New Bend group’s measure would require voters get a say in outdoor homeless camp locations

(Update: Adding video )

'Kids Not Camps' initiative also would require 1,000-foot buffer from public schools

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Controversial city efforts to deal with the rising number of homeless on the streets of Bend were bound to be a campaign issue for city council and other local races this year, but it may well share the fall ballot with a measure that would bar outdoor camps from within 1,000 feet of public schools – and require a public vote on any specific sites.

“We’re not anti-homeless, and we’re not anti-help. We just want our homes and our children protected, and we want this done safely and with common sense,” said Lisa Baker, a Bend businesswoman and mother who is one of three chief petitioners for the newly filed petition that would need nearly 11,000 voter signatures to make the November ballot.

“We’re not political,” said Baker, who said the group called “Kids Not Camps” (a website is in the works, due to launch soon) is growing fast in support. “This is a non-partisan issue.” In fact, she said, the two other co-chairs of the group and chief petitioners, Eris Craven and Jill Leonard, “are registered (voters) complete opposite than I am.” That support includes “a boatload of teachers,” she said.

Baker told NewsChannel 21 Friday night she got involved when the city chose a controversial location for a possible managed camp off Ninth Street, near her business and near two schools and a walking path frequented by students. She has been among those speaking in the visitors section of numerous virtual council meetings since last fall, also attending forums such as one recently held by City Councilor Megan Perkins.

“We have so much crime in that area already, doing business in that area has enough problems as it is,” she said. Baker spoke to “just about every business in that area,” and they agreed on it being the wrong place for such a camp. But she said the city didn’t seem to be listening, or give residents a voice or say.

“We’ve had rallies, called in, written letters, tried to meet with city councilors, done everything to try to reach out and find common ground. There has been no reciprocation. They have made clear they want to cut voters out of the process.”

But the message did appear to be getting through, in one respect, as the city recently said the Ninth Street location was no longer being considered for a managed camp.

But despite that, those involved are not walking away from the issue.

“We want these low-barrier shelters kept away from schools,” Baker said. “We want them to have to be accountable for where they are placing those things.”

Perkins, asked her views on the proposed measure, provided this statement to NewsChannel 21:

"Ballot initiatives are part of the democratic process and residents of our city have every right to go through the process of putting something on the ballot. However, this ballot initiative seems to have the sole purpose of stopping any new shelters coming into existence in the future. This is not a good thing for our community. We need to get people off of our streets and in shelter, and this diversion of resources will serve to divide people when we so desperately need to come together and work on solutions."

The summary of the prospective petition posted Friday notes that the measure would limit city funding and require voter approval for “certain kinds of homeless shelter sites" – including those “using tents, cabins, yurts, automobiles, recreational vehicles or any housing structures lacking a permanent foundation or modern indoor plumbing facilities.” The posting gives a March 14 deadline for any petition to review (challenge) the ballot title to be filed in court.

“We’re not saying we don’t want any kind of help for the homeless,” Baker said. “That’s not what we propose. Low-barrier camps attract a different kind of homeless than the Bethlehem Inn or Shepherd’s House.”

Baker said the group is not affiliated with, for example, the Bend Humanity Coalition, which has called for the city to take much stricter measures to move homeless off Bend streets and more strictly enforce laws.

 Political or not, Baker said, “I don’t think we’re going to have any problem gathering those signatures.”

“This is not a matter of us against the homeless, because that’s not our intention at all,” she said. “Our intention is to find a solution that works for everybody. At this point, it feels like the needs of a majority of the population are being completely ignored by the city council.”

Baker said looking elsewhere can help find solutions -- and also point to reasons for the problem getting worse. Eugene is "sweeping camps," she said, so they are "packing up and moving to Bend," while Medford banned tents used for shelter in "non-camping zones," though that was lifted during a period of severe winter weather late last year.

"These camps are not doing well in other places," Baker said.

The city Planning Commission expects to conclude work Tuesday evening at its third work session on shelter code changes that would lay out what kind of shelters or hardship housing are allowed in residential neighborhoods. Their recommendations then would go to the city council, which is looking at going beyond the formal public hearing process to some broader roundtable discussions on the very hot topic

And as the issue evolves, the group may use another familiar political tactic to protect their neighborhoods and kids from, example, new “hardship housing” codes that could allow placing RVs housing the homeless in neighborhood driveways and properties.

“That one might involve a recall – we’ll see,” Baker said. “We considered going that direction. That is a very real possibility.”