By Nicole Montesano • Staff Writer • 

Ordinance makes RV living illegal in Mac

Only online subscribers may access this article.

One-day subscriptions available for just $3. Click here for one-day access.

For all other subscription offers, click here.

Already a subscriber, please .

Comments

Tuvey

I can't even express the shame I feel for the council at this time. Thank you Remy for being a lonely voice of compassion. That we are not able to offer a solution while taking away the only means for some right now is inhuman. On the other hand, there is an election coming up....

macgreg

This problem is far bigger an more complex than some poor city council can fix.Tuvey why dont you help instead of inflaming the problem .There are no easy answers,but living on the streets sure isnt going to work either.

Tuvey

yes macgreg and inhibiting people who are already down on their luck doesn't help either. What can we do when the council won't even listen to one of their own. when the people who have the power to help decide to take away the little they have without any recourse for a solution. macgreg what do you suggest?

tagup

So...what's the expectation?..That the RV dwellers just go rent an apartment?...move into a shelter?.....Maybe let Law enforcement tow their vehicle and they can live at the impound yard?

C'mon City Council....find a place for these people..How about Dancer Park temporarily....

Bill B

city council did their job, thank you. It's not the council's place or responsibility to find them a place to live.

macgreg

Wow,where do you go with a problem like this,if we make homelessness a condition for community support ,we will be over whelmed by all.Maybe we can incentivize those who wish to have support,maybe five year tax abatement an public transport,to any type work.At least we can get them off the streets.Maybe doing this ,would at least qualify them for section 8 housing,and build a little pride in them.

bannister

Does this mean homeowners who have RVs will have to get a permit every time they park their RV on their street overnight (while getting it ready for travel)???...and you'd only be allowed to do this 4 times a year! There's something really wrong with this!

tagup

Finding a solution takes more than merely "making it illegal"...I'm under the impression that the council is there to serve the needs of the entire community...so yes, it is there responsibility to come up with viable options to alleviate this problem. Are you saying that these RV people are not citizens of McMinnville?

I'm curious macgreg....what makes you think these people have no pride?

Tuvey

Don't we already have community support for homelessness? Aren't there soup kitchens here in Mac and places for the homeless to sleep? Why can't the city find a place that can be low rent regardless if it is a place to park a trailer or maybe low rent housing? Too bad this article didn't include any ideas from the council group that is trying to find solutions. Not that that information would have been appropriate in this article but too bad we don't know what they're working on.

Bill B

Tagup, a quick online review will help you understand the purpose of city councils and in my opinion also the purpose of all governing bodies. We should not look to government to solve all society's woes.

Jim

Hopefully this also takes care of people living in cars. The garbage and filth makes me sick. I won’t even take my grandkids to the park because of the derelict’s hanging out over there. If these people I see hanging out smoking $7.00 a pack cigarettes and talking on a $800.00 dollar cell phone want help it’s their obligation to find housing not the taxpayers. The economy is very good and people are looking for help. Get a job and work like the rest of us.

tagup

Nice dodge Bill....the homeowners seemed to have their “woes” addressed.....so back to my first question....what is your ( and the council I guess) expectation for this group.... will they just disappear?

Sal Peralta

Tagup - If you have been following the paper, you have probably seen that the homelessness subcommittee is preparing recommendations for a pilot program for permitted rv camping. Since at least 2 of the property-owners we are hoping will step up are negatively impacted by the 30 or so vehicles currently camping together, some of us believed that passing an ordinance allowing for enforcement was a necessary first step.
One comment I did want to make about this is that some of the commenters seem to be under the impression that the city's new policy is unusual. *Most* cities ban camping in city limits outside of specific permitted programs, especially without permission of a property owner.
One of the main factors in my decision -- something that that I mentioned in the meeting, but was not reported on -- is that YCAP is one of the main organizations that has asked for the city to take action. Given their mission, that is an opinion that I gave a lot of weight to when I made my decision.
You asked, where do they go? Here are the guidelines set forward in the Eugene program that we are trying to model our program after. https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8985

Mac Native 66

Michael Burr, WHY can't these RV dwellers park across the street form the Baptist church between Cowls and Davis streets?
Doesn't the paved parking lot on the SE corner of 2nd St belong to the Presbyterian church? Why can't they park there?

tagup

Sal- Thanks for weighing in.....I appreciate your outlook and the fact that there is work being done, but it does seem strange to me that the enforcement aspect needs to be initiated before legal and acceptable options are identified and put in place.
I hope some decisions are made in the not too distant future as April 18 is next Wednesday, and after that date these people have few alternatives other than breaking the law..

