SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, O CTOBER 3, 2018 | 5A
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
Opinion
The First Amendment
C
ongress shall make no law respecting an es-
tablishment of religion or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press, or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of grievances.
Homeless population in Florence are not illegal campers by choice
(Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submis-
sions on this and other topics are al-
ways welcome as part of our goal to
encourage community discussion and
exchange of perspectives.)
W
hile reading the Siuslaw
News article “Florence
Clarifies Illegal Camping Code”
(Sept. 19), I realized that during
the Ronald Reagan presidency we
lived in an age of trickle-down eco-
nomics; during the Donald Trump
presidency, we appear to live in an
age of trickle-down brutality.
The descriptions of the home-
less, on page 1 of the article sound-
ed disturbingly similar to the pres-
ident's descriptions of the “illegal
aliens flooding across our south-
ern borders.”
Rapists. Perpetrators of domes-
tic violence. Obstructers of visual
clearance.
Ouch.
In the article, Wendy FarleyCa-
mpbell was quoted on page 1 say-
ing “once, a few years ago, (there
was) even rape” when she was
discussing the costs imposed on
the city due to homeless campers.
During the last few years, was this
the only rape investigated?
How many rapes or allegations
of rape were lodged and investi-
gated during this same time period
concerning people who were not
homeless campers?
More than one, I would imagine.
Could it therefore be said that the
homeless are less likely to commit
rape than our tourists or residents
who live in houses? I would not
make that supposition; so please,
stop the divisive rhetoric. It serves
no purpose but to make an already
bad situation worse.
When I first moved
to Florence, our prima-
ry homeless population
was middle-aged guys
with substance abuse
issues — usually alcohol or pills.
This is no longer the case. One
night, I visited at the Cold Weather
Shelter with a young family of four;
we also had a second family with
children there that night.
Couples are very common out
on our streets now — and in a
very disturbing trend, lone females
both very young and quite old. I
can spot the newly-homeless quite
quickly: they have a look of shock
on their faces.
I’m a good person, how did I end
up out here? their faces say.
On their first morning as a
homeless person, they also wake
up as a criminal. There is nowhere
legal to camp if you have no money
in this area, so they camp illegally
because they have no choice. And
so a bad situation becomes steadily
worse, as well as more difficult to
escape from.
After spending the first half of the
article bad-mouthing the homeless
victims who end up on our streets,
the article explained that the City
has removed the prohibition on
camping on public land.
This didn’t make sense to me,
Guest Viewpoint
By Steve Wandrus
Homeless in Florence
so I re-read the whole piece. The
article doesn’t mention it, but the
change in the Florence City Code
was necessitated by a Sept. 4 ruling
of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Ap-
peals saying in part:
“As long as there is no option
of sleeping indoors, the govern-
ment cannot criminalize indigent,
homeless people for sleeping out-
doors, on public property, on the
false premise they had a choice in
the matter.”
Homeless people camping in
Florence can stay on two types
of land: public or private. We (by
the way, I am one of your chronic
campers) try to choose public land
because there is usually less hassle
involved than staying on private
land — though it is often hard to
tell what is private land and what is
public land.
Anyway, the new ordinance
specifies that it only applies to
camping on private land, not to
camping on public land.
If you camp on private land, you
either have the owner’s permission
or you do not. Camping on some-
one’s private land without their
permission is already illegal
— that is what private prop-
erty means. So there was no
need to make up a new ordi-
nance to make behavior that
is illegal “more illegal” since it is
already illegal.
It appears the ordinance only
addresses camping on someone’s
private land with the owner’s per-
mission.
The significant portion of the
article, then, wasn’t the many para-
graphs talking about how horrible
the homeless are; the significant
portion of the article was column
1 on page 6A (again by Wendy Far-
leyCampbell):
“This isn’t just to address the
tents and things like that; it in-
cludes people turning sheds in
back into a place to house people,
which hasn’t been approved or
doesn’t have building permits for
that type of use. It isn’t safe … It’s
to address a lot of different issues,
not just outdoor camping.”
The second significant portion
is apparently in opposition to this,
columns 5-6 of the same page:
“In July, code changes became
effective, allowing for Accessory
Dwelling Units (ADUs) to be al-
lowed on single-family residential
properties, regardless of zoning.”
Now the Florence City Ordi-
nance made sense. It would appear
it was crafted in an attempt to cir-
cumvent the ADU rules, which are
now Oregon State Law (State Bill
1051).
From my understanding, the
City of Eugene is now being sued
in court for making a similar at-
tempt to circumvent state law.
It would be a shame, as well as
a waste of taxpayer money, if the
City of Florence chose to follow the
same path.
If you wish to end illegal camp-
ing in Florence, give us a legal
place to camp. We are not illegal
campers by choice; we are illegal
campers because we have no other
choice.
