing a significant uptick
0:48:31	now again when most people say that
0:48:33	they've
0:48:34	the problem has increased you know
0:48:36	substantially over the past few years
0:48:38	i've only
0:48:39	captured data so far back to 2016. i do
0:48:41	plan to go back further at some point
0:48:43	but right now we don't have any
0:48:45	significant trends
0:48:47	as far as increases actually 2017 was a
0:48:50	lighter year and then 2018 it was a
0:48:52	little bit bigger again and then so far
0:48:54	trending for 2019 is actually slightly
0:48:56	lower than 2018 if it continues at this
0:48:58	rate
0:48:59	so the green area is property crimes in
0:49:01	general uh and then the orange area is
0:49:04	the unawful entry to motor vehicles so
0:49:06	this includes your break-ins and open
0:49:08	vehicles and breaking windows and
0:49:10	stealing things out of cars etc
0:49:13	so we're seeing you know it's about and
0:49:16	in 2016 it was 43 calls for the vehicles
0:49:19	72 calls in 2017 65 and then 15 so far
0:49:24	this year um but overall we're averaging
0:49:27	probably in the high 500s for all
0:49:30	property type crimes and again these are
0:49:32	just the ones that we know of that were
0:49:33	reported to us so where there's
0:49:36	no conclusions to be drawn from this
0:49:38	data that it's connected anything we do
0:49:40	know that
0:49:41	um
0:49:42	it's it's typical in most jurisdictions
0:49:45	that a lot of the property crimes are
0:49:46	related to individuals who are
0:49:49	uh
0:49:50	using substances unlawfully to support
0:49:53	the habit and
0:49:54	some of the homeless individuals many of
0:49:56	them are also substance abusers
0:49:59	but again not
0:50:00	suggesting that that's as a result of
0:50:02	the homeless population
0:50:03	[Music]
0:50:06	thank you
0:50:10	so looking at overall the calls for
0:50:13	service
0:50:14	and just doing a little bit of a
0:50:15	comparison here
0:50:17	the astoria police department has seen a
0:50:19	13 increase in calls for service between
0:50:21	2017 and 2018.
0:50:24	for us for a small department that's
0:50:26	significant that's going from low
0:50:28	fourteen thousands to a little over
0:50:29	sixteen thousand and again that's a huge
0:50:31	jump for us uh to compare that
0:50:34	um the the sheriff's office has actually
0:50:37	seen an eight percent decrease
0:50:39	and then warrenton has seen a 24
0:50:41	increase now talking to the chief there
0:50:43	that's in part due to walmart and
0:50:45	there's some
0:50:46	some significant growth in their
0:50:47	community and um a couple other factors
0:50:51	including some couple new officers that
0:50:53	they've now got their staffing improved
0:50:56	um but oftentimes the well if not often
0:50:58	these calls for service include all
0:51:00	calls so this is either officer
0:51:01	self-generated or it's also calls that
0:51:03	you know are citizen based
0:51:06	so
0:51:07	when our staffing improves it's not
0:51:08	unusual to see the numbers go up a
0:51:10	little bit and conversely like with the
0:51:12	sheriff's office their staffing has
0:51:14	actually
0:51:15	dipped a little bit over last year so
0:51:17	they're seeing some of their calls go
0:51:18	down so that's only a partial
0:51:19	explanation but that does seem to make
0:51:21	some sense in terms when we look at the
0:51:23	numbers
0:51:24	when you look at our increase in the
0:51:27	calls related to homelessness that is a
0:51:29	factor of our increased calls for
0:51:31	service so i will say that
0:51:36	so as uh moving forward on some of the
0:51:38	challenges that we're we're seeing um
0:51:41	part of it is just uh part of just the
0:51:43	system uh court appearances you're
0:51:45	talking to judge kaino in our municipal
0:51:47	court he tells us
0:51:48	roughly only five to ten percent of
0:51:50	injured individuals that he would
0:51:52	consider uh that are homeless because
0:51:54	they don't have addresses are showing up
0:51:56	in court so obviously over 90 percent
0:51:58	don't show up so this obviously
0:52:00	generates a failure to appear which has
0:52:03	a higher fine assessment and
0:52:07	otherwise if they had
0:52:09	shown up the judge has some limited
0:52:11	ability in terms of assessing fines for
0:52:12	indigent people so it's entirely
0:52:14	possible that they may not have even
0:52:16	received a fine so part of that i think
0:52:18	is an education piece
0:52:19	uh jail capacity as lieutenant phillips
0:52:23	would tell you that the the jail right
0:52:25	now is
0:52:26	only able to house so many people and
0:52:29	because of the measure 11 they keep the
0:52:31	most serious offenders in that facility
0:52:33	and most of them are measure 11 and a
0:52:34	matrix out are they based on a chart
0:52:36	based on the seriousness of the fence
0:52:38	most individuals that we take to the
0:52:40	jail do not stay there any late the time
0:52:42	in many cases an officer will take an
0:52:44	individual to the jail and they will
0:52:45	simply cite them and release them after
0:52:47	being booked so
0:52:48	again it's it's not a fault of the
0:52:50	county it's just simply a capacity issue
0:52:53	some of the other things constitute when
0:52:55	i talk about challenges there's
0:52:56	constitutional challenges higher court
0:52:58	rulings such as we've been to relatively
0:53:01	recent decisions out of the ninth
0:53:02	circuit court that's impacted our
0:53:04	ability to enforce camping we still do
0:53:06	have some ability to enforce it but
0:53:08	we're kind of taking a wait and see
0:53:10	approach as far as enforcing individuals
0:53:12	it does not mean that we can't deal with
0:53:14	the urban forest camps and actually
0:53:16	removing those but that's a conversation
0:53:18	we'll have towards the end of the day
0:53:20	and then there's been other challenges
0:53:22	constitutional and i put this little
0:53:24	clip here which i thought was
0:53:25	interesting the sixth circuit which does
0:53:27	not necessarily impact us but
0:53:29	they've determined that chalking tires
0:53:31	to enforce parking rules is
0:53:32	unconstitutional
0:53:34	so um just uh kind of the direction
0:53:36	where some things are going so i think
0:53:38	we're gonna switch to crayon
0:53:42	so um
0:53:43	moving past that
0:53:45	so mental health resources are limited
0:53:47	uh
0:53:48	options for substance abuse assistance
0:53:50	are limited limited shelter option
0:53:53	limited resources in terms of city
0:53:55	employees to deal with this and again
0:53:58	limited tools in terms of what we can do
0:54:02	and that's a segue into proposed tools
0:54:05	so
0:54:07	for the most part
0:54:08	you know i've talked to a lot of our
0:54:10	officers and asked them what do they
0:54:11	need to be able to better do their job i
0:54:13	will say that there is a lot of
0:54:15	frustration because it's a revolving
0:54:16	door they go from one place to the other
0:54:18	especially in the evenings move people
0:54:20	if they get a call and simply they just
0:54:23	come back again and just limited ability
0:54:25	to enforce or
0:54:28	come up with solutions to eliminate the
0:54:30	problem so it's just
0:54:32	they're frustrated
0:54:35	there's some things that we've looked at
0:54:37	that other jurisdictions have used some
0:54:38	of them many of them successfully as
0:54:42	we appreciate the most recent the
0:54:43	unlawful transfer ordinance which will
0:54:45	address a small portion of some of the
0:54:48	concern we've seen with traffic safety
0:54:51	there are some alcohol related
0:54:53	ordinances that other jurisdictions had
0:54:55	used right now if an officer
0:54:57	observes somebody with a open container
0:54:59	that they have to actually observe them
0:55:01	actually consuming alcohol so many
0:55:03	agencies or jurisdictions have it where
0:55:05	it's just simply the possession of
0:55:06	alcohol in public is a violation and
0:55:09	that would give us the ability to
0:55:12	contact that individual and decide if an
0:55:14	officer wants to use discretion to take
0:55:15	enforcement action or not
0:55:17	there's obstruction ordinances such as
0:55:19	we get
0:55:20	frequent complaints about individuals
0:55:22	with their worldly goods that are
0:55:24	blocking sidewalks or blocking other
0:55:25	public thoroughfares and interrupting
0:55:27	the flow of individuals into businesses
0:55:29	and that's the way it's characterized to
0:55:31	us so there are some ordinances that
0:55:34	we could look at that we could help
0:55:36	address that issue
0:55:38	probably one of the biggest
0:55:41	ordinances or programs that some
0:55:43	agencies have used and with success i
0:55:46	will say bend medford
0:55:49	ashland i think it is
0:55:52	ashland is using exclusion zones so in
0:55:55	essence the
0:55:56	zone is determined by an area that's
0:55:58	seen
0:55:59	frequent problems
0:56:01	and
0:56:03	for example they would pick the
0:56:04	riverwalk or the downtown area and
0:56:06	individuals who are in that area who are
0:56:10	frequent flyers and commit numerous
0:56:11	offenses would be given
0:56:14	citations or warnings and if they uh
0:56:16	amass a certain amount and that can be
0:56:19	determined by the ordinance such as two
0:56:21	or three over a certain period of time
0:56:23	they could be excluded from that area
0:56:25	there are also some offenses because of
0:56:27	the gravity of the offense it would only
0:56:29	take one offense such as a serious
0:56:30	assault or a sexual assault
0:56:33	those types of crimes so if somebody has
0:56:36	been determined they'd been excluded for
0:56:38	that zone they would be excluded for
0:56:39	anywhere from 90 days to a year it's
0:56:41	different depending on the city and if
0:56:44	they are then contact or they come back
0:56:47	into a particular area they would uh be
0:56:50	subject to being arrested which would
0:56:52	now be a misdemeanor type offense and
0:56:53	they could be taken to jail again i'm
0:56:55	not saying that they're going to be kept
0:56:56	at the jail but it is a higher level
0:56:58	offense and they've had
0:57:00	other agencies have had success
0:57:03	probably one of the downsides to it it
0:57:05	is resource intensive i can tell you
0:57:07	that dalles has just about was about
0:57:09	ready to roll out the program but
0:57:11	because of limited resources they put
0:57:12	that on hold so that is a downside
0:57:15	because there is some tracking and
0:57:16	management of the program to make sure
0:57:18	that it works and contacting individuals
0:57:21	again it's it's it sounds like it's a
0:57:23	focus on enforcement part of it is but
0:57:25	again it's also a matter of
0:57:29	looking for alternative ways to
0:57:31	encourage people to
0:57:32	you know not do the bad behavior so
0:57:34	we're not looking to write citations
0:57:36	arrest people we just want to reduce the
0:57:39	amount of complaints and calls for
0:57:40	service
0:57:44	alternatives to enforcement so it's just
0:57:46	looking for creative ways to
0:57:50	find alternatives to issuing citations
0:57:53	taking people to jail
0:57:55	we plan to do more research on that we
0:57:57	do know some agencies have had some
0:57:59	success with
0:58:01	into programs that actually involve the
0:58:03	individual that they're contacting and
0:58:05	making them part of the solution and
