By Bernie Woodard
Editor’s Note: The writer is owner of Elk Island Trading Group, LLC.
As I work to help one city – Grants Pass, Oregon – create real solutions to homelessness, another city – Roseburg, Oregon – continues policies that have produced years of unmanaged camping and the destruction that follows. The difference in results could not be more obvious.
For more than eight years, Roseburg has struggled with unmanaged camps, declining property values, damage to businesses, environmental degradation and the steady erosion of public confidence. At some point, leadership has to admit that the current approach simply is not working.
After we suspended our Pine Camp legal camping operation because some of those in the camp were using drugs or alcohol with city unmanaged camp groups, the property has now become a victim of vandalism and theft as the city of Roseburg forces more unmanaged camps up against our properties.
What happened was heartbreaking, whether these were our properties or belong to someone else. It just does not stop in Roseburg with the leadership we have, as they just do not care!
Our privacy screening disappeared. Metal fencing was cut open. The gathering tent was ripped apart, and its cover was cut into pieces. Decorative fencing was destroyed. The safety fencing protecting the riverbank was torn down. Two remaining tents were destroyed. Our boat was taken off its trailer and put into the river for their use. A white vehicle was parked on the property and refused to be moved. Tools stolen. Even the six antique stove covers I had left for cooking were stolen.
But the damage extends far beyond one camp.
Elk Island Trading Group owns nine properties along this street that is called the Pine Street Waterfront Commercial Overlay, as well as our 22-acre Elk Island property Elk Island Eco Retreat & Resort. Both have so much work already put into them and even much more promise for the city of Roseburg. In my opinion, years of unmanaged camping and the city’s continued failure to implement effective solutions have significantly damaged these properties. We deal with vandalism, theft, trespassing, illegal dumping and cleanup costs on a continual basis. Our island – once a beautiful natural asset for wildlife and our community – continues to suffer damage on what feels like an almost daily basis. But the city of Roseburg will not even allow a storage building to lock up equipment.
No private property owner should be expected to absorb these losses because of failed public policy and leadership.
The area immediately adjacent to our property is designated as a Prohibited Camping Zone called Deer Creek The Point, yet camping has continued. If city leadership does not consistently enforce what a prohibited zone means, why should anyone expect those camping there to understand or respect those boundaries?
Now compare that to what is happening in Grants Pass.
Rather than allowing unmanaged camps to become permanent, Grants Pass chose a different path. First was organizing several resting areas on city property with proper containment, and now the next step through Parker’s Place Village and our “Safe Beds First” approach: People are offered a roof, a secure bed, sanitation, rules, dignity, accountability and access to wraparound services that help them move toward stability. At the same time, parks, sidewalks, businesses and neighborhoods are restored for everyone.
No program is perfect, and Parker’s Place Village alone will not solve homelessness. But it demonstrates that communities can help people while also protecting neighborhoods, businesses, public spaces and private property.
Leadership matters.
Policy matters.
The decisions city governments make have real consequences – for people experiencing homelessness, for neighborhoods, for businesses and for property owners.
Roseburg can do better.
It is time for city leadership to find the courage to replace years of unmanaged camping with real, humane, accountable solutions that restore our parks, protect private property, respect our natural resources and give people experiencing homelessness a genuine opportunity to rebuild their lives.
Results speak louder than excuses.
Bernie Woodard is the owner of Elk Island Trading Group, LLC, which built Parker’s Place Village in Grants Pass.