Although there were no action items on the agenda devoted to the topic, homelessness remained the main topic for discussion at Monday nightâs Corvallis City Council meeting.
Simon Date, president and CEO of the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce, offered a presentation of some survey data his organization had collected on the impact on homelessness on downtown business.
And the community comments section of the meeting continued to be dominated by individuals aggressively speaking out on the homelessness issue, including several people who participated in a âcamp-inâ protest last Thursday at City Hall and Central Park.
Date submitted a 45-page survey that he an his staff had collected (see the full text online). And although councilors welcomed the involvement of the Chamber and its business members in the discussion of homelessness, several councilors took issue with how the survey was framed.
Activists pitched tents in front of Corvallis City Hall and in a nearby park to protest the city s policies regarding unhoused people.
Credit Chris Lehman / KLCC
Corvallis resumed posting notices and clearing campsites in May after putting that policy on hold for more than a year due to the pandemic. The city does allow people to sleep in city parks and in front of city hall, but all belongings must be removed upon waking up.
That makes life even harder for people in a difficult situation, say activists.
“Our homeless community never has a chance to get their feet on the ground and start to utilize the resources that we have for them because they keep getting posted and moved,” said Robin Frojen, an OSU professor who’s camping in front of City Hall for 24 hours to protest the policy. Corvallis has this not-in-my-backyard attitude, and these people are our community as well. We can t turn our backs on them.
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