0:58:06	rather part of the problem such as
0:58:08	cleaning up or being responsible for an
0:58:09	area that they've messed up so to speak
0:58:12	so we you know that's something that
0:58:13	we're very interested in exploring
0:58:16	the last category i put here is the
0:58:18	crime prevention through environmental
0:58:19	design and then many of you are familiar
0:58:22	with this concept and this is where uh
0:58:24	law enforcement fire personnel would
0:58:26	have you get involved in in processes of
0:58:28	new facilities that are being built but
0:58:30	it also means that
0:58:32	we are looking for creative ways dealing
0:58:35	with business owners to minimize the
0:58:38	temptation for individuals who are prone
0:58:40	to
0:58:42	either theft or other types of
0:58:45	activity
0:58:46	at this point i in talking with the city
0:58:48	manager he would like to chat about a
0:58:50	couple of these topics on under this
0:58:52	category that i'll come back to
0:58:55	the ones that you don't do sure
Brett Estes — Heritage Square (remove picnic tables)
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=3537 
0:58:57	so the first item i want to talk about
0:58:59	is with regards to the
0:59:02	set of picnic tables which is on the
0:59:05	back side of heritage square adjacent to
0:59:08	the american legion
0:59:10	we have seen
0:59:11	a
0:59:12	an uptick of individuals who
0:59:15	who
0:59:17	who use that area but it's it's become a
0:59:19	place where our police department is
0:59:21	having to respond to
0:59:23	uh frequently and we're having
0:59:25	complaints
0:59:26	from uh
0:59:28	the legion
0:59:30	uh
0:59:31	hall with
0:59:32	downtown merchants and people who are in
0:59:35	that area
0:59:37	this is a city
0:59:39	owned piece of property
0:59:41	which is maintained by the parks
0:59:42	department
0:59:43	and it's
0:59:45	my intent that i'm going to be providing
0:59:46	direction
0:59:48	to mr williams to have those picnic
0:59:51	tables removed from heritage square
0:59:54	it's become an issue that continues to
0:59:56	be problematic
0:59:59	and i feel it's necessary to take that
1:00:01	action
Brett Estes — Property Watch
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=3603 
1:00:03	um also i want to mention the property
1:00:06	watch program something that our police
1:00:08	department put in place
1:00:09	a couple years ago which allows for
1:00:13	property owners to sign up uh in case
1:00:16	that there are individuals who are
1:00:19	[Music]
1:00:21	in their
1:00:22	alcoves of their businesses on private
1:00:24	property
1:00:25	allows the police department to be able
1:00:27	to go and give the police department the
1:00:29	right to be able to go on private
1:00:30	property to remove those individuals who
1:00:32	are in those alcoves
1:00:34	while the city of astoria and the city
1:00:36	council supported the creation of this
1:00:38	program the city of australia itself
1:00:40	never signed up for this program it's my
1:00:42	intent that
1:00:44	i will be signing up all city facilities
1:00:48	uh for this program as well
1:00:50	so that
1:00:51	this will remedy the issues that mr
1:00:54	pearson has has discussed um with
1:00:58	individuals who
1:01:00	are um
1:01:01	who are
1:01:03	putting themselves on the front porch of
1:01:04	the of the library and and causing some
1:01:07	some concerns to
1:01:10	to
1:01:10	passersby or to library patrons or
1:01:13	people who are going by um
1:01:17	in the morning before the the library is
1:01:19	opened or or
1:01:20	staying there overnight and as in
1:01:23	the back door of the the library itself
1:01:26	so i wanted to let the council know that
1:01:28	that i was
1:01:29	going to be moving forward on taking
1:01:31	these actions
1:01:33	and to be able to address these issues
Geoff Spalding — Working With Business Owners
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=3698 
1:01:38	so um picking up on the the septet again
1:01:41	so again working with business owners
1:01:43	and finding creative solutions you know
1:01:45	working with them to
1:01:47	eliminate or at least minimize some of
1:01:49	the issues we're having for example
1:01:51	working with like some of the grocery
1:01:53	stores that have frequent thefts or the
1:01:55	minimarts and finding ways to
1:01:58	make it less easy to
1:02:01	take alcohol because that's that's a
1:02:02	significant problem maybe even working
1:02:04	with for example safeway and finding
1:02:06	ways to
1:02:07	use some of the systems that are
1:02:08	available out there to make it so the
1:02:10	shopping carts can't be taken off the
1:02:11	public lot there those kinds of things
1:02:15	there's a lot of examples out there
1:02:18	working with the business owners and
1:02:20	you know making making it more difficult
1:02:22	for some of the crimes to occur and the
1:02:24	same thing goes to with our private
1:02:26	private owners too their vehicles
1:02:27	encourage people to secure their
1:02:29	vehicles you know we hate to create a
1:02:32	element of fear but at the same time
1:02:34	we don't want to make it any easier for
1:02:36	some individuals to break into the
1:02:38	vehicles
1:02:39	um the last one example on here i only
1:02:42	put this on here because it's more
1:02:44	recent but i got a letter recently from
1:02:46	the security at 10 point job corps and
1:02:48	they're very concerned about their
1:02:49	students because
1:02:50	they're fearful of getting off at the
1:02:52	bus stop over there 16th and duane
1:02:55	because
1:02:56	there's individuals that are frequently
1:02:58	sleeping there or staying there and they
1:02:59	don't feel comfortable getting off the
1:03:01	bus stop so this um i'm not even 100 up
1:03:04	to speed in terms of the ownership of
1:03:05	this but i understand it's uh tongue
1:03:07	points bus station but it's city
1:03:09	property so working with them um giving
1:03:11	them more ownership of the property and
1:03:13	then we could probably even do something
1:03:14	like a property watch program on the bus
1:03:16	bench so
1:03:18	there may be some alternatives just
1:03:19	again looking for creative solutions to
1:03:22	addressing some of the issues that we're
1:03:23	experiencing
1:03:26	um
1:03:31	oops over shot and a little reverse
1:03:34	clicker
1:03:37	okay
1:03:39	so i think
1:03:41	at this point i'm not sure we're missing
1:03:43	one
Geoff Spalding — Urban Camping (in the woods)
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=3831 
1:03:51	i'm missing a whole slide so this is the
1:03:54	point where we can start talking about
1:03:55	the urban forest uh
1:03:57	camping discussion if um
1:04:01	a good time to take a break or ask
1:04:02	questions or want to move forward on
1:04:04	that topic as well
1:04:06	i think we can move forward
1:04:09	all right
1:04:10	okay and i'm just going to go through
1:04:12	here see if i can find the missing slide
1:04:14	yeah this is the missing slide is on the
1:04:17	on the handouts okay then i'll just go
1:04:19	off of my slide here and then see
1:04:21	statement
1:04:22	statement okay
1:04:24	uh
1:04:26	so uh as
1:04:28	you are all aware uh last summer we
1:04:30	spent a fair amount of time working with
1:04:33	uh
1:04:34	some of the urban forest camps that were
1:04:36	in in several locations throughout the
1:04:38	city and these were based on citizen
1:04:40	complaints
1:04:41	we addressed the issues and
1:04:44	i think they were successful from a
1:04:46	perspective of using many social service
1:04:49	agencies and not just a police
1:04:51	enforcement type approach and we're able
1:04:54	to you know using classic community
1:04:56	action as one example and uh partners
1:04:59	with recology what have you we you know
1:05:02	we addressed the issue
1:05:04	there was a lot of lessons learned from
1:05:05	that and
1:05:07	we do know that the problem has not gone
1:05:08	away and this is something that we are
1:05:10	going to have to address again this
1:05:12	summer if council so chooses
1:05:15	i will tell you
1:05:17	the slide that's not up here right now
1:05:19	why we are concerned about this and then
1:05:21	i'm going to go into what we perceive
1:05:23	anyway as some of the pros and cons to
1:05:25	moving forward as we get into the better
1:05:28	weather
1:05:29	so from a concern
1:05:31	perspective there's the public safety
1:05:33	concerns
1:05:34	some of the camps their proximity to the
1:05:36	pipeline the gas pipeline which has uh
1:05:39	broken at least once that i'm aware of
1:05:41	and and
1:05:42	we're not able to alert or notify people
1:05:44	if something were to happen
1:05:46	we do get calls complaints from joggers
1:05:48	and hikers as they're walking through
1:05:49	there and they see individuals that make
1:05:51	them feel nervous
1:05:53	it's our inability to provide public
1:05:55	safety services i can tell you that
1:05:58	we've had some calls where we had a
1:06:00	domestic violence type incident last
1:06:02	summer we had another incident where a
1:06:04	homeless gal had actually slid down the
1:06:06	hill and injured her ankle and we
1:06:08	weren't able to locate them immediately
1:06:10	so by the time the officers located them
1:06:12	they were fairly deep into the woods and
1:06:13	they're about 10 minutes from their car
1:06:15	so it takes them away from providing
1:06:17	emergency services to somebody else in
1:06:18	the community as well so that's a
1:06:21	problem from us not only from an
1:06:23	officer's perspective the rest of the
1:06:24	community but also being able to provide
1:06:25	those public services
1:06:27	not just the law enforcement services
1:06:30	but also the fire services when it is
1:06:32	really difficult to identify exactly
1:06:34	where they are
1:06:38	we also know and this is even
1:06:41	information that we've received from
1:06:42	some of the individuals we've contacted
1:06:44	up there there's a fair amount of crime
1:06:46	occurring in these sites and most of it
1:06:48	avoids detection because it's not
1:06:50	reported so
1:06:52	but we have had you know
1:06:54	deaths amongst some of the individual
1:06:55	camp owners up there some other we've
1:06:57	had domestic violence we've had some
1:06:59	assaults some sexual assaults so we do
1:07:01	know that that's occurring and again it
1:07:03	makes it really difficult for us to be
1:07:04	able to police that
1:07:06	from a citizen concerned perspective
1:07:09	some of the things that we hear
1:07:11	especially those that are backing up to
1:07:12	some of these wooded areas are substance
1:07:14	abuse issues fires thefts we've had
1:07:17	propane canisters taken furniture taken
1:07:19	gas containers taken of the human
1:07:22	excrement
1:07:23	and the animal related issues there's
1:07:26	obviously the concern that they're not
1:07:28	being properly nourished but there's
1:07:29	also the no leashes uh vaccinations and
1:07:31	no licenses so those are some of the the
1:07:33	concerns that we hear from the community
1:07:37	so on the
1:07:38	slide here just does
1:07:41	so this is just a one illustration this
1:07:43	is just one area of town that we
1:07:44	addressed last year there was two others
1:07:46	in addition to this um this is off of
1:07:49	navy pipeline road there was i think
1:07:51	there was 11 camps on the in this
1:07:52	particular area so you can see it's not
