Laserfiche WebLink
generating more calls. They know that as long as there is an intolerant attitude in the <br />neighborhoods and a Homeless need for sleep, enforcing this law will be ineffective and -futile. <br />There is also Public Safety cost that is incurred every time a police officer and back -up is sent to <br />a car camping call. This is placing a heavy burden on tax payers which is avoidable and <br />unnecessary. <br />Public elected officials should realize that they are being manipulated into a secret agenda to <br />remove the Homeless from the city by ignoring their needs and harassing them every night when <br />they try to sleep. At least that is the perception the Homeless have, and for good reason. <br />Politicians should know how morally deficient it is to side with bigoted property owners <br />engaging in a Have /Have -Not War. <br />New signs are going up all over the city. No Parking, No Overnight Parking, and Co <br />Vehicle Parking Only. These all have the effect of denying the Homeless a place to. sleep. The <br />Homeless view these as displacement and more harassment. The signs might as well say "No <br />Homeless Allowed 1 . " This reminds me of the civil rights movement in the 60s 'when it was the <br />African Americans that were fighting for their civil liberties. The sign than was "No Coloreds <br />Allowed i" It was wrong then and it's wrong now. <br />It seems to me that people have been sleeping in vehicles fora every long time. why now should <br />it be made illegal? what is the real motivation behind overnight sleeping legislation? These laws <br />have the effect of turning good upstanding citizens into criminals, marginalizing and isolating <br />them from society because of financial hardship. For all the reasons mentioned these laws are <br />immoral, antisocial and discriminatory. They divide society based on affluence, reinforcing <br />conventional prejudice and bigotry while promoting class confrontation. The Haves/Have-Not <br />War. <br />Denying civil liberties is not the way to address the Homeless issue. <br />Tolerance and understanding is. <br />The Solution <br />As a society we must reflect in our laws moral attitudes like tolerance, understanding, and <br />humane treatment. that preserve the dignity for all our citizens including the poor. Laws need to <br />help bind our society together, not isolate groups of people because they no longer can afford <br />normal means of shelter. Laws like ordinance 20097 and 20255 show how we have strayed from <br />those ideals. we should do better and fix our laws. <br />I would start by modifying ordinance 20097 and 20255 to allow qualified citizens under a city <br />run program, to sleep in a legally registered vehicle on any public street in Eugene and Lane <br />County. The program will make a rudimentary criminal background check to ensure that a <br />candidate has no warrants or convictions of property crime in the last 5 years. If the candidate is <br />found clean the citizen is accepted into the program and is granted the right to sleep overnight in <br />their vehicle on our public streets. Two placards will be given the participant one for right and <br />left side of the vehicle. The placards should be highly reflective, water proof and state that this <br />citizen has been granted the right to park and sleep overnight and should not be disturbed. A <br />