Agenda Packet 9-26-18 Work Session

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of 6 19 Online Q4: Prior to this survey, did you know about the City’s CORT program? SRI Phase 1 Q6.1: Prior to the present interview, did you know about the City’s CORT program? 0 25 50 75 100 Online Survey SRI Survey Phase I Yes No Yes No Bike Paths and Parks The safety of the area’s bike paths and parks were a dominant theme in the data. Respondents believed that the presence of homeless camps near bike paths and parks decreased the safety of the areas and had changed the way in which respondents utilized the bike paths and parks. For example, many people restricted their use of bike paths and parks to daylight hours only, would only use the areas if accompanied by their dog, or carried pepper spray. A small number of people stated they obtained conceal carry permits for firearms because of their fear of being attacked. Police Response Respondents were concerned about slow police response to non life threatening calls such as burglary and other property crime. Most attributed the slow response time to an overall lack of police officers. Many people commented that they believed if police were concentrating on a specific geographic area like Downtown, that decreased the police’s ability to respond quickly to other areas in the City. There was a strong nexus between increased number of police officers and faster response times. Less Dominant Themes There were several less dominant themes in the data that deserve mention because they were not present in the preliminary data analysis (N = 1,321, July 8, 2018), and therefore represent emergent trends. Many respondents reported they were concerned with traffic safety in Eugene, including issues of reckless driving, speeding, road rage, and red light runners. These issues have decreased the feeling of safety when utilizing Eugene’s roadways either by car, bike, or walking. A small number of respondents described their concerns about increased white supremacy activities, racism, and the increase of hate/bias crimes. It is important to mention this category because research has shown that these types of activities are typically underreported because of barriers including fear of reprisal from perpetrators, concerns about deportation, and general mistrust of law enforcement and judicial systems. Finally, a number of respondents commented on their concerns that if more social services were offered to homeless people, that would attract more homeless people to the area, seeking the additional services. This is called the “Magnet Myth” and has been shown to be largely inaccurate in other metropolitan areas, such as San Francisco (Laslavik, 2015). September 26, 2018, Work Session – Item 1