1:07:54	easy to get to any of these obviously
1:07:56	it's hilly terrain and especially when
1:07:58	we've had a rain it's it's very
1:07:59	dangerous as you've heard from two of my
1:08:01	peers
1:08:03	the other two areas that we addressed
1:08:05	last year were over by the taylor of the
1:08:09	near the the former rv dump site and
1:08:11	then also behind the columbia memorial
1:08:13	hospital we've had a few encampments up
1:08:14	there as well
1:08:16	so
1:08:18	so some of the advantages to addressing
1:08:21	the uh the camps as it's we're being
1:08:23	responsive to the people that are
1:08:25	calling us and
1:08:26	have concerns about the public safety
1:08:29	we're addressing some public health
1:08:30	concerns safety of the hikers and
1:08:32	joggers safety of the individuals
1:08:34	staying in the camps fire safety and
1:08:38	moving individuals into resources
1:08:40	i will say we did have some limited
1:08:42	success in terms of every everybody that
1:08:45	we actually contacted was given a
1:08:47	resource guide and
1:08:49	a
1:08:50	member from cca was with us and
1:08:53	contacted them and we directed
1:08:55	them to these services or to helping
1:08:57	hands
1:08:58	i think we only had a couple people but
1:09:00	if we impacted two people then that's
1:09:02	better than nobody
1:09:06	some of the downsides to addressing
1:09:08	these problems are the time it takes
1:09:10	from staff not just the police
1:09:12	department but from fire public works
1:09:14	parks everybody else that's involved
1:09:17	it is somewhat resource intensive
1:09:19	there is a staff safety concerns i won't
1:09:21	go into that because that's been covered
1:09:23	by public works
1:09:25	the
1:09:26	response time is impacted when we're not
1:09:28	near our police vehicles and our
1:09:30	officers are up there working on camp
1:09:31	cleanups
1:09:33	the actual cleanup itself is time
1:09:36	intensive there's the financial impact
1:09:38	in terms of fortunately last time
1:09:41	recology provided the services without
1:09:43	charge but we don't suspect that's going
1:09:44	to last forever
1:09:46	so there's that
1:09:47	the storage of personal property we
1:09:50	some of the property may have some value
1:09:53	we have very limited facilities to store
1:09:56	the property and there's issues in terms
1:09:59	of determining what's
1:10:01	property of value what may be something
1:10:03	that we feel is of no value to us may be
1:10:06	valuable to somebody else and that's
1:10:08	hard to make that determination but
1:10:09	oftentimes we what we run up against is
1:10:12	clothing type items that are moldy or
1:10:14	wet
1:10:15	food items
1:10:18	camp equipment and those kinds of things
1:10:20	some things are obviously
1:10:22	clearly
1:10:23	value and we would retain those but even
1:10:25	some of the tents it makes it very
1:10:26	difficult to store those types of
1:10:28	property so there is always a potential
1:10:30	litigation that somebody could take an
1:10:32	action against the city if they yeah
1:10:35	felt that we disposed of some of their
1:10:37	their property that they they assess a
1:10:39	higher value than we would have
1:10:41	um and lastly um and we've heard this
1:10:44	that we may simply be relocating people
1:10:46	deeper into the woods so that's what we
1:10:49	have identified as the cons
1:10:51	so that concludes
1:10:54	the presentation and
1:10:56	let's see here anything else to add
1:10:59	[Applause]
1:11:02	no i think that's it that's all i have
Follow-up Questions & General Discussion
https://youtu.be/MVHkDdR64F8?t=4266 
1:11:06	so mayor at this point
1:11:08	the
1:11:10	the idea was if uh council you know had
1:11:14	any kind of general follow-up questions
1:11:16	you know
1:11:17	um
1:11:18	please direct them to staff and
1:11:20	and
1:11:22	you know provide an opportunity to be
1:11:24	able to have some dialogue from council
1:11:26	with regards to some of the items
1:11:29	put on the table today and and
1:11:31	some of the ideas to possibly
1:11:33	investigate
1:11:35	and further into the future
1:11:38	well i thank you mr season thank you
1:11:40	chief and thank you all department heads
1:11:42	for your very thorough briefings and
1:11:43	thank you for the work you continue to
1:11:44	do
1:11:46	and
1:11:47	you know i want to emphasize uh that in
1:11:50	the vast majority of the community's
1:11:52	efforts when i say community i don't
1:11:53	just mean the city of astoria government
1:11:55	but the community and its organizations
1:11:58	the vast majority of the community's
1:12:00	efforts towards homelessness in our
1:12:02	community is towards assisting those who
1:12:04	find themselves homeless
1:12:07	and i'd particularly
1:12:08	thank elaine bruce from being here for
1:12:10	being here today from class of cuny
1:12:12	action your organization
1:12:13	and rick and nell who volunteer at the
1:12:16	asteroid warming center and others here
1:12:18	for the volunteer work or paid work that
1:12:20	you do in your organizations to assist
1:12:23	those who are suffering from
1:12:24	homelessness and that you know needs to
1:12:26	continue to be the overall thrust of the
1:12:29	overall community effort
1:12:32	and i appreciate all that the
1:12:33	departments and your staffs do as you've
1:12:36	outlined in this in this can very
1:12:37	concise presentation of all that you do
1:12:39	on an ongoing basis to assist
1:12:42	uh people and i know the vast majority
1:12:44	of what the police does is to provide
1:12:46	assistance and guidance and direction to
1:12:49	where services can be found
1:12:53	you know nonetheless there's clearly a
1:12:54	perception and a growing perception in
1:12:56	the community that
1:12:59	a small minority of people whose
1:13:02	behavior the chief has outlined today
1:13:05	have uh the city there's a perception
1:13:08	that the city has turned a blind eye
1:13:10	towards the behavior of the small
1:13:12	minority of people who have abused their
1:13:14	position in the community to
1:13:16	engage in either abusive behavior
1:13:19	or other activity that just is
1:13:21	unacceptable and particularly as we've
1:13:23	outlined our vision statement
1:13:25	which focuses on not only a thriving
1:13:28	local economy which means supporting our
1:13:30	local locally owned small businesses
1:13:32	that are some of which are represented
1:13:34	here today
1:13:35	but livability and quality of life so
1:13:37	the question is you know how do we
1:13:38	balance the much
1:13:41	needed work of community organizations
1:13:43	and the city to
1:13:45	direct homeless people towards those
1:13:47	services that are available
1:13:48	while at the same time ensuring a
1:13:50	quality of life for our astorians
1:13:54	and uh and helping our local businesses
1:13:56	not be negatively impacted by the
1:13:58	misbehavior that the chief outlines
1:14:00	today and so i think some of these
1:14:03	potential solutions that have been
1:14:04	provided are are very uh appropriate and
1:14:08	worth some i'm looking forward to the
1:14:10	discussion
1:14:11	to provide that balance in the community
1:14:20	i i guess
1:14:23	i guess the presentation i appreciate it
1:14:25	certainly left me feeling
1:14:27	frustrated and a little helpless
1:14:31	as you so ably pointed out there are
1:14:34	limitations on what we are legally able
1:14:36	to do and i think we need as much
1:14:38	information as we can get about what
1:14:41	kind of legal remedies we we might have
1:14:45	at the same time we're recognizing we
1:14:47	have such a shortage of available
1:14:48	services and in fact there's a story in
1:14:50	the paper today about another service
1:14:52	provider
1:14:53	in danger of of closing down
1:14:57	um
1:14:58	i volunteer at the warming center so i i
1:15:02	um
1:15:04	you know i have that feeling of there
1:15:05	but for the grace of god go i and i have
1:15:07	empathy for
1:15:09	for the people who were there and yet
1:15:10	you know i see as you pointed out it's a
1:15:12	tiny percentage of people who are
1:15:14	aggressive and and difficult and the
1:15:16	other homeless don't like them either
1:15:18	you know it's a problem for them
1:15:20	uh crime wise and everything else
1:15:22	trying to get a grasp on this though as
1:15:25	you pointed out you can arrest someone
1:15:26	and send them to jail but there
1:15:28	there's no real
1:15:30	that's not really a remedy because we
1:15:31	don't have the jail space we don't
1:15:33	that's a low-level crime that that
1:15:35	doesn't
1:15:37	doesn't hit the meter
1:15:42	i don't know that we have any way of
1:15:44	compelling someone who has a a drug
1:15:47	problem or an alcohol problem to
1:15:49	have
1:15:50	treatment um
1:15:53	i'm just not sure where we go with this
1:15:55	i i'm just totally
1:15:57	i appreciate the the the remedies you
1:15:59	you put out there
1:16:01	i think it's easier sometimes for those
1:16:03	of us in the public who feel that
1:16:05	empathy to to be able to shrug it off if
1:16:08	for example you know somebody camps and
1:16:11	pete's vestibule there when the business
1:16:13	is closed
1:16:15	but if that same group of people were to
1:16:18	set up camp in my driveway or my garage
1:16:20	i might feel differently about that and
1:16:24	i'm just feeling very helpless right now
1:16:25	i don't know where to go with this
1:16:29	well i i'll speak a little bit um
1:16:34	and i also want to thank everybody for
1:16:36	being here in particular the department
1:16:38	heads that i think
1:16:41	um
1:16:42	are dealing with this in in the best way
1:16:45	that all of you know how as well as your
1:16:47	staff
1:16:49	and i want to echo a lot of what mayor
1:16:51	jones said
1:16:53	about
1:16:54	used a word and that was balance and i i
1:16:57	think in
1:16:58	attending host meetings and and talking
1:17:00	with the community
1:17:02	um
1:17:06	i don't want to pin these two
1:17:09	uh
1:17:10	things against each other but there was
1:17:12	a point that came up at the host meeting
1:17:15	from someone at cbh who said you know if
1:17:17	you build it they will come and i i
1:17:20	recognize that
1:17:22	that is a valid concern i would agree
1:17:25	with that and then kind of on the other
1:17:27	end of that
1:17:28	um
1:17:30	the question that i get a lot and and
1:17:33	even for myself is that you know if you
1:17:36	exclude someone from a particular area
1:17:38	or even removing something like a bench
1:17:41	um i'm not saying i disagree with that
1:17:44	but it's just where people supposed to
1:17:46	go you know it simply
1:17:48	relocates them and i'm i'm also a
1:17:50	downtown building owner
1:17:53	um who's experienced some of the issues
1:17:55	that pete gimbre has
1:17:58	has also experienced
1:18:02	so it's i'm hoping that
1:18:05	the answer is somewhere in the middle
1:18:07	where we can find a way to
1:18:10	support the efforts of the populations
1:18:13	that that do work with the homeless
1:18:15	community and recognize that
1:18:17	um
1:18:18	simply moving them on i don't think
1:18:20	there's anybody here that thinks that
1:18:22	that's a solution
1:18:25	but also certainly not
1:18:28	enabling individuals either or
1:18:31	looking the other way which again seems
1:18:33	to be somewhat of a of the perception of
1:18:36	the city
1:18:37	um as far as behavior that's that's
1:18:39	unacceptable by
