Quorumed Occupy Eugene General Assembly

Occupy Eugene endorses the 2014 Occupy National Gathering statements of solidarity with Palestine.

Occupy Eugene rejects any effort to use this statement for anti-Semitic purposes.

We stand together in solidarity as members of the Occupy Wall Street
National Gathering 2014 in resistance against the Israeli government’s
violations of international law and the human rights of Palestinians.

We condemn the Israeli government’s serious violations of international
law and basic human rights in Gaza and the West Bank.

[We recognize] the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of
Israel to full equality.

We demand the restoration of freedom of movement for all Gazans and
West Bank Palestinians, demolition of the walls, and liberalization of the
borders between Israel and the Palestinian territories.

We demand an end to the bloodshed of innocent people all around the
world for which our leaders are responsible. In light of the recent
atrocities, we want an end to both the mass murder of innocents and the
occupation of Palestine.

CONSENSED

Major shout out to Jana Thrift of Occupy Eugene Media Group and David Zupan of Peace Works. The two videographers entered their video about Opportunity Village Eugene into Eugene’s International Film Festival and won the award for 2014 best documentary short. Check out this beautiful video here

Guidelines for Permitted Use of the Sidewalk
in the Downtown Activity Zone (“DAZ”)
A downtown business adjacent to a sidewalk within the DAZ can obtain a permit to use the
sidewalk for the following purposes:
• Signs. Placing a sign that is no larger than nine square feet in total area on any side.
• Café Seating. Placing café seating parallel to the restaurant’s storefront.
• Merchandise Displays. Placing merchandise for display or sale that is of the same type
sold in the abutting store.
A permit issued to a downtown business for one of the above-three listed activities:
• Is a grant of permission to the business owner to place authorized items related to the
adjacent business in the portion of the sidewalk identified in the permit.
• If a café seating permit, is permission to limit use of the café seating to customers.
• Is applicable only to the portion of the sidewalk physically taken up by the items
authorized in the permit, but does not include a minimum five-foot pedestrian pathway.
• Is a DAZ permit authorizing a specific activity with which a person cannot interfere. Use
of an area that has been reserved through issuance of a DAZ permit for a purpose other
than in accordance with the authorized use interferes with the permitted activity and is a
violation of EC 4.872.
• Is not a lease granting the abutting business owner exclusive use of the sidewalk
surrounding the business.
• Is not the only means of making downtown businesses customer-friendly.
o EC 4.872 prohibits people from:
 Impeding access to any public pedestrian area or to any public or private
building adjacent to the public pedestrian area.
 Leaving a dog or other animal unattended, whether leashed or unleased.
 Entering in a landscaped planting area or acting in a manner harmful to
any plant life, including walking, lying or sitting in a landscaped area.
 Setting up any temporary structure or enclosure, including but not limited
to canopies, tents or tables, or restricting access to any portion of the
public pedestrian area so that others may not freely enter such area.
o EC 4.707(1) prohibits people from blocking or interfering with, or attempting to
block or interfere with, any person along a public sidewalk by any means,
including but not limited to standing on that part of the sidewalk used for
pedestrian travel or placing any object or vehicle in such an area, with the intent
to interfere with free passage.

Another Oregon winter has begun and it has been severely cold, windy, and wet already. Again, thousands of our unhoused citizens face another New Year with their basic human rights being violated by Eugene’s laws against sleeping. With tents erected illegally in a refugee camp fashion, the words “Please let us sleep” say it all. Forcing people from one place to another when they honestly have no where to go and no choice but to sleep, is a waste of city resources and anyone that agrees can email here. You can also go to a meeting and let your voice be heard. See local meetings for dates and times.

Nightingale Public Advocacy Collective supports SLEEPS efforts by donating a port-a-potty for the site and paying for it to be moved each time they are forced from a location. SLEEPS would be extremely grateful for any volunteer help or donations. The following is a list of their needs:

* Tarps, tents, pallets
* Rope, bungees or even old panty hose
* Laundry drying racks, anyone who can do a load of laundry and visiting the camps.
* Money is also nice for laundry and dump fees.
* No canned food or clothing except coats and shoes.
* Please bring ready to eat food that doesn’t need plates or utensils.

On Monday, Dec. 8, the Eugene City Council approved Nightingale Health Sanctuary’s plan to operate a self-governed, village-style community on county land near the Lane County Behavioral Health building through April 2015.

Nightingale welcomes new volunteers with skills in communication, construction, fundraising, health and wellness, and more. We need people to take the trash to the dump and to write grants. If you want to help, volunteer here or contact us at nightingalehealthsanctuary@gmail.com

If you would like to help with a financial contribution, you can donate here .Thanks to everyone who has offered to help and also many thanks to all our allies who have helped us get this far.The two new rest stops will focus on health and wellness and will be accessible and inclusive. Both able-bodied people and those with disabilities will be welcome and able to camp there. NHS plans to maintain a balance so that campers who need assistance can find it among the other campers.

Nightingale Health Sanctuary (NHS) is happy to have the opportunity to run a temporary double rest stop for up to 30 people on county land. Steering committee members and others close to the project express their appreciation to both the city and the county for partnering to make this property available to Nightingale.

