Park Camping to Continue For Now

 By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

Last March 2020, City of Salem Resolution 2020-18 prohibited public gatherings on public property and suspended the camping ban in Wallace Marine and Cascades Gateway parks.  The number of campers in those parks swelled into the hundreds.  Total somewhere in the neighborhood of 600.

Campers have limited areas within which to camp*

After months of pressure from SEMCA Chair Cory Poole to reinstate the camping restrictions, City Council last month asked City Manager Steve Powers to return to Council Monday night with a wind-up plan.  See News from the Continuum (23 December 2020).  Well, really, it was Powers's idea. 

The staff report's five-sentence summary:  

A preliminary plan to end camping at the undeveloped portions of Cascades Gateway Park and Wallace Marine Park is outlined in Attachment One to this staff report. COVID-19 has highlighted the region’s shelter deficiencies.  Ending camping today risks Covid-19 transmission and unsafe public-right-of-way camping. The preliminary plan’s key elements include preventing Covid-19 transmission, opening sheltering options, and communicating respectfully. We will work with partners to develop solutions and implement the safe end of camping at the parks.

In a nutshell, given the limited capacity to offer appropriate alternatives to park camping, reinstating the undeveloped-area-camping restriction in the short term just isn't feasible.  See the staff report and "Safe Park Camping Unwind Plan" here.  The five-page plan attached to the staff report is divided into sections: principles, timeline, "possible unintended consequences", communications, housing/shelter options, siting, logistics, and budget.  The report (Item 6.f.) is information only, and requires no action by City Council.  The documents contain no surprises, or even new information, but are more like snapshots of the current situation.  Unless extended, the emergency declaration lifting the restrictions expires June 1, 2021. 

December 21, 2020 Meeting on Plan to End Camping

Gretchen Bennett in the City Manager's office met in December with area homeless services providers to seek advice on the plan.  Poole also attended the meeting, which was open to the public.  

One disturbing rhetorical trend displayed in the staff report (which is titled, "Sheltering in Cascades Gateway Park and Wallace Marine Park") and plan was the tendency to lump the terms shelter and camping together as "shelter." 

Camping (tent or car), is not, however,  "intended for human habitation" -- a fact that's a matter of HUD policy, and that the City admits, e.g. by stating "City parks are not intended for human habitation, and camping in these locations is unsustainable."  Camping is, therefore, not "shelter", and the City should not confuse the City Council and public by suggesting in official documents that it is.    

1/12/21 update:  owing to numerous public comments and deliberations over a resolution condemning white supremacy and institutional racism, Council did not reach Item 6.f. until late in the evening (about 9:15).  After brief remarks by City Manager Powers, Gretchen Bennett gave a brief slide presentation, following which Councilors Nordyke, Lewis, Stapleton, Gonzalez and Phillips offered comments.  Nordyke acknowledged the strain that widespread homelessness has put on City staff/resources, and said that the City had had to "completely reconfigure" Gretchen Bennett's position.  Despite repeated recommendations from staff that the City should look for regional solutions (think Mid-Willamette Homeless Alliance), she told Council that they should consider creating a City office of homeless services, that the city was "big enough."  Lewis asked about vaccinating the campers, and noted that in six months, it is "quite possible" the shelter situation won't have changed very much, and Council might have to extend the emergency declaration.  Powers reminded Council that the emergency declaration was due to C19, not inadequate shelter capacity.  He said it was not realistic to wait to end the camping "program" until there was adequate shelter.  Stapleton asked Bennett to explain what the City was doing to encourage campers not to use park trees for firewood.  Gonzalez asked how "regular citizens" could help out.  Phillips said the City had no choice but to allow camping in the parks, and that it had been the right decision.  The Statesman published an article on the plan in advance of the meeting.  See Whitworth, W.  "Salem leaders outline plan to end homeless camping in city parks."  (11 January 2021, Statesman Journal.)

*See Whitworth, W.  "Flood concerns lead to Salem city officials limiting homeless camping in parks."  (31 December 2021, Statesman Journal.)