1:18:41	by anyone in the community
1:18:43	so um
1:18:46	yeah i just i i want to continue to talk
1:18:49	about this and to look at potential
1:18:51	solutions um
1:18:54	and again i'm hoping that the answer is
1:18:56	is somewhere in the middle
1:18:58	i do the discussion of the drop-in
1:19:00	center comes
1:19:02	comes up a lot in the need for it and
1:19:05	again that argument of you know if we
1:19:08	create a drop-in center are more people
1:19:10	going to come to astoria to utilize that
1:19:13	but then recognizing that people
1:19:15	consider the library to be the drop-in
1:19:17	center which is
1:19:19	kind of the other end of that argument
1:19:21	because of course we all know that that
1:19:22	should not be the case
1:19:24	so um
1:19:26	i know that's kind of the dichotomy that
1:19:28	i
1:19:29	struggle with
1:19:30	or i'm looking at
1:19:37	oh i guess i would just add a along
1:19:39	those those lines about wondering
1:19:41	whether you create an attractant or not
1:19:43	um
1:19:45	i do wonder sometimes if we had
1:19:46	something like a drop-in center or we
1:19:48	had a place in the community where we
1:19:51	could say here's where you can go and
1:19:53	set up your tent and so on i know a lot
1:19:55	of people will say well wow you really
1:19:56	are
1:20:00	you really are creating an attractant
1:20:02	then but i wonder if we had such a place
1:20:05	whether we could accompany that by
1:20:07	saying since this place exists you can't
1:20:09	camp in the woods yeah that's no longer
1:20:12	something that we
1:20:14	will permit
1:20:16	um
1:20:17	we already do prohibit uh
1:20:20	camping on public property right in the
1:20:22	city
1:20:23	and and for the record i mean i do
1:20:25	support a drop-in center i do think that
1:20:27	there is a need and i i think that
1:20:29	people do need a place to go i've lived
1:20:31	in other places where they've had those
1:20:35	and they've been successful
1:20:38	in the sense that they create
1:20:42	more visibility i think for um
1:20:46	individuals that need services so it is
1:20:49	in a sense
1:20:50	a way to to get folks into the door that
1:20:53	might then be reintegrated into
1:20:56	housing which i know
1:20:59	again it's clap elaine at classic
1:21:02	community action in speaking with her
1:21:04	um the vast majority of the homeless
1:21:07	population that they work with you know
1:21:09	we don't even see because they are
1:21:11	successfully
1:21:12	um putting them into uh
1:21:16	housing and things like that which is
1:21:18	really important
1:21:20	um
1:21:22	but yeah i i would
1:21:23	and i know this isn't about a drop-in
1:21:25	center but that's just one example
1:21:28	of i think where there's something where
1:21:30	there is a need and of course that
1:21:32	brings up the questions of well where
1:21:34	would it be and we don't want it next to
1:21:35	this and
1:21:38	so
1:21:41	could we go to the slide that has
1:21:42	proposed tools as the header i don't
1:21:44	know who has the master okay
1:21:49	so um i know
1:21:51	the city manager
1:21:52	would like to get specific guidance for
1:21:55	council and which we obviously don't
1:21:57	vote at work sessions but we can give
1:21:59	guidance on whether we're interested in
1:22:01	having him pursue certain ideas so with
1:22:03	that that's our sort of
1:22:05	the the target today is before we leave
1:22:08	that we've given guidance to the city
1:22:10	manager on how to proceed on these
1:22:11	proposed tools
1:22:13	but for normally at work sessions it's
1:22:16	just internal deliberations and we don't
1:22:17	open it to public comment but there may
1:22:19	be some people here today that wish to
1:22:20	public comment so i would say now before
1:22:23	we give specific guidance to the city
1:22:25	manager if there are people who came
1:22:27	today who would like to speak
1:22:29	for uh no more than three minutes uh we
1:22:31	don't have a mic set up but you could
1:22:32	come up actually we can if you would mr
1:22:35	williams you can take that microphone
1:22:37	out of the uh holder and we can pass it
1:22:39	on so if anyone would like to speak i'll
1:22:42	just ask you hold your comments to no
1:22:43	more than three minutes
1:22:45	i'm sorry john oh that's all right um
1:22:49	first i thank you all department heads
1:22:52	for your really informative presentation
1:22:54	and i do want to thank everyone here
1:22:57	um i really would like to hear from all
1:22:59	of you
1:23:00	if possible i mean we probably don't
1:23:01	have time today so i'm hoping we can
1:23:04	do another work session perhaps this is
1:23:06	such a big issue facing our community
1:23:10	the city doesn't have a big
1:23:12	pot of money despite what
1:23:14	a lot of citizens think
1:23:16	we just finished our budget process
1:23:18	and um that really brought that home to
1:23:20	me
1:23:21	and
1:23:22	i'm not i'm gonna ask this question
1:23:25	and it doesn't indicate
1:23:26	that i feel one way or the other
1:23:29	um but there has been a lot of
1:23:30	discussion just in the community
1:23:34	we're removing people out of the woods
1:23:38	and other illegal campgrounds
1:23:40	does that mean and we're spending tens
1:23:42	of thousands of dollars i'm guessing
1:23:44	that's probably not an exaggeration
1:23:47	between public works
1:23:49	police
1:23:50	all the calls that you just outlined
1:23:52	chief spaulding that the police are
1:23:54	making
1:23:55	and
1:23:56	chief
1:23:57	the fire chief as well diana i'm sorry
1:24:00	i'm forgetting your last name right at
1:24:01	the moment and tim and jimmy
1:24:04	so
1:24:05	we are spending a good amount of money
1:24:08	for our community i i'm guessing that's
1:24:10	not an exaggeration
1:24:13	a lot of people think we should have not
1:24:15	necessarily in the city limits because
1:24:18	we don't have nearly as much vacant land
1:24:20	as
1:24:21	the unincorporated unincorporated areas
1:24:23	surrounding astoria
1:24:25	is it time to have a legal campground
1:24:29	i'm just throwing that out there and i'm
1:24:31	curious
1:24:32	particularly chief uh spalding what you
1:24:34	think about that idea
1:24:35	sure
1:24:36	well um first off i will say that you
1:24:38	know in terms of the cost you're right i
1:24:40	mean it is expensive you know um one
1:24:42	thing though much of what we see is soft
1:24:46	costs it's it's part of what we do it's
1:24:48	part of our job
1:24:50	but at the same time i will say that it
1:24:51	takes us away from other things that we
1:24:53	could be doing that more positive for
1:24:55	the community i'd love to have my
1:24:56	officer spend more time walking up and
1:24:58	down the the downtown of the riverwalk
1:25:00	and you know communicating and having
1:25:02	interactions with the public and
1:25:03	positive encounters rather than spending
1:25:05	times dealing with these 300 increase
1:25:08	that we've seen so you know
1:25:10	we haven't done that calculation because
1:25:12	again it's there is over time involved
1:25:14	there are other costs and again you know
1:25:16	with the cleanups and what have you so i
1:25:18	don't know what that number is but to me
1:25:19	it's it's more of how it's impacting
1:25:21	other services that we're not able to
1:25:23	provide
1:25:24	um
1:25:25	as far as um
1:25:27	the
1:25:28	[Music]
1:25:30	the answer to the question about you
1:25:32	know a campground or somewhere else to
1:25:34	stay i'd love to be able to provide
1:25:35	services um for individuals
1:25:39	i will say that at least what i've seen
1:25:41	over the last year is there's no
1:25:42	one-size-fits-all and as we're having
1:25:44	this conversation i recognize that
1:25:47	individuals experiencing homelessness
1:25:48	you know fall into different categories
1:25:50	and i may not hit them all but when you
1:25:52	talk about mental illness substance
1:25:53	abuse
1:25:54	housing shortages
1:25:56	someone who's truly just fallen down
1:25:58	their luck but then we also have a small
1:26:00	percentage of that population that truly
1:26:03	like the way their life is and they have
1:26:05	told us that they don't want to change
1:26:06	they don't want to follow the rules
1:26:09	it's it's those are the ones that
1:26:11	obviously are creating a lot of the
1:26:13	calls that we're seeing
1:26:14	um
1:26:15	i just heard from a county employee the
1:26:17	other day that she's one of the ones
1:26:18	that said she her kids won't go to the
1:26:20	library anymore because they're using
1:26:21	foul language and actually heard them
1:26:22	bad-mouthing helping hands you know and
1:26:24	these are the people that are trying to
1:26:25	help these individuals so i mean i do
1:26:28	believe there's a certain element that
1:26:30	i don't know that we will ever be able
1:26:32	to reach you know and but again it helps
1:26:35	us it helps us as a police department if
1:26:37	we get people into services we get
1:26:38	people back into productive lives that's
1:26:40	a positive that means we no longer have
1:26:41	to respond to those calls so we support
1:26:44	any program that can that can do that so
1:26:47	i know i'm being intentionally vague but
1:26:49	i will say this is somewhat a little bit
1:26:50	of a personal commentary i'm not
1:26:52	convinced that
1:26:54	building a campaign or doing some of the
1:26:55	things we've talked about will not
1:26:57	encourage other people to come to our
1:26:58	community and i know that's a sentiment
1:27:00	of a lot of people in the community i
1:27:02	hear that often because you know why is
1:27:04	it that story has a bigger problem than
1:27:05	maybe canada or some other problems
1:27:07	because we have services and part of it
1:27:09	we have a very compassionate community
1:27:11	and we have a lot of people that you
1:27:12	know have big hearts and i appreciate
1:27:14	that but i also think we have to be
1:27:16	careful and guard that growth
1:27:19	thank you and just one last brief
1:27:20	comment before we open it up to public
1:27:22	comments
1:27:25	i recognize that most of
1:27:27	the homeless individuals in our
1:27:29	community
1:27:30	are not causing the problems that are
1:27:33	being discussed today for the most part
1:27:35	um
1:27:36	i support fully not tolerating behavior
1:27:40	that is illegal that is
1:27:43	aggressive
1:27:44	so i just want to put that out there i
1:27:47	don't you know we can be
1:27:48	compassionate
1:27:50	and yet not tolerate that
1:27:52	small percentage of behaviors that
1:27:54	creates
1:27:55	the majority of the problems
1:27:58	thank you thanks counselor so now if
1:28:01	there is anyone who would like to speak
1:28:02	the microphone is there just raise your
1:28:04	hand
1:28:08	hello i need a microphone
1:28:12	pete gamer and uh gimmery shoes and i
1:28:14	agree with what everything's been set up
1:28:16	here
1:28:17	roger you say it best it's a complicated
1:28:19	situation and there is no simple answer
1:28:21	to it uh as a business owner it's pretty
1:28:24	well documented what's happening down at
1:28:26	our place um
1:28:30	what's disheartening most to me is when
1:28:33	i have customers who come in the store
1:28:36	and who say they don't come in they
1:28:38	don't want to come downtown nearly as
1:28:40	often because of the aggressive behavior
1:28:44	that joan mentions is not because the
1:28:46	way someone looks or the way someone's
