COMMUNITY Eugene, Lane County help fund another winter camp By Meg Dedolph OrtyifCm O&tiy fm&r&kJ The t ily of Eugene, in conjunction with the state and county, is funding another winter car tamp for the homeless similar to the one operated last year near Aut/en Stadium The i amp will be located in the same city-owned park ■ ing lot as last year, near Willamette Si iences and Tech nology Center, the Lane LSI) Planetarium and Aut/en Stadium, said Kit hie Weinman, a memher of the home less task force that helped plan the camp site Unlike last year's camp, this year's camp is expected looped after Nov and operate through May 31 Weinman said the city is hoping White Bird ( linn, will provide 24-hour stalling for the tamp, as it did last year Boh Dritz. White Bird's clinic coordinator, said the clinic has not yet agreed to staff the camp, but "we've told the city if they have no other options, we ll stall it Dritz said White Bird has a list of improvements they would like to see at the camp. These inc lude adding more spm e to act ommodate more vehicles and a com munal area where i ampers < ould gather to get warm or socialize. Dritz also said he would like to see hot water and shovvnr facilities made available at the site ns well •'It's hard when you’re try mg to get a job and you < an't dean yourself.” he said A low fence around the area would also lx* helpful, he wild, because it would make it dear to the public where the i ampground began. and it would keep the children staying at the car»amp from running into the street The car camp's total tost of operation is estimated at $70.0tH). half of which will 1h* paid by the state through a grant submitted hv l«ane County "We more or less have to go through with putting in the applit ntion.” Weinman said 'We've already got ver bal consent from the state Part of w hat the state was looking for was local participation and funding The < its of lingerie and Lane County are each expect ed to contribute $15,000 to the c ar c amp l ie* Springfield City Council, which was asked to contribute $5,000. is uneuthustastic about the proposal "We don't think very much about it." said Springfield Councilman Stu Burge "Most of us just don't f«*el that a car camp in a parking lot is very forward thinking. Burge said he and other council members were also concerned that the c ar camp might be used by people who were not from tin* area Last year s statistics on ini' campers. Whit** Bird C'Hnii showed lh.it 4>) port ent of them had lived in the huge ne-Springfield area for more than a year. "We can t afford to support those who are out of the area,'' Burge said Hie more wo give to others, the less we give to our own f urthermore. Burge said he believes sleeping in a car is not a good solution to a lack of housing. "It gets as cold inside the car as it does outside the car," he said. "Sleeping in vour car in the dead of vs inter is not vers humane " Dritz disagreed, saying that the i ar camp ssas intend ed to provide a legal option for people who were forced to camp out. "This gives them a place to he which is legal and it gives them some support," he said "Someone has to take care of the problem I thought it was very fair this year because it was shared between the counts, state and city." Burge said he and Springfield's < ouncil were looking into other options, including the possibility of some Springfield churches providing emergency shelter. "We have a lot of t hurdles and a lot of good people in these memberships,” he said XaI Vo n iu ill 11 c o i.fio n fli t-o * "WI r« na »* V? , miv ** /u A w Ui.»t A *» finished at your printer is. VISA ♦ T55T With Visa* you'll be accepted at more than 10 million places, nearly three times more than American Express. And that's not a misprint Visa. It’s Everywhere You Want To Be!* Vim USA vx tWtt UPDATE • Oregon Foot! Bank has m li«*