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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 10, 2019)
20 Wednesday, April 10, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon LETTERS Continued from page 2 The article states <records provided by the Deschutes County Sheriff9s Office, total crimes reported in Sisters for 2018 numbered over 300. Homeless or transient people accounted for five to seven of those crimes.= Of the over 300 crimes committed in Sisters, how many are unsolved? I contacted the Sheriff9s office but crime statistics for Sisters are apparently unavailable. Using FBI national crime statistics, the national average for clearing burglary is 13 percent, for theft 22 percent and for violent crime 46 per- cent. Using a generous clearance rate of 50 percent for total crime in Sisters, that leaves a minimum of 150 unsolved crimes. How many of the over 150 unsolved crimes were committed by homeless or transient suspects? Why are Sisters crime numbers so high? 300 crimes in 2018 for Sisters is a crime rate of 147 per 1,000 residents. Bend is 26 per 1,000 residents, Redmond is 34 per 1,000 residents and Portland is 101 per 1,000 residents. Crime. A Rand Corporation study in Vancouver, Canada focused solely on property crime, deter- mined that winter homeless shelters cause a 56 per- cent increase in property crime. In another study, 62 percent of homeless interviewed admitted to engag- ing in criminal activity. In another study, 69 percent of single homeless interviewed admitted to being homeless because of substance abuse and addiction. In a recent documentary by Seattle9s KOMO news titled, <Seattle Is Dying,= homeless on the street admit the reason for being homeless is from sub- stance abuse and addiction. Quality-of-life incidents that negatively impact the community are not reflected in crime statistics. One recent incident of several involving homeless individuals was posted in the Community Watch of Sisters forum on Facebook: Two backpacks were found under bleachers in the little league baseball field during a cleanup. The backpacks had alcohol and marijuana inside. Two known homeless men apparently owned the backpacks and confronted the woman who found them. When the woman told the two men the Sheriff was contacted to take pos- session of the backpacks, one man became angry and aggressive. The angry man, later described as dangerous by a Sheriff9s deputy, committed a lewd gesture in front of the children present. Law enforcement staffing for Sisters is currently one deputy. As the number of homeless using the shelter grows, statistically, so will crime. Sisters spends just under $600,000 a year for one deputy which includes Sheriff resources. How much will it cost Sisters taxpayers to add more deputies and to use more Sheriff resources? JK Wells s s s To the Editor: My husband and I moved to Sisters in June of 2017. We currently live in the Village at Cold Springs on Williamson Avenue. We have been aware of the new development going in just east of us and the construction and upheaval to Trinity Street. Also we have been impacted with the new development to the east of us. We have a very uneven road, Trinity, which I hate to drive on several times a day. Hayden needed to tear up the street to attach the city for all electri- cal lines. They did this just before the big storm, so we have places that were dug up, but no dirt. Now we have some dirt and gravel but are still uneven, there are 12 of them. I have noticed the new devel- opment has a road ending on Williamson, so I have to assume that once finished it will continue onto Williamson, onto our very narrow street, only 24 feet wide. We have both been to the Planning Commission9s meetings about the new proposed Hayden Home to the west of us. We understand that the project will go forward. WE in the Village at Cold Springs have only been asking that our PRIVATE STREETS will be left alone. As has already been proven, these streets are only 24 feet wide, because the code at that time allowed it. Now the code seems to be changing to suit the demands of the city. At the first meeting a woman asked the com- missioners if any of the commissioners lived on the west side of town, NO hands went up. She then asked who lived on the east side of town and ALL hands went up. I think that shows how much understanding the Planning Commission has for our neighborhood. What our neighbors were try- ing to say is that the streets are VERY narrow with only enough room to park on one side of the street. There are only sidewalks on one side. How come when this neighborhood was created the code was adjusted to meet the new smaller street? Now it seems that since the city wants to use these streets, the code is being changed. We understand that the city wants to use our streets. But aren9t we part of the city, don9t our views count? This is a private community, our roads are private, taxes have been paid and repairs have been paid by our HOA! Why are we being ignored? Cece Montgomery s s s To the Editor: My husband and I got back from a brief winter getaway this past Friday, and on Sunday I finally found the time to sit down and read the March 27 issue of The Nugget. I was particularly interested in all related articles to the plight of Village at Cold Springs with Hayden Homes. After having read them, I was saddened for the residence of VCS, particularly those who live on Hill and Williamson, and righteously indignant that our City Planning Commission (excluding Jack Nagel) has seemingly disregarded those residents in favor of Hayden. Having wider streets merge into a more nar- row, privately owned and maintained street, is a See LETTERS on page 24