1:28:47	dressed is because of aggressive
1:28:49	behavior
1:28:51	it's hard enough in today's world to run
1:28:53	a retail operation
1:28:55	nothing means more to me than my own
1:28:56	family than my employees
1:28:59	it's tough when i'm trying to provide
1:29:01	good wages a 401k
1:29:04	good reasons to
1:29:06	be in good reasons to want to work for
1:29:08	gamma rays it makes it harder over time
1:29:10	when you've got less foot traffic coming
1:29:12	in the store because people simply don't
1:29:14	want to come downtown like they have in
1:29:17	the past because of the aggressive
1:29:19	behavior
1:29:20	so
1:29:21	you know it it not only affects us
1:29:23	individually but it affects commerce
1:29:25	through town
1:29:27	because of what's happening so anything
1:29:29	that can be done
1:29:30	i'm highly appreciative of um i've
1:29:34	talked to chief spalding i've talked to
1:29:35	everyone in here about the issue there
1:29:37	is no simple answer but
1:29:39	jimmy we've had i can relate to the
1:29:41	problems you're having over the library
1:29:42	because we've had those same problems at
1:29:44	gimras and i agree you just can't push
1:29:47	one problem down the road
1:29:50	but it is affecting businesses downtown
1:29:53	and it's very easy to say well i don't
1:29:54	care about that business well you got to
1:29:55	think of the employees
1:29:57	that are involved in that business where
1:29:59	it really does affect them so i just
1:30:01	want to put that out there
1:30:02	thank you
1:30:06	and if you are speaking on keeping time
1:30:09	so i'll raise my head when you have
1:30:10	about 10 seconds left
1:30:12	uh david ozer254 west irving
1:30:16	language is powerful
1:30:18	and when we describe
1:30:20	this as a problem of homelessness we're
1:30:23	we're lumping a whole different a lot of
1:30:26	categories together i want to focus on
1:30:28	the one category
1:30:29	that chief spalding mentioned of the
1:30:31	people who have chosen a life with of of
1:30:36	not having a fixed abode
1:30:38	the language we use to lump them in with
1:30:40	other homeless people
1:30:42	does most of the homeless people a great
1:30:44	disservice we shouldn't use the word
1:30:47	homeless to describe these people we
1:30:50	should call them vagrants
1:30:52	we should call them travelers we should
1:30:55	call them transients people who are not
1:30:58	part of our community and the solution
1:31:00	or at least part of the solution for
1:31:03	them is to support and provide the
1:31:05	police with as many tools as is
1:31:08	allowable
1:31:09	to enforce the laws so that our
1:31:13	communities compassion and help can go
1:31:16	to the people who want help
1:31:19	who can benefit from the services that
1:31:21	we provide and who are in fact harmed
1:31:24	more than
1:31:25	perhaps anyone else by being lumped
1:31:28	together with this this cohort
1:31:36	good afternoon david reed um 4924 cedar
1:31:40	street um and director of the chamber of
1:31:42	commerce the economy of astoria and
1:31:45	impact of all small towns is fragile
1:31:47	there's there's lots of pressures on it
1:31:50	and so
1:31:51	anything that we do that allows
1:31:55	fewer people to feel comfortable coming
1:31:56	to the downtown area or any place else
1:31:59	really has a huge a huge effect and
1:32:02	that effect
1:32:04	ultimately leads more to the spiral of
1:32:06	the problem right you have fewer people
1:32:08	who have incomes you have fewer people
1:32:09	to help out with paying for resources
1:32:12	whether they're they're municipal or
1:32:14	whether they're they're private
1:32:16	so
1:32:16	protecting the economy is important that
1:32:18	a dead downtown is a dead town
1:32:21	so whatever we can do to protect
1:32:23	downtown in particular but all
1:32:24	businesses
1:32:25	from
1:32:26	yes anti-social behavior but also just
1:32:30	honestly somebody walking down the
1:32:31	street a visitor to our town who comes
1:32:33	across a bunch of people sitting in a
1:32:34	doorway perfectly legal perfectly
1:32:37	perfectly kind they're still going to
1:32:39	move to the other side of the street
1:32:40	they're still going to avoid the the
1:32:42	businesses next to that so an issue um
1:32:45	you know it's deeper than than than just
1:32:47	what we're talking about i would
1:32:49	encourage the council to stop looking
1:32:50	for a solution um if that's what you're
1:32:52	doing look for there will be multiple
1:32:54	small solutions um each addressing
1:32:57	different different parts of this but uh
1:32:59	but please be
1:33:00	be mindful of the economy in the fragile
1:33:02	nature of it
1:33:10	no one else
1:33:11	okay thank you very much so uh mr i sees
1:33:14	i i guess uh would it be useful just to
1:33:16	go through one and
1:33:17	just hit each tool one at a time just
1:33:19	give us a brief overview again and then
1:33:20	we can have discussion sure
1:33:22	chief do you want to kind of go through
1:33:24	each one of the the tools very briefly
1:33:26	sure
1:33:27	um so just starting off with the alcohol
1:33:29	related ordinance this would be a
1:33:30	relatively simple change we would just
1:33:32	bring a proposal back to council to
1:33:34	approve the ability to enforce
1:33:37	the alcohol not only consumption but
1:33:39	also the possession which i believe was
1:33:41	original intent
1:33:43	so that would be a relatively easy
1:33:45	modification and that is consistent with
1:33:47	a lot of jurisdictions are doing now
1:33:51	and no no unintended consequences to
1:33:54	that that i can that you can foresee
1:33:56	to local businesses or i mean currently
1:33:58	you're not a if you're a normal just a
1:34:00	patron of
1:34:01	a brew pub you're not allowed to take
1:34:03	your beer outside and drink it right
1:34:05	right and if you purchase a growler that
1:34:07	is a sealed
1:34:08	container correct correct so right so
1:34:11	it'll be it will be open containers that
1:34:13	are affected right right
1:34:15	again as far as consequences go i think
1:34:17	for us it would be um you know
1:34:20	again we're not going to necessarily go
1:34:21	in there and instantly issue citations
1:34:24	it's really more about education and you
1:34:25	know convincing people this you know
1:34:27	this is not something that's tolerated
1:34:29	or prohibited that's prohibited
1:34:30	prohibited
1:34:32	but if we do issue citations after
1:34:33	warnings are given
1:34:35	again we have limited
1:34:37	ability to follow up her limited teeth
1:34:39	because of what i explained earlier
1:34:40	about the
1:34:42	problems we're seeing with the court in
1:34:43	the jail
1:34:45	yeah i'm in support
1:34:49	agreed as i mean as someone who has
1:34:51	worked in the the bartending industry
1:34:54	and still does on occasion it's i was
1:34:56	under the impression that you couldn't
1:34:59	leave the establishment with with an
1:35:01	open container beverage so
1:35:04	i see this is a very small
1:35:07	change
1:35:08	i support the concept but as the
1:35:11	chief is pointing out the
1:35:13	you get down the road with that a little
1:35:15	bit and it really is no consequence to
1:35:16	the consequences
1:35:18	it becomes just a paper
1:35:20	paper thing
1:35:21	well i i think so we really haven't
1:35:24	talked about consequences a lot right
1:35:26	now i mean we address it we touch on it
1:35:29	we say
1:35:30	fines no fines they can't pay fines they
1:35:32	show up to court they don't show up to
1:35:34	court they don't have money to pay fines
1:35:36	all these
1:35:37	issues about consequences
1:35:40	um
1:35:42	being ineffective
1:35:44	personally i i
1:35:46	i'm not willing to use that as an
1:35:47	argument uh at this point against
1:35:51	having ways to enforce because
1:35:53	yes there will some peop it will have an
1:35:55	impact on some of the behavior it won't
1:35:59	impact all the behavior but it could
1:36:01	impact um a portion if if it impacted
1:36:04	half of it that would be
1:36:06	that much less of it going on just to
1:36:11	i would liken it to our
1:36:14	ordinance about handing off from a
1:36:16	vehicle to a pedestrian in a public
1:36:18	right-of-way uh that ordinance you know
1:36:21	we did we did that and um
1:36:25	it stopped
1:36:27	because there it's practically stopped
1:36:29	out there you're not seeing the same
1:36:31	activity at mcdonald's because the
1:36:33	community is
1:36:35	on the street becomes aware of it and
1:36:37	sees that that is not acceptable
1:36:39	behavior and there are those that will
1:36:41	respect that ultimately
1:36:44	so
1:36:45	that's you know i just caution against
1:36:47	going down that road i think that
1:36:49	enforcement
1:36:51	jail time fines all those things will
1:36:55	sort themselves out over time i know no
1:36:58	with the new
1:37:00	jail coming in we're going to have more
1:37:02	capacity and
1:37:05	i
1:37:07	i'm guessing it sounds like and i hope
1:37:09	and i will encourage if not that there
1:37:12	is
1:37:13	um
1:37:14	good
1:37:15	uh services when people go you know if
1:37:18	they have
1:37:19	me out drug alcohol problems mental
1:37:22	issues that they will be addressed very
1:37:25	specifically in a very holistic and and
1:37:29	long you know long-term way so that
1:37:32	these people that are captured in that
1:37:34	situation
1:37:35	have that opportunity to to improve
1:37:38	um so that
1:37:40	may help too
1:37:43	and then
1:37:44	you know we've talked about
1:37:46	the idea of find forgiveness given
1:37:49	the behavior of an individual is has is
1:37:54	his track being different saying okay
1:37:56	now we can lighten your burden
1:37:58	let's
1:37:59	let's pull this out from under you
1:38:01	because you're you're making progress
1:38:03	you're going forward you know so carrot
1:38:05	and stick sort of stuff
1:38:07	um
1:38:08	so i again i just wanted to address that
1:38:10	specific issue and i i i think that uh
1:38:14	it's beyond us to to really use that we
1:38:16	have to
1:38:18	if if we're going to
1:38:20	address behavior
1:38:22	that
1:38:23	nobody appreciates that nobody should
1:38:25	tolerate uh in public
1:38:29	by anybody whether they're homeless or
1:38:31	not uh
1:38:32	you know we should we should do that and
1:38:35	again the example of what we did for the
1:38:38	library what
1:38:39	uh director pearson did for the library
1:38:42	a code of conduct we expect people to
1:38:45	behave within these socially accepted
1:38:49	norms and if you don't
1:38:51	you know you're kind of not welcome
1:38:53	right
1:38:54	so
1:38:55	we want that on i
1:38:57	want to see that for those people who
1:39:00	maybe they don't have any place else to
1:39:02	go they are stuck on the streets they
1:39:04	they
1:39:05	they have to spend their day somewhere
1:39:08	uh
1:39:08	okay but
1:39:10	just keep it down right
1:39:12	don't become an obstacle to people who
1:39:15	are going about their business don't
1:39:18	appear to be a threat
1:39:20	you know there's a way to look like a
1:39:22	threat and there's a way to not look
1:39:23	like a threat despite your circumstances
1:39:26	so it's just your stance
1:39:29	uh when you're in life so
1:39:32	comments on that
1:39:34	seems like there's general consensus on
1:39:36	this
1:39:38	move on to the next one okay and and we
1:39:40	recognize too that we're not asking