jacob

well Sal Peralta, as you admited,this was a push by jeff sargant but not him alone as mcminnville has put me through this before to the point of arrest and jail. At that point, they got caught lying and fudging the paperwork. I've got a recording of the chief back when he was a captain on the same subject. My current audio recordings with Jeff confirm; somehow he knew how your vote would go!In fact, he said somthing very similar to what you just did a number of weeks ago! You and your counterparts are co-conspirators,knowingly conspiring agaist our rights under color of law. News flash! There are current lawsuits all over the West Coast in regards to this topic. Apparently,its working. injunctions on goverment officials breaking down camps in some municipalities , large damages awarded and huge amounts of money commited to helping the problem in others.Oh,and yes it is unusual to criminalize poverty, its not OK to criminalize or allow offically the harrasment of poor people for life substaning conduct! It opens invitation for arbritrary enforcment and applied discrimination. y'all know it! Even if your not going after the body but just trying to take our property, its cruel and unusaul punishment under the guise of public safety. well,as of Wensday I suppose the outliers have been made outlaws and this camping your talking about,(us living) will become a protest .
freedom to assemble

jacob

Oh and Sal i wasnt following the paper either, ive been living it!
So know trying to pull that one on me ....

Rotwang

It's about time.

Sal Peralta

Jacob - It's my intention to push for an ordinance similar to the one I linked in my comment (https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8985). I believe there is a majority on the council that support something along these lines. If we were to pass something, would you and your family put in the work to help identify property owners that would be able to allow you to camp on their property in a permitted way?

ja74

They were not parked here last year at this time. This is a new problem (the RV's) Where did they come from? Did some other city kick them out and they just relocated here to take advantage of McMinnville? Gypsy caravans traveling from place to place?

Tuvey

In reading all of the below the question still has not been answered. Why does the ordinance need to go into effect before a solution can be worked out? Give these people a place to go before taking away what little they have.

REB

Fairgrounds?

Williach72

I am a bit concerned that there are people who think that the influx of folks living in their RV's is somehow "new" or indicative of some sort of underground benefit ring we are running her in McMinnville. We are a micro-cosm of the macro that is happening all over our country with regards to rising rents. I have my own theory as to how we got here economically (hint...the recession isn't over, these losses morphed and landed on the backs of the working poor). Just this week an article on NPR speaks to the problem in Los Angeles where last year 8,000 people became homeless for the first time. The folks you see living in RV's are people who are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, veterans, who cannot afford astronomically rising rents and their medication or insurance premiums. Time for some serious planning on how we plan on being part of the solution rather than whining that the problem has come knocking on our door too.

tagup

REB—The fairgrounds location makes a lot of sense....close to bus lines and shopping....

Rotwang

So where to they go when they need the fairgrounds for the fair and other events?

tagup

I was thinking more of a temporary situation until a long term strategy can be figured out.....

Rotwang

Trust me on this one. Once the travelers find a home on the fairgrounds, it will be a bear to get them out.

Mudstump

Williach72 - I'm old enough to remember when we had a strong middle-class. A time when an uneducated man like my father could go to work for the railroad after he returned from WWII and earn a good living because unions were strong and protected the working class. He worked 37 years for the same railroad and retired with a decent pension. A pension that supports my mother now that he is gone. Btw...my mother was able to stay home and raise the kids, help with homework and be there for all of our activities. Trade agreements and an intentional gutting of unions and their protections have changed things for the middle-class. We once had the highest standard of living and we were a manufacturing powerhouse. Now we struggle to raise the minimum wage that doesn't cover a fraction of living expenses....including sky high rents. We hear Republicans talk of cutting the last remaining programs that lifted so many out of poverty like Social Security and Medicare. We will see more people become homeless and jobless....this isn't new and it's happening all over the country. Every president starting with Reagan has embraced free trade and it's going very well for some, but the vast majority of the working class have been hurt. Just my opinion.

Bill B

Mudstump I couldn't disagree with you more..

Mudstump

Bill B - "Mudstump I couldn't disagree with you more.."

Then maybe you can explain why the middle-class is disappearing. Why young people graduate from college with enormous debt (debt that my generation didn't have btw). Why good jobs that you can raise a family on are almost non-existent for people like my father (no formal education). Why taxes are the lowest they have been on the wealthy...why manufacturing jobs have left.... Why with record profits nearly all of the profit and benefit goes to the most wealthy people in this country. If cutting taxes creates jobs....where are all the jobs? We should be swimming in jobs right now.

Bill B

Last I checked the unemployment rate is at or close to a record low. Look around Mac and check the want ads to see how many jobs are posted. Granted some are minimum wage but most are not. And may of these positions do not require a degree. How many skilled employees (think electricians, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics) are college educated, yet most would be considered middle income.
My father, also without a degree, had a very successful career. I also had a successful career even though I didn’t get my degree until decades after starting. Neither of us were supported by unions. I grew up in a small town back east where the major employer was the steel mill. There I saw negotiated higher and higher wages and obscene vacation time. I wondered how they could do that. Turns out they couldn’t. That’s the main reason we have lost so many jobs in the USA.
Take a look around Yamhill County and see the homes and cars out front. Much nicer and more expensive than that of our fathers.
There is no job problem!

Web Design and Web Development by Buildable