Astoria is taking steps to address “bad behavior” among some of the homeless downtown.
Picnic tables between the American Legion and a public parking lot on Exchange Street that have become a gathering spot for the homeless have been removed. City properties, including the library, will soon join private businesses on the police department’s Property Watch list, giving officers clear direction on how they should supervise the sites after hours.
The measures received the City Council’s blessing at a work session on Thursday afternoon where city leaders discussed how behavior by the homeless impacts the city.
Most homeless people do not cause problems, leaders emphasized. They are willing to listen and comply with requests by city staff, but there is a small number that is more difficult to reach.
Concerns ranged from campfires in areas that are difficult for the fire department to access to human waste outside library entrances.
People camp out in library entrances and some parents say they no longer feel comfortable bringing their children to the library. The Parks Department regularly deals with piles of trash left behind at city parks by people who are camping in their vehicles. At the Astoria Aquatic Center, staff has had to deal with people who locked themselves in restrooms and then passed out or were on drugs.
One of the City Council’s two-year goals is geared at supporting the efforts of advocates and social services agencies to reach people in need, but councilors want to draw the line on what they term “bad behavior.”
Police say they are seeing an uptick in more aggressive behavior on homeless-related calls. Overall, there has been an increase in calls for service tied to the homeless.
At the same time, Police Chief Geoff Spalding has discovered that many people are no longer calling the police regarding behavior that concerns them. He hears that people think police don’t have the tools to address the issues, or that police won’t do anything.
“Unfortunately,” Spalding added, “I almost feel that we have come to a new norm and that’s not a place we want to be.”
Exclusion zones
City councilors discussed the possibility of introducing exclusion zones — areas where people, if they are caught repeatedly breaking city laws, will not be allowed to go — among other alternatives to the more typical law enforcement actions of citations and jail time. These concepts still need to be fleshed out, Spalding said.
One solution — crime prevention through environmental design — includes actions like removing the picnic tables next to the American Legion at Heritage Square.
The tables have become a place where homeless people and others sit, socialize and often, according to police reports, drink. An advocate for the homeless staged a protest there last year when the city planned to dismantle illegal homeless camps in city-owned forestland.
Increasingly, it is a place where police are being dispatched, City Manager Brett Estes said. Police report everything from liquor violations to fights.
“This by no means was the City Council’s overall approach to homelessness in our community,” Mayor Bruce Jones said at the end of the work session. “We’ll have a lot more work sessions in the future on different aspects of work that’s ongoing to assist people suffering from homelessness.”
“This was our session on dealing with one tiny segment of the overall problem,” he added. There is a small percentage of people, “many of whom are suffering from homelessness, but it’s a small percentage of that population that has been directly, negatively impacting livability, quality of life and our local economy.”
The presentation Thursday left City Councilor Roger Rocka feeling frustrated and helpless.
The city faces a shortage of services and legal restrictions on what it can do. He feels empathy for the homeless, but from volunteering at the Astoria Warming Center, he knows there is a percentage of people “who are aggressive and the other homeless don’t like them either.”
“I’m just not sure where we go with this,” he said.
A small audience at the work session included downtown business owners and representatives, social services agencies, several homeless advocates and at least one couple that is homeless.