1:39:42	council to approve these are just
1:39:43	conceptual ideas that you know and
1:39:45	obviously there's gonna be details and
1:39:47	it may come back looking different than
1:39:48	what you know i'm explaining or what you
1:39:50	see and obviously we'll cross over we
1:39:52	get to it
1:39:53	i would just like to
1:39:54	make sure i'm answering counselor west
1:39:56	question deputy chief halverson if you
1:39:58	would clarify
1:39:59	the current law on the open container in
1:40:01	case i have mischaracterized it
1:40:10	so yes currently uh establishments that
1:40:13	sell alcohol uh cannot allow open
1:40:15	containers to go outside the building
1:40:17	except for those that are licensed to
1:40:19	have like a seating area outside of
1:40:21	their outside of their business but then
1:40:23	they're responsible to make sure that
1:40:26	those
1:40:27	open alcohol aren't leaving the licensed
1:40:29	area
1:40:30	correct okay that was my understanding
1:40:32	as well so thank you
1:40:34	thanks sir
1:40:39	um
1:40:39	[Music]
1:40:40	so moving on okay so obstruction
1:40:42	ordinances so again this uh some
1:40:44	jurisdictions have had success with uh
1:40:46	having
1:40:47	ordinances that would prohibit blocking
1:40:50	public rights away sidewalks
1:40:52	roadways different areas like that again
1:40:55	um
1:40:56	you know i'm not pointing to anybody in
1:40:58	particular but we're you know all all
1:41:00	familiar with with john downtown and and
1:41:03	we've had as much as john is not a
1:41:06	problem otherwise we have had a lot of
1:41:07	complaints from many of the business
1:41:09	owners downtown many people call just
1:41:11	because they're concerned about him and
1:41:12	we still go and have a conversation make
1:41:14	sure he's okay but we do get concerns
1:41:16	about you know his multiple shopping
1:41:19	carts in his mobile
1:41:21	or recreational vehicle or whatever you
1:41:22	want to call it uh that's you know
1:41:24	taking up a significant portion of the
1:41:26	the area around the business and from
1:41:28	the business owner's perspective it's
1:41:30	limiting customers to come into their
1:41:31	business so we you know right now we
1:41:34	don't have the ability to you know force
1:41:37	him to move uh generally speaking he has
1:41:40	been compliant so i don't want to
1:41:41	mischaracterize this but but that there
1:41:43	are other similar issues that we've seen
1:41:45	with individuals from the property he's
1:41:46	not the only one
1:41:49	and again i'm i'm in support of of this
1:41:56	could you talk about again exactly how
1:41:58	that works again
1:42:01	what would be your criteria for
1:42:06	what an obstruction is at any given time
1:42:09	for me i guess i'd have to look and see
1:42:11	i haven't actually seen the wording from
1:42:12	some of the other ordinances but for me
1:42:14	it would be somebody that you know is is
1:42:16	blocking a substantial portion of a you
1:42:19	know public or pedestrian thoroughfare
1:42:21	so that somebody that's you know in a
1:42:23	wheelchair or coming through with a
1:42:24	stroller uh you know has has to either
1:42:27	you know go significantly out of their
1:42:28	way to go around the items
1:42:31	so something along those lines that you
1:42:33	know basically causing you know
1:42:36	significant movement
1:42:38	okay this wouldn't be like a a group of
1:42:43	people
1:42:44	standing in the sidewalk no not not not
1:42:47	because that would be loitering in
1:42:48	essence and so we can't prohibit that so
1:42:50	it would just be the goods or
1:42:52	okay possessions
1:42:54	all right our counselor if you want i
1:42:57	could read very quickly the portland
1:42:59	ordinance says it's unlawful for any
1:43:01	person to obstruct their cause to be
1:43:02	obstructed any roadway curb or sidewalk
1:43:06	by leaving or placing any object
1:43:07	material or article which may prevent
1:43:09	free passage over any part of such
1:43:11	street or sidewalk area
1:43:14	okay thanks
1:43:16	thanks jimmy i mean again in thinking
1:43:18	about this in the context of what's
1:43:20	expected of downtown business owners i
1:43:22	mean we have to get a sandwich board
1:43:24	permit to not obstruct the sidewalk so
1:43:27	it's
1:43:28	it is
1:43:29	trying to look at it in a diplomatic
1:43:32	sense so
1:43:37	okay if there's no other comments on
1:43:38	this one it seems like
1:43:41	is everybody okay with saying there's
1:43:42	general consensus to move forward
1:43:44	okay
1:43:45	and the exclusion zone as i recall would
1:43:47	say that if a person has committed an
1:43:49	offense
1:43:51	uh two or two or three times to be
1:43:53	determined i guess within an area then
1:43:56	they would be excluded for a period of
1:43:58	90 or more days from that area and then
1:44:01	you also said that if it were a serious
1:44:02	offense like you know sexual assault or
1:44:04	something
1:44:05	would be one offense
1:44:07	i think that is completely reasonable
1:44:09	and extremely fair
1:44:11	i agree
1:44:14	and mayor i i well i will add that this
1:44:16	is one of the ones that has
1:44:18	i don't know if controversials were but
1:44:20	has had some challenges similar to
1:44:22	some of the letters you received during
1:44:23	the unlawful transfer ordinance um so
1:44:26	just you know full disclosure but uh
1:44:27	okay but most there are still there are
1:44:29	many cities that are
1:44:31	operating with this ordinance and have
1:44:32	been for many years i think bend has
1:44:34	been in place since 2015. yeah and i
1:44:36	wouldn't go on further to note that this
1:44:38	is something that the council wished
1:44:40	staff to pursue this is one that
1:44:43	most likely would generate
1:44:45	the desire to have another work session
1:44:47	possibly to discuss more about
1:44:50	particularly
1:44:51	looking at also
1:44:54	staffing and some of those details
1:44:58	yeah again i'm i'm all for addressing
1:45:00	bad behavior but
1:45:02	and i'd certainly like to know more
1:45:04	about
1:45:05	how this works and and
1:45:07	what
1:45:08	is i'm glad that they've been out there
1:45:10	for a while so we can gain from
1:45:12	experience of other municipalities and
1:45:14	how it's worked for them and how they've
1:45:16	refined it
1:45:18	and just briefly related to this we hear
1:45:21	a lot of anecdotal
1:45:23	comments about
1:45:25	many individuals not feeling safe on the
1:45:28	river walk
1:45:29	i don't know if it's realistic
1:45:31	if the police still has a bike patrol
1:45:34	because obviously you can't drive along
1:45:36	the riverwalk in most areas
1:45:38	so
1:45:39	i just think
1:45:41	a friendly police presence might cut
1:45:44	down some of these behaviors i don't
1:45:46	know maybe i'm pie in the sky but i just
1:45:49	thought i'd throw that out there well
1:45:51	and thank you councillor we have been
1:45:53	looking for alternatives to
1:45:56	spending
1:45:57	you know an expensive officer to do some
1:45:59	of these things too
1:46:00	because they you know with limited
1:46:02	resources they're out there handling
1:46:03	calls on a fairly regular basis um again
1:46:05	as i mentioned the other day we're
1:46:07	looking at an intern from the college
1:46:09	and perhaps uh putting her in uniform
1:46:11	and putting in our little electric
1:46:12	bubble car that we've had and we've
1:46:14	bought new batteries for so i'd like to
1:46:16	get that operational up and down the
1:46:17	river walk just for the you know
1:46:19	visibility and this individual call
1:46:21	things in that don't look right and
1:46:23	driving that downtown we just had a
1:46:25	conversation this morning about bicycles
1:46:26	we may need to pick up a new one or two
1:46:29	and
1:46:30	again now the staffing has improved
1:46:32	since the same time last year we have
1:46:34	some more capacity some of it may
1:46:36	require some overtime to do that without
1:46:38	drawing resources from other areas but
1:46:40	that is definitely something we're
1:46:41	looking at so we'd love to have higher
1:46:43	visibility and and the positive context
1:46:46	like i mentioned earlier so thank you
1:46:48	and i i just want to use it this moment
1:46:51	to kind of reiterate um
1:46:53	the importance i think of lighting along
1:46:56	the riverwalk too which i think would be
1:46:58	an initial upfront expense certainly
1:47:02	depending on who owns that the property
1:47:07	and also
1:47:08	uh to point out what cine price
1:47:10	mentioned at the last host meeting uh is
1:47:13	this is and of course we all know this
1:47:15	especially the department heads um that
1:47:17	it's not just a downtown issue
1:47:20	we're seeing a lot more activity i know
1:47:22	around pier 39 and kind of
1:47:24	uh certainly in talking with john who's
1:47:27	um
1:47:28	sometimes relocated out there so
1:47:30	just cr
1:47:32	reiterating you know creating more
1:47:34	awareness that it that it is uh on the
1:47:37	east and west end of towns as well
1:47:44	okay next topic
1:47:46	uh so
1:47:47	see the rest of my i think is really
1:47:49	more work on our end um again you know
1:47:52	we're we're dealing with some resources
1:47:54	a lot of the stuff it's either myself or
1:47:56	the deputy chief or we have to pull an
1:47:57	officer in off the field to do some
1:47:59	research uh i suspect that there's lots
1:48:02	and lots of good examples out there that
1:48:04	other agencies other jurisdictions have
1:48:05	already done we don't want to reinvent
1:48:07	the wheel
1:48:09	we can also learn from failed
1:48:11	experiments too as some of them have
1:48:13	been in the news lately and we've all
1:48:15	had an opportunity to see those so i
1:48:17	think
1:48:18	that's one of the area we need to put
1:48:20	some resources into in terms of doing
1:48:22	that kind of research and maybe you know
1:48:24	asking the college and looking at some
1:48:25	of those things too that are less
1:48:27	expensive so anyway that that that part
1:48:29	is on us we will explore some of these
1:48:31	are more informational in terms of just
1:48:33	some of the more work that we'd like to
1:48:34	do to find again like we talked like you
1:48:36	mentioned mayor about alternatives to
1:48:38	enforcement some of the tools that we
1:48:40	don't have right now you know for the
1:48:43	issuing citations and people not
1:48:44	appearing we need to find better ways to
1:48:46	to address that and hold people
1:48:48	accountable
1:48:50	as part of that i wonder if uh
1:48:52	something you're probably already doing
1:48:54	but seeing whether
1:48:56	others have found any creative ways to
1:48:59	create consequences that are actually a
1:49:02	deterrent
1:49:04	if somebody has come up with something
1:49:06	somewhere that seems to work in that way
1:49:10	that would certainly be helpful
1:49:14	thank you
1:49:17	so on these next the bulletized items
1:49:19	you want to go through those one at a
1:49:21	time as well because this was one for
1:49:22	some specific guidance actually i was i
1:49:25	was we were not looking for guidance we
1:49:26	were saying that these are things that
1:49:27	we're going we're just looking to know
1:49:28	if we want to say no well i mean if
1:49:31	there's something if there's something
1:49:32	that it was something that i think
1:49:34	they're all great ideas saying extending
