Meals Under Bridge On Shutdown

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

Courtesy Dan Sheets

The City posted the camp under Center Street Bridge for eviction next Tuesday, January 15.  See, Brynelson, T. and Alexander, R. "Salem to evict homeless camp at Marion Square Park." (9 January 2019, Salem Reporter.)

Jimmy Jones, Executive Director of the Mid Willamette Community Action Agency (MWVCAA) says the camp's been there three to four months.  The City's press release, issued several hours after the Salem Reporter article was published, appeared to blame Meals Under the Bridge (MUBs) for the situation, stating that the crime and unsafe/unsanitary conditions "confirm last year’s pilot effort to provide a single location for food distribution to the homeless was not successful."  

The "pilot" was the City's idea to place tables and barriers under the Marion Street Bridge, and allow the MUBs groups to reserve them free of charge, through its "Reserve a City Facility or Park" system.  

Marion Square Park is not listed among the available locations in the reservation system, and only the folks connected with MUBs knew about it.  CANDO, per usual, was not consulted, or informed.  Unsurprisingly, not everyone serving meals under the bridge used the system, so it was an imperfect method for finding out everyone's name and contact info, which appears to have been its primary purpose. 

Dan Sheets, who says he's "been facilitating meals feeding the homeless in Salem for 15 years" says now, "just today a first...sensing serious local government resistance." He also says that "City Police [are] telling downtown homeless community no one will be able to serve meals under Marion St.Bridge...no date or formal notification yet."  Later, after speaking with the city managers office, Sheets posted this message to FB:

Asking all meal providers under the Marion St.Bridge to "take a pause" for now due to safety issues there in recent months with the increased encampments. Guess there has been way to many police calls and incidents there and thus the camp clean out next Tuesday Jan 15th 8am and encouraging/enforcing no other activities that would have any groups in the area such as serving meals. I'll be calling and notifying my meal providers to take off for now as we hope this will be a temporary situation or another site will be acquired...which the city is also encouraging. The city is also encouraging discussions about the situation and my hope is to be back under the bridge soon after some "dust has settled" as that is the only and best site downtown to serve the Downtown Salem Homeless Community. We have served meals there for years with minimal safety concerns. The encampment has heightened safety issues and was encouraged by the picnic tables and fences installed last spring which all thought was a positive humane gesture by our fine City Parks Dept. but fencing/tables was used later for camping support and from the start was never enforced to clear.

Tables, barriers placed January 2018

Lt. Treven Upkes, Salem Police Department, told us that the picnic tables and fences, which the Parks Department placed last January, without notice to CANDO or the meal providers, will be removed on Tuesday, January 15.

All seem to agree that they were, overall, a bad idea.  So was not talking to CANDO before placing them.

It's not clear what options the MUBs folks have at this point.  They are aware that serving food can in some circumstances be considered expressive conduct, protected by the First Amendment.  And, the police don't want to get into "a big altercation", should people feel bound to continue providing meals in the area. 

1/11/19 Update: See Bach, J. and Barreda, V. "Salem Bans Volunteers from Feeding Homeless Under the Marion Street Bridge." (11 January 2019, Statesman Journal.) and Alexander, R. "With eviction looming for homeless camp, its residents and leaders left with questions." (11 January 2019, Salem Reporter.)

At a press conference Friday evening down at City Hall, Jones agreed to allow the MUBs folks to use the parking lot on the south side of 615 Commercial Street.  There is no shelter there, but no precipitation is forecast for the next several days.  Jones had previously offered to allow MUBs to serve meals inside The ARCHES Project day shelter, but capacity is limited to 89.  The City would have to agree, and meal/serving times might need to be adjusted.

It is by now evident that the disruption caused by the City's decision to combine the camp clean up with ending the City's "pilot" program was completely uncoordinated, unnecessary and disrespectful.   CANDO deserves better.

1/14/19 Update: See Barreda, V. "Homeless advocates rally under the Marion Street Bridge." (13 January 2019, Statesman Journal.)  About 20 people, Sunday evening, in support of the MUBs folks being allowed to continue operations under the bridge.  In the afternoon, the City released an "Update on camping situation under Marion Street Bridge", characterizing what happened on January 8 this way:

[A] team including staff from the Union Gospel Mission, Mid-Valley Community Action Agency's ARCHES program and City Vibe, joined the City in posting a notice prior to the January 15th clean-up, so people could get access to available services, remove their belongings, and leave the area under the Marion Street Bridge adjacent to Marion Square Park.

Wonder if UGM, ARCHES Project, and City Vibe staff knew that their outreach efforts would be publicly characterized as "joining the City in posting the notice."  We're guessing not.

1/15/19 Update: See Brynelson, T. "City, police, service providers prepare for homeless eviction Tuesday." (14 January 2019, Salem Reporter.) and "Marion Square Park homeless camp evicted, organizations offer aid." (15 January 2019, Salem Reporter.)

At the City Council meeting last night, the City Manager read a statement about the clean up.  See CCTV video here beginning at 17:00.  He stated that the removal of the tables/benches, placement of barriers under the bridges and "pausing the permits for meal distributions in the area are intended to discourage the return of the camps."  He also stated that "the City does not have the enforcement resources to continuously monitor the area."  He stated that staff would be re-evaluating the meal distribution program over the next 30 days, and that,  

The goal of the evaluation is to determine if there are better ways of managing the meal distributions with the site under the bridge no longer being available to help prevent unreasonable interference with public health, welfare, safety and recreation.

He stated that he expected that "the result [of the evaluation] will be an approach that will last, as far as...food distribution in the City parks."  Deputy Police Chief "Skip" Miller answered questions from Councilor Cook.  In response to her reference to the area under the bridge being "public property", he demurred, pointing out that it had always been posted ("no trespassing"), and that allowing people to use the area for food distribution "didn't work."

City Manager Steve Powers and Courtney Knox Busch

Altogether, it sounds like the City intends to allow meal distribution in Marion Square Park after the pause, but not under the bridge(s), which will be made inaccessible by barriers beginning tomorrow.  We asked the City for clarification, and were told that Courtney Knox Busch is the City's POC on this issue (as she is on the sobering center project).  Knox Busch is the proverbial stone wall when it comes to information sharing.

CANDO will be hosting a community conversation about the situation on Wednesday, January 23, from 5:30 to 7 at the First Christian Church at Marion and Cottage.  City reps and the MUBs folks are specially invited.  The purpose of the meeting is to share information and perspectives, ask questions, and discuss options.  Everyone is welcome, but capacity is limited to 40.

See Bach, J. "Salem police clear homeless camp under Marion Street Bridge; barriers go up Wednesday."  (15 January 2019, Statesman Journal."

1/17/19 Update: Barriers are up.  See Bach, J. "Homeless advocates see barriers as permanent end to Marion St bridge meals."  (16 January 2019, Statesman Journal.)  "The moves are aimed at stopping volunteers from serving meals under the bridge and preventing the homeless from establishing another encampment.  Rule-breakers could face trespassing charges, according to Salem police."

The article quotes Powers:

'No further decisions have been made at this time,' he said. 'As I mentioned at the City Council meeting, we are still evaluating the use of the park and will consider input from the Salem Parks and Recreation Board as well as those providing meals under the bridge.'  

About SPRAB providing input, Powers told the City Council Monday night that it might be consulted, not that it would be.