NE Bend parents plan homeless camp protest; city councilor says it’s not a done deal

(Update: Adding comment from protest organizers, city councilor)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- As debate over a proposed city-managed homeless camp ramp up, a group of Bear Creek Elementary School parents are staging a protest.

"I don't think next to two schools and a Presbyterian day care is the best place to let homeless people set up their camps." Jill Leonard told NewsChannel 21 on Monday,

Leonard has two children at Bear Creek, which is why a proposal to place a homeless camp right next to the northeast Bend campus is so troubling to her.

"Not by our schools, City Hall -- we don't want it by the schools. There has to be somewhere else," she said.

Not only is the site right next to Bear Creek, it's just across the street from Bend Senior High School. Bend High principal Chris Reese tells NewsChannel 21 staff from both schools met with city leaders last week at the site to voice their concerns about the proposal.

Leonard and fellow Bear Creek parent Julie Connell are organizing a protest outside city hall Tuesday afternoon.

"It's a big unknown, and I don't want an experiment to be experimented on my sons or my daughters," Connell said.

Bend City Councilor Anthony Broadman said there's still not enough information to know if the site is even plausible.

"It's important that we get experts in the field, whether that’s former law enforcement, service providers, the community, to tell us how particular pieces of land can be used," he said.

With a shortage of publicly owned land, the Ninth Street site and another near SE Third Street and Murphy Road were the first two sites presented to the council by city staff, but neither may end up the sites of a camp, Broadman said.

"If the responses from the experts in this field tell us the land can't be used safely, I don't think you'll see the city moving forward with this land," he said.