1:49:35	the property watch program to public
1:49:37	property is absolutely the right thing
1:49:38	to do i'm it's too bad we missed it
1:49:40	around the first time and i know you've
1:49:43	reached out to uh the sunday market
1:49:45	folks and local business owners
1:49:46	regarding the picnic tables and they're
1:49:48	all in support of removing those
1:49:51	so yeah
1:49:52	march on i would say and i just want to
1:49:54	clarify on that whole the picnic table
1:49:56	issue though
1:49:57	this all falls into the crime prevention
1:49:59	through environmental design issue part
1:50:00	of the concept is um you look for design
1:50:04	opportunities so that
1:50:07	people feel safe and you don't create
1:50:09	niches or nooks
1:50:11	for
1:50:13	activities to occur
1:50:15	that
1:50:16	maybe
1:50:19	cause some problems and then and this is
1:50:21	just a case where this is a nook where
1:50:24	some
1:50:25	there's activities that have been
1:50:26	occurring that have been causing
1:50:28	problems and so it's it's trying to
1:50:31	address this issue of removing this
1:50:34	um
1:50:35	the the area is still there
1:50:38	but it provides
1:50:40	i mean a place where
1:50:42	you know that there's
1:50:44	clear vision all the way through there
1:50:47	and i don't disagree because i don't
1:50:49	have a better idea but there is
1:50:51	something troublesome about having to
1:50:53	remove what
1:50:55	probably was put in as a public amenity
1:50:57	initially in order to address the
1:51:00	problem it's sort of like yeah i will
1:51:02	say that it's a bit of a remnant from
1:51:04	when
1:51:04	that whole area was a a flush uh
1:51:08	um platform going from exchange street
1:51:11	all the way over to uh duane yeah and
1:51:14	it's kind of a remnant of what was there
1:51:18	before the uh
1:51:20	you know when the safeway slab was still
1:51:21	in place
1:51:25	so the only thing that strikes me i i
1:51:27	guess i just
1:51:29	a little surprise that on the property
1:51:32	watch thing that um that the city which
1:51:36	needs to give permission to the police
1:51:39	to
1:51:40	watch our property
1:51:42	so i've just so could you talk about
1:51:44	that a little bit more yeah so i mean
1:51:46	this is a case where
1:51:48	um
1:51:49	you know for property rights to occur
1:51:53	there is the city
1:51:55	um
1:51:56	has buildings and facilities that are
1:51:59	just like
1:52:01	gimmery shoes
1:52:02	and
1:52:04	you know to be able to have that
1:52:06	um that same ability to
1:52:09	move somebody
1:52:11	off uh if and in off hours that would be
1:52:14	kind of the same approach i'll tell you
1:52:16	that there have been
1:52:18	um
1:52:18	it really has not been an issue until
1:52:20	recently
1:52:22	and so
1:52:23	there's been some discussion as to
1:52:25	where they're going to be different
1:52:27	standards between different departments
1:52:29	and so that's why i said hey if this has
1:52:33	become an issue
1:52:34	in one particular facility we should
1:52:37	have the same standard all the way
1:52:39	across city the city
1:52:41	buildings and
1:52:42	and
1:52:43	structures
1:52:45	so does this fall in the same category
1:52:48	as prohibiting camping on public
1:52:50	property i mean it's again it's a
1:52:52	public space is it not and aren't there
1:52:57	legal issues on that apparent i guess
1:52:59	not because we actually amended the
1:53:02	the city council amended the city code
1:53:03	last year to prohibit
1:53:05	camping on on public spaces
1:53:09	which but just so that
1:53:12	people just hanging out isn't camping so
1:53:15	that again i'm trying to equate the two
1:53:17	i just want to be clear make sure we're
1:53:18	not
1:53:19	getting into some place where we
1:53:22	this has been vetted i guess
1:53:24	by your by yourself and staff
1:53:27	to say that we're
1:53:29	we can clearly do this and again i'm i'm
1:53:31	still surprised that if it's public
1:53:33	property that we have to go into
1:53:35	property watch that isn't already
1:53:39	you know perhaps counselor uh
1:53:41	misunderstanding something
1:53:43	i think one of the distinctions is we're
1:53:44	talking about a trespass violation and
1:53:46	so in order for us to trespass somebody
1:53:48	we have to have the permission of the
1:53:49	owner so that's pretty specific to
1:53:51	trespass violations
1:53:53	and without the owner in this case the
1:53:55	city which would be probably the city
1:53:57	council would be the authorized person
1:54:00	it's not practical to call a council
1:54:03	member the mayor in the middle of the
1:54:04	night say is it okay if we trespass
1:54:05	somebody now this could be a city
1:54:07	attorney question can that authorization
1:54:10	be you know delegated down to even a
1:54:13	police officer level you know that that
1:54:14	person has that the mayor's authority to
1:54:16	do that and and that might be something
1:54:18	we could explore because i kind of
1:54:20	thought about that before myself yeah so
1:54:22	it would be certainly it's
1:54:24	accomplished the same thing and it might
1:54:26	be a simpler way to get there too but
1:54:29	i'm just curious yeah but i'm not
1:54:31	against the the concept of
1:54:33	you know director pearson just pointed
1:54:35	out some issues at the library people
1:54:38	were staff entrance
1:54:40	people
1:54:40	hanging out
1:54:42	the staff entrance is appealing because
1:54:44	of the two garbage cans over there
1:54:47	and
1:54:48	they
1:54:49	tend to pull them in front of the staff
1:54:51	entrance and then they're there all
1:54:52	night and staff have walked up in the
1:54:53	morning and somebody's there
1:54:55	you know i will say in that case we just
1:54:57	tell them they can't be there or we need
1:54:58	to be able to okay can't block the
1:55:00	entrance
1:55:02	and it's actually all entrances to the
1:55:04	library sure sure but the the example
1:55:06	that was given earlier
1:55:08	the other advantage to signing public
1:55:10	properties up for the property watch
1:55:11	program is it allows you to to post them
1:55:14	you know with that same placard that are
1:55:16	on private buildings and
1:55:18	i've seen it myself that the simply
1:55:20	posting that property watch placard with
1:55:22	the rules underneath it does act as a
1:55:24	deterrent so i think that'll be
1:55:25	beneficial so even if it wasn't required
1:55:27	to post it just having it posted on the
1:55:29	on the door
1:55:30	really helps a lot and sorry quick
1:55:33	follow-up question that explanation was
1:55:35	really helpful about the trespassing
1:55:36	violations um
1:55:38	would someone
1:55:40	would the type of behavior that would
1:55:43	result in a trespass be something that
1:55:46	would be considered to be
1:55:49	for instance public drinking or
1:55:50	aggressive behavior or would it just be
1:55:53	the the presence of individuals in a
1:55:55	particular spot where
1:55:57	someone you know necessarily didn't want
1:56:00	them to to be there
1:56:03	right you would not need to have an
1:56:05	additional violation order to constitute
1:56:07	a trespass if the owner simply does not
1:56:09	want individuals on that property after
1:56:11	hours or any time of day for that matter
1:56:14	their authority is that we can trespass
1:56:16	that individual
1:56:17	again you know because of resources in
1:56:18	all likelihood we're simply going to
1:56:20	move them on it gives us the authority
1:56:22	to contact them and move them on
1:56:24	i suppose in more aggravated
1:56:26	circumstances you know it could result
1:56:28	in a citation or an arrest if that
1:56:30	person immediately returns those kind of
1:56:32	situations
1:56:33	um so that would be thank you hopefully
1:56:36	answer your question one more point too
1:56:37	i'll just say for councillor brownson is
1:56:39	that eric just reminded me too part of
1:56:41	the other reason that the property watch
1:56:43	makes sense on public property is that
1:56:45	the officer doesn't always know who has
1:56:47	given permission to some individuals to
1:56:49	actually be on the property as well
1:56:50	library may have given a you know one
1:56:52	particular individual you know an
1:56:54	exception to be there or there may be
1:56:55	other examples like that in other
1:56:57	departments in the city
1:56:59	so it would be difficult for them to
1:57:00	confirm who really has the authority to
1:57:02	be on that property or not so by having
1:57:04	that document advance you know it pretty
1:57:06	much gives the officer blanket authority
1:57:07	to deal with that unless there's an
1:57:08	exclusion
1:57:10	and then one more thing on the actual
1:57:12	notice that the mayor mentioned we're
1:57:14	looking at now having color-coded ones
1:57:16	so we know in advance you know if it's
1:57:18	expired because it's a renewal program
1:57:20	that we renew every year so the notice
1:57:22	will be posted if for example the 2019
1:57:24	will probably be green and the officer
1:57:26	can drive by and see it without having
1:57:27	to go confirm a date or go into the
1:57:29	computer database
1:57:30	in order to
1:57:33	enforce
1:57:34	the notice okay
1:57:37	thank you
1:57:39	well i think it's been a very productive
1:57:41	session i really appreciate all the work
1:57:42	that went into the presentations and the
1:57:44	work you do on an ongoing basis you know
1:57:46	you know emphasize again to the
1:57:47	community that this this by no means was
1:57:49	the city council's
1:57:51	overall approach to
1:57:53	homelessness in our community
1:57:56	we'll have a lot more work sessions in
1:57:57	the future on different aspects
1:58:00	of work that's ongoing to assist people
1:58:02	suffering from homelessness this was
1:58:04	this was our session on
1:58:06	dealing with one tiny segment of the
1:58:08	overall problem which is that there's a
1:58:10	small per
1:58:11	percentage of people
1:58:13	uh
1:58:14	many of whom are suffering from
1:58:15	homelessness but it's a small percentage
1:58:16	of those that population that has been
1:58:19	uh
1:58:21	directly negatively impacting livability
1:58:24	quality of life and our local economy
1:58:26	and i appreciate those who spoke
1:58:29	those who came today to listen and those
1:58:31	who got up and spoke and your comments
1:58:33	and hopefully by addressing these issues
1:58:36	it allows us to put more of our
1:58:37	resources and effort than into assisting
1:58:40	the many homeless people that
1:58:42	that need and want assistance in our
1:58:43	community
1:58:45	and mr mayor i think it also
1:58:47	we were also looking for direction on
1:58:49	the camping the uh coming whether we're
1:58:51	going to move forward on that this
1:58:52	summer we could table that for another
1:58:53	session if you'd like and then it's a
1:58:54	time or have a conversation today but
1:58:57	we are looking for direction on that as
1:58:59	well whether we want to move forward on
1:59:01	that because i know that's going to be
1:59:02	coming up sooner than later yeah and so
1:59:05	my my input would be to go ahead and
1:59:07	continue as as you did last year with
1:59:09	the same process the advanced
1:59:11	notifications reaching out ahead of time
1:59:13	to
1:59:14	all the community organizations so they
1:59:16	know it's coming and so that the
1:59:17	information is ready to give people that
