We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. ~ Edward R. Murrow
Ashland Oregon Criminalizing Laws Target Homeless – One Ordinance States “Sleeping Prohibited”
October 19, 2008
by freedomrebel
When a city like Ashland, Oregon passes laws targeting the homeless it sends a clear message that they are not welcome. It sends another message that beneath the thin veneer; society considers them worthless. Instead of lending a helping hand, most people cross to the other side of the street to avoid them. As if they have something that is contagious. This lack of empathy I find to be heartbreaking.
McCain’s home state of Arizona is one of the places where 32 homeless people died on the streets of Phoenix, in the summer of 2005. Four homeless men died of heat exposure, in one weekend, in the summer of 2006. Sad statistics that I’m sure did not even get a mention in the local paper. When cities like Phoenix and Ashland could solve the problem easily by building homeless shelters.
The ACLU of Oregon is challenging Ashland’s anti-camping ordinance.
The Southern Oregon Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon calls upon the City of Ashland to amend its “Prohibited Camping” ordinance from one that punishes poverty and homelessness into one that prods the city to provide housing for the homeless.
The city’s inhumane anti-camping law is inconsistent with the values of the Ashland, and the ACLU calls for immediate reform.
“The poor should not be punished simply for being poor, and that’s what this law does in Ashland,” said the ACLU of Oregon Executive Director David Fidanque. “The city of Ashland and all cities should seek to address the underlying issues of homelessness and poverty, rather than enacting and enforcing laws that target those who are homeless.”
In a report released today, the Southern Oregon Chapter calls on the Ashland City Council to make the specific revisions to the Prohibited Camping Ordinance, Municipal Code Section 10.46, and to the related “Sleeping Prohibited” ordinance, Section 10.68.230:
Section 10.46.020 (“Camping Prohibited”) should be amended to provide that, except as set forth in Section 10.46.030, the prohibitions in this ordinance shall not apply between the hours of 9 p.m. and 8 a.m., unless and until at least 50 units of permanent supportive housing are created within the City of Ashland, at least 50 percent of which are centrally located. These units must be created for current or chronically homeless persons.
Section 10.46.050 (“Penalties”) should be amended to lower the offense in Subsection A to a “violation,” to correct the erroneous reference in Subsection B to Section 1.08.010, and to correct the next to last word in Subsection B from “rebuttal” to “rebuttable.
Section 10.68.230 (“Sleeping Prohibited”) should be repealed.
The “Sleeping Prohibited” is way over the top. Ashland is by far not the worse for their poor treatment of the homeless; actually that goes to Florida.
Florida historically is “one of the worst states for criminalizing homelessness.” Stoops points out an Orlando ordinance that limits feeding homeless people in public places. In April 2007, undercover cops were sent to Orlando’s Lake Eola Park, to arrest Eric Montanez for feeding 30 homeless people – five more than the city’s 25-person limit.
“You can feed pigeons, dogs and squirrels, but God forbid you try to feed the homeless,” Stoops says.
In many cases, ours laws protect animals better than they do people. It makes me yearn for the stories my grandmother use to tell me about – during the depression – when her family of 11, use to feed the homeless that would come to their back door for a meal. They didn’t have any money but they never turned away a single person that came to the door hungry. It was the worst of times that brought out the best in people.
I understand it’s difficult to have respect for a portion of the homeless in Ashland. Some of them don’t seem to do much but drink more than they should. I know these people very well on a real level, and some of them are in so much pain that they’re confused because they don’t understand how some people in the world can be so cold. I sat downtown for a few years drinking my own sorrows away, but there were people that would always try to make me feel better. Now if I walked up to most random people that lead completely normal lives and told them I was in pain and I just needed someone to talk to, to sit by me, they would say no without a second thought. I also know that I did just that to a young homeless guy in downtown Ashland, I told him about the things I was going through and he proceeded to tell me about how it is useless to feel angry or sad when something doesn’t go your way or you mess up, but you must try to do better in the future. He didn’t mean you can do whatever you want and you deserve no consequences, he just mean there is a balance of good and bad in the world. I met all of the people that are receiving these ridiculous tickets, and they don’t deserve the treatment they’re given. It’s cruel. The kid that helped me with my problems is unfortunately still sitting down there getting drunk, and I know it seems strange, but sometimes people need love and help to get out of a bad situation. You can spit and scream at the people that mess up, but it’s just going to get them angry and they’ll probably react in a way they didn’t really mean to, or you can offer them some water or food or just a friend for a little while. I don’t know. I know I play music on the streets and I throw my entire soul into it. I rip the crap out of my fingers and I blow my voice out every other week. I have a hat out for donations, but I enjoy it more if someone will just sit and listen to a song. No money, just ears. I have a meaning in my music if you listen and I work so hard at it. For the people that tell me get a job, I want to see you do what I do every day. I want to see you throw as much passion into your desk job as I do in my guitar, I really do. I’ll never stop.
I was one of the protesters at the Ashland City Council meetings when this ordinance was (in my opinion) illegally passed, and I was among the protesters who occupied the area in front of the library afterwards. I would do the kind of things Daniel there would hope someone would do: I’d buy some food and share it with homeless people, sit back, smile, laugh, hug … just be the good person we are all taught to be. They called me the “Apple Pusher” which the police, unfortunately, did not seem to have a sense of humor about. I don’t do drugs and I never have. I’m not homeless, never have been, and I’m very fortunate to not be. I am, however, among the masses who live paycheck to paycheck … and a major illness or losing a job could mean the difference between having a roof or not. These ordinances deny homeless people the basic human and constitutional rights of protections from illegal search and seizure, the right to peacefully assemble, and many others. Congress has not established that human rights should only be protected for the people who have money, and I am ELATED that the ACLU is getting involved and standing up for the rights of these people. These people came into the world the same way as all babies do, but who have faced circumstances that have led them to street life. They are someone’s child, sibling, cousin … maybe even someone’s parent. We need to act as a family and help them, not make their circumstances worse. And we must also remember that the people who hang out in the square and make some people feel uncomfortable are not truly homeless. They have a home. They call it Ashland.