Members of the NHS steering committee, while eager to get started with the new rest stops, want to remind the people that an additional 30 places to sleep for the unsheltered still leaves many hundreds of Lane County residents out in the cold on winter nights and that there is still a huge amount of work to do to make Eugene “the Human Rights City” it strives to be.

Whoville continues their protest camp at 6th and MIll in Eugene despite being ticketed on 11//24 and 11/26 for violating the City camping ban. So we’re wondering, what’s up EPD with all the tickets? Is Whoville too safe, too peaceful, too clean, too sanitary? To learn more about Whoville and how you can help, go to http://respectexistence.org/

Petition to the City Council to Modify the Camping Ban

We, the undersigned are here to petition the City Councilors to modify the camping ban. Winter is coming and for the unsheltered it is a particularly difficult season that brings colds, flu, pneumonia, and exposure to the elements that can lead to frostbite and sometimes even amputations of toes and fingers. Amputations in turn lead to loss of balance and difficulty surviving on the streets.

We urge the city councilors to hold a work session in the next week or two. Fall is already here and winter is rapidly approaching. Since last year, the city and county have made some progress in housing veterans under the HUD voucher system. The city has also provided land for a transitional microhousing village and for two rest stops, with a possible addition of a third this December. However these three city-approved provide additional housing for approximately 60 individuals (75 with the possible addition of the 3^rd rest stop).

Meanwhile, the Mission is full to capacity and does not accept individuals with addiction issues or those dependent on someone of the opposite sex for care. Car camping under St. Vinnie’s for the most part occurs on church or other private land and is limited to one to six individuals per site. Of the 3,000 unhoused individuals estimated by city officials, the vast majority are unsheltered or are self-sheltered on public land, which under city ordinance is illegal. Individuals self-sheltering on public or private land are frequently awakened and arrested. They lose their possessions if they are found sleeping on property signed “No Trespassing” because trespass charges may result in immediate arrest and loss of personal belongings.

Depriving fellow human beings of the possibility to shelter themselves when no adequate housing is available is a violation of their human rights.

While there is no doubt that the Lane County Poverty and Homelessness Board is doing its best to bring the treatment of the unhoused in line with Article 25 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which established housing as a human right, the reality is that a large number of Eugene’s residents not only don’t have housing, they are prohibited from seeking self shelter on public lands.

See City of Eugene Municipal Code : Section 4.815 – Prohibited Camping.

However, there are provisions in the Prohibited Camping ordinance that give the City Council the discretion to lift the camping ban for a designated period of time and in designated locations. Historically, the City Council has modified the camping ban on various occasions to alleviate homelessness. As far back as 1947, permission was granted for veterans to camp on public land in Eugene. The most recent accommodation was made in 2013 establishing legal rest stops and Opportunity Village Eugene.

While we are waiting for the Lane County Poverty and Homelessness Board to find solutions to the existing shortage of affordable housing, we request that the City Councilors  hold a work session and look for a way to modify the camping and trespass ordinances, allowing for self-sheltering and designating additional land for rest stops.

Nightingale Health Sanctuary, a relatively new group organized for the purpose of establishing and operating a self-governed village-style community focused on health and wellness, is currently working with the city to set up a winter camp, and has proposed several potential locations. Additional unused public land, such as undeveloped parkland and city parking lots, need to be designated for self-managed camps for individuals who need shelter.

There is simply no time to waste. Let’s work together with advocates, representatives of the unhoused, the mayor, and city manager to designate locations where people in need of shelter can camp unmolested. To alleviate health and sanitation concerns, the City would need to provide funding for port-a-potties, hand washing stations and trash pick up at these locations. These “amenities” would cost the city considerably less than enforcement of no camping and trespass ordinances, and clean up following evictions. It will alleviate to some degree the precarious situation of the unhoused for the winter season. And it will reduce the various health hazards associated with rousting campers from various locations, as was carried out en masse this spring and summer without offering the displaced individuals safe and legal shelter.

Endorsements:

Amigos Multicultural Services Center

Community Alliance of Lane County

Human Rights Commission Homelessness Work Group

Houseless Solutions Support Committee

Nightingale Health Sanctuary

Occupy Eugene

Appendix

City of Eugene Municipal Code :

Section 4.815 – Prohibited Camping

(1) As used in this section:

(a) “To camp” means to set up or to remain in or at a campsite.

(b) “Campsite” means any place where any bedding, sleeping bag, or other material used for bedding purposes, or any stove or fire is placed, established or maintained for the purpose of maintaining a temporary place to live, whether or not such place incorporates the use of any tent, lean-to, shack, or any other structure, or any vehicle or part thereof.

[(2)]…

(3) No person shall camp in or upon any sidewalk, street, alley, lane, public right-of-way, park or any other publicly-owned property or under any bridge or viaduct, unless otherwise specifically authorized by this code or by declaration of the Mayor in emergency circumstances.

(4) Upon finding it to be in the public interest and consistent with council goals and policies, the council may, by motion, exempt a special event from the prohibitions of this section.  The motion shall specify the period of time and location covered by the exemption.

(Section 4.815 amended by Ordinance No. 19163, enacted July 11, 1983; and Ordinance 20062, enacted September 16, 1996, effective October 16, 1996).

very sincerely,
Art