1:59:19	hey we're going to clear the campground
1:59:20	on this date and here's here's how your
1:59:22	client contact cca here's how you
1:59:24	contact the warming center
1:59:25	so my guidance be yes
1:59:29	yeah i i agree i agree with that um
1:59:32	and and this session
1:59:34	has been about uh
1:59:37	putting out
1:59:39	getting some new sticks
1:59:41	and one of the things we haven't been
1:59:43	able to talk to and i hope we talk in
1:59:44	the future a lot more about
1:59:47	carrots and and really positive
1:59:49	solutions um i don't
1:59:52	it's it's really easy for this this is
1:59:54	the easy stuff for the city the city we
1:59:56	get to do that we we can pass ordinances
1:59:58	we can uh prohibit behav things
2:00:02	it's a lot harder for us to help with uh
2:00:05	services and and getting people to
2:00:08	services so
2:00:10	that's one of the things i do appreciate
2:00:11	about or the approach that we took with
2:00:13	the camping is the
2:00:16	wrapping it in with with uh trying
2:00:19	to give the opportunity more opportunity
2:00:21	for those that are willing to accept
2:00:23	service yeah i would i would definitely
2:00:26	agree with that uh what mayor brownson
2:00:28	just said um
2:00:31	counselor whoops
2:00:35	and mayor jones um is that you know with
2:00:39	every ordinance um i would love to see a
2:00:41	potential solution and i know that there
2:00:44	are a lot of solutions that are already
2:00:46	in place um and and we are certainly i
2:00:49	feel that the council is
2:00:51	uh looking at ways to to further support
2:00:55	those and the work that for instance
2:00:56	that clots up community action
2:00:59	and helping hands
2:01:01	does
2:01:02	and
2:01:04	i know
2:01:05	chief spalding just in my many
2:01:07	conversations with you
2:01:10	that
2:01:12	a lot of what you do if if not
2:01:14	everything there it is with heart so
2:01:17	there is a lot of consideration going
2:01:19	into these ordinances and and the way
2:01:21	that they are implemented
2:01:24	which is why so many of them are easy
2:01:26	for us to support
2:01:29	and i would i would certainly say that
2:01:31	about
2:01:32	how you've dealt with the camping
2:01:34	situation
2:01:35	just the amount of effort on on you and
2:01:37	your staff's part in notifying people
2:01:39	ahead of time and um again looking at
2:01:41	alternative solutions and places for
2:01:44	people to go
2:01:46	so i appreciate that thank you
2:01:48	and and mayor if i could just offer two
2:01:50	caveats on this topic um
2:01:52	traditionally or historically at least
2:01:54	in my limited history here we generally
2:01:56	responded to the camping com you know
2:01:58	situation based on complaints we haven't
2:02:00	proactively gone out the camps out um it
2:02:03	doesn't change the fact that we still
2:02:04	have concerns you know not only for our
2:02:06	safety the fire firefighter safety and
2:02:08	the the homeless individuals that are in
2:02:10	the camps you know that that's obviously
2:02:12	a safety concern but um and so typically
2:02:16	if we get a call we don't always know
2:02:17	exactly or so we're in a particular area
2:02:19	and we
2:02:20	typically will locate several camps so
2:02:23	uh
2:02:24	again unless there's some additional
2:02:25	direction i mean our philosophy would
2:02:27	probably be similar we're not going to
2:02:28	go out there and aggressively you know
2:02:30	track down encampments but if we get
2:02:32	complaints from people you know we want
2:02:34	to be responsive to our community so we
2:02:37	would do it with that and the second
2:02:38	caveat is that this is always going to
2:02:41	be based on our resources which are
2:02:43	limited not just the police department
2:02:45	but also public works and the other
2:02:47	departments that assist us in these
2:02:49	events
2:02:50	as you remember last year we took out
2:02:52	four tons of garbage and
2:02:55	you know so there are problems
2:02:56	associated with this and part of it's
2:02:58	based on calls for service weather you
2:02:59	know and those kinds of things so we
2:03:02	will you know work these as you know
2:03:05	time and resources and weather and all
2:03:07	those conditions
2:03:09	hold out
2:03:11	very good thank
2:03:12	you one question
2:03:15	i also support that action
2:03:18	is it possible to
2:03:19	track
2:03:21	what happens to the people who are
2:03:23	removed from the woods for example i
2:03:25	know we know you mentioned that two
2:03:27	individuals were
2:03:28	put into permanent housing hopefully
2:03:31	well i i don't want to put uh elaine
2:03:33	bruce on the spot but uh i'm going to
2:03:34	put elaine bruce on the spot well not
2:03:36	before what happened last year oh okay
2:03:39	as we move forward undoubtedly this you
2:03:42	will have some campsites you're going to
2:03:44	going to need to remove individuals from
2:03:47	i'd be really interested to know if they
2:03:49	seek service
2:03:51	what kind of service did they get and
2:03:54	how many did not i mean they were given
2:03:56	the option they qualified for say um
2:03:59	placement at helping hands but they
2:04:02	chose not to use it that would be really
2:04:05	helpful for me
2:04:06	okay no and that actually would be
2:04:08	relatively simple to do oh okay great we
2:04:10	do know the names of the individuals for
2:04:12	the most part i i do know that two of
2:04:14	them um last year one of them
2:04:16	had intended to go to hawaii anyway and
2:04:18	they're the one to florida so we we knew
2:04:20	that they had moved on you know but uh
2:04:23	yeah we can absolutely do that thank you
2:04:27	okay you have another topic yeah so i'm
2:04:31	if you're ready to move on um there's
2:04:32	one additional item that i spoke to the
2:04:35	mayor about on a much much much lighter
2:04:39	subject
2:04:41	that i'd like to be able to get some
2:04:42	council
2:04:43	instruction on and it deals with the
2:04:46	fact we're moving into parade season
2:04:48	this summer
2:04:49	i'm
2:04:50	i'm disappointed that uh former
2:04:53	councillor cindy price just uh left
2:04:55	because this actually was a topic that
2:04:57	was brought up last year by her
2:04:59	so we have two parades that are coming
2:05:00	up this summer uh one is the pride
2:05:03	parade in june and then there's regatta
2:05:05	parade in august
2:05:08	i'm going to say that
2:05:10	last year
2:05:11	councillor price
2:05:13	asked the council
2:05:15	how
2:05:16	they wanted to participate with these
2:05:20	parades um and there was a discussion
2:05:23	kind of
2:05:24	towards the the end of
2:05:26	the the sign up period for the pride
2:05:29	parade whether the council wanted to
2:05:31	enter and it just didn't work out but
2:05:33	what at the direction of council we
2:05:35	purchased a banner uh if the council
2:05:38	wished to participate in
2:05:40	in that parade
2:05:42	um which is going to be on
2:05:44	uh july excuse me june
2:05:47	the
2:05:49	8th
2:05:50	and then the next item is with regards
2:05:53	to the regatta parade and chief
2:05:54	crutchfield is going to probably be
2:05:55	learning this for the first time um in
2:05:57	the regatta parade there's been a
2:05:59	history where
2:06:00	city councilors right on top of the
2:06:02	ladder truck
2:06:03	um
2:06:04	um during the regatta parade um and
2:06:08	um
2:06:09	there was some discussion last year
2:06:11	where the council wanted to
2:06:13	uh
2:06:14	um be behind
2:06:17	a banner entered in the in the parade as
2:06:19	its own entry
2:06:21	so we're just wanting to get some
2:06:23	guidance as to whether or not how we
2:06:25	need to sign you up uh and whether or
2:06:27	not there's any interest in
2:06:28	participating in these events as
2:06:31	the astoria city council
2:06:33	i would love to do that
2:06:35	both
2:06:37	so i'm fully in support of us being in
2:06:39	both parades
2:06:41	and then specifically council hermann it
2:06:43	would be like so for the for the regatta
2:06:45	parade for example do you want to ride
2:06:46	in an official vehicle
2:06:48	or be behind a banner about that that
2:06:50	might be challenging but yeah um where
2:06:53	there's a will there's a way
2:06:54	right so we could work out that detail
2:06:56	later
2:06:57	um but yeah i mean i think it could be
2:06:59	worked around
2:07:01	and then in the pride parade i was
2:07:02	planning to walk in it as far as then
2:07:04	it's just a question of do we want to
2:07:05	all walk together behind a banner or
2:07:07	just
2:07:08	be because you me you may for example be
2:07:10	is
2:07:14	you'll be in a different group well but
2:07:16	i would be um
2:07:17	i mean i've done both parades for years
2:07:20	um
2:07:21	just as members of a member of other
2:07:23	organizations but um i would be super
2:07:26	excited to be part of the council group
2:07:28	and
2:07:29	both or both parades
2:07:32	yeah i'm game except for regatta
2:07:34	i'll be on the river
2:07:36	we're preparing to be on the river for
2:07:37	regatta so
2:07:39	so yeah i guess we'll just deal with the
2:07:40	first the the june parade first since
2:07:42	that's the closest
2:07:45	i'll be happy to walk behind a banner
2:07:46	too if my colleagues would like to
2:07:48	walk together behind the banner good
2:07:50	yeah last year at least councillor price
2:07:53	had asked whether or not there's
2:07:54	interest you know and having counselors
2:07:55	and if there's anybody
2:07:57	in the organization who else also wanted
2:07:59	to be able to participate so we can
2:08:00	coordinate that we have at least with
2:08:02	regatta and we have entries and regatta
2:08:05	parade from the various departments
2:08:06	parks has participated as an entry the
2:08:08	library is
2:08:09	so different departments have have
2:08:11	participated in those events as as
2:08:13	entries into that um individually to be
2:08:16	able to highlight their various programs
2:08:18	and of course we have the
2:08:20	the the fire department the police
2:08:22	department and the public works staff
2:08:24	the street sweeper at the end um you
2:08:27	know for for that uh that event so
2:08:30	okay that's that provides me with the
2:08:31	information i need okay and i'll just
2:08:33	one bit of information for the council
2:08:36	i'll just pass on not asking for a
2:08:38	response i
2:08:39	saw on social media that there's a group
2:08:42	maybe
2:08:43	gathering people to come to our may 6
2:08:45	meeting the next meeting to
2:08:47	encourage us to enact a ban on plastic
2:08:49	bags and
2:08:51	just representing myself not the whole
2:08:53	council i gave feedback that because
2:08:55	house bill 2509 seems to be progressing
2:08:58	steadily through
2:09:00	salem
2:09:01	i would prefer personally not to spend
2:09:03	staff resources
2:09:05	drafting and enacting a local ordinance
2:09:07	that'll just be superseded by the state
2:09:09	ordinance i'd like to follow the
2:09:11	progress of hp 2509 and hopefully it
2:09:13	just gets passed and then we're done i
2:09:15	know it passed the house
2:09:17	i just read that today okay i agree with
2:09:19	you though so i don't want to waste
2:09:20	staff time that's just my personal view
2:09:22	so that when that conversation comes up
2:09:24	on may 6 if it does then you'll already
2:09:26	know how i feel about it
2:09:29	thanks you bet all right thank you very
2:09:32	much we're dismissed