If you want to change the situa-
tion, please offer choices that are
not illegal; and please, please, stop
the denigration of our already-de-
moralized homeless population.
They don’t deserve it.
Misunderstandings about the upcoming Siuslaw School Bond measures
(Editor’s Note: Viewpoint submis-
sions on this and other topics are al-
ways welcome as part of our goal to
encourage community discussion and
exchange of perspectives.)
T
here are lots of conversations
in our community about the
upcoming vote on school bonds
for Siuslaw Schools — and that’s
good; there are also some misun-
derstandings — and that’s not so
good.
I'd like to take a moment to help
clear up a few of those misunder-
standings.
• Misunderstanding #1: “If the
bond passes, property taxes will go
up by $2.72 per $1,000 of assessed
value.”
This message misses the fact that
the old middle school bond assess-
ment is about to expire. That as-
sessment was for $.90 per $1,000,
so our property taxes will actually
rise only by the net effect of the
two events taken together.
The net rise in property taxes
will be only $1.92 per $1,000. Your
property taxes will still rise, but by
about 1/3 less than you might have
thought.
• Misunderstanding #2: “The
buildings look fine, so we shouldn’t
have to pay for new ones.”
Yes, the facilities look fine — in today’s classrooms, yet we don’t
have adequate electrical systems.
from the outside.
Twenty-first century education
Dedicated district employees do
a good job… but explore the inner includes active learning — yet
details, particularly in the high many of our existing classrooms
school building, and you’ll find a are too small. There is increasing
very different story: rusty pipes emphasis on teaching trade skills,
and valves, broken equipment and yet our facilities are inadequate.
All-school assemblies are criti-
an appalling lack of energy effi-
ciency.
When the old boil-
er that heats the high
By Robert Orr
school breaks down
Director, Citizens for Siuslaw Schools
(which it does, far too
often), students and
teachers are shivering in down- cal to education today, yet the high
stairs classrooms. When the heat- school has no auditorium.
Also, good nutrition aids learn-
ing system works, upstairs class-
rooms and offices are too hot. ing and health, yet the high school
When some parts for these old has no cafeteria.
• Misunderstanding #4: “Let’s
systems fail, they have to be made
just fix up the old buildings and
to order at great cost and delay.
Fumes from the auto shop per- save money.”
It would cost millions of dol-
meate the building, and fresh air is
lars more to renovate the old high
scarce.
• Misunderstanding #3: “Our school than to build a new one. To
kids are getting all the education renovate, it would be necessary to
they need in the existing facilities.” replace mechanical and electri-
Sure, Florence area children cal systems (including wiring and
have been educated for many years pipes inside walls and the concrete
floor), enlarge classrooms, add
in the buildings we have.
But education is changing. If we an auditorium and cafeteria, and
don’t keep up, our kids will fall be- reinforce the entire building for
hind. There is far more technology earthquake safety.
Guest Viewpoint
For several years, students would
take classes in temporary facilities.
• Misunderstanding #5: “The
bond funds will be used only to
build a new high school.”
While the majority of funds will
be used for a new high school, ma-
jor repairs will be done at the ele-
mentary school and some repairs
will be made at the middle
school.
Some classrooms have visi-
ble water damage, which will
only get worse over time. The
elementary school building is
not earthquake-safe, and the en-
trance is not safe from intruders.
More and larger classrooms are
needed, and some have no win-
dows for natural light.
Facilities are not contiguous so
young children sometimes have
to walk long distances during the
school day, using valuable learning
time.
• Misunderstanding #6: “We
should spread out the work over
time and not try for such a large
bond measure all at once.”
Construction costs have been
rising about 5 percent per year
(and more in Lane County). At
this rate, if we do half the neces-
sary work now and wait five years
DIVERSIFIED MARINE
& EQUIPMENT SALES
for the other half, the delay would
cost an extra $15 million.
If we wait 10 years, it would cost
an extra $33 million. Postpone-
ment would cost much more in re-
pairs and maintenance to keep the
buildings functioning. It would
also mean spending over $50,000
each year in utility costs that could
be saved with new facilities.
• Misunderstanding #7: “Res-
idents with no children in the
school system won’t benefit from
the bonds.”
New school facilities will attract
more young professionals and en-
trepreneurs to our community, en-
hancing property values and pro-
moting a healthy and prosperous
community.
Better school facilities will bring
us more health care providers — a
huge need here. A new high school
will have space for conferences and
conventions, bringing customers
to local businesses.
And the new high school will
provide a vital emergency shelter
for the community.
Please consider these things
when voting for the upcoming Siu-
slaw School Bonds… for our chil-
dren and for our community.
Buying or Selling? I can help.
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