Posted inCarole Smith Downtown Homeless

A perspective on how homeless people are hurting downtown

I've said it before, and I want to say it again: We've got to get over a reluctance to talk honestly about downtown's homeless problem. It's possible to both (1) feel compassion toward homeless people and (2) feel bad about how homeless people are making downtown Salem less pleasant for visitors, residents, and business owners. Downtown Court Street in the morning Yesterday Carole Smith, who lives downtown and owns property there, sent me the message I've shared below.   In an email to the Salem City Council, Smith describes how a prospective tenant backed out of signing a lease because…
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Posted inCarole Smith Downtown Homeless

Should lying on downtown sidewalks be banned between 8 am and 11pm?

Downtown Salem has a serious homeless problem. This is obvious to anyone who visits the area. I go to a Tai Chi class on Court Street three days a week around 4 to 7 pm. I'm bothered by the trash, people curled up in sleeping bags, shopping carts filled to overflowing with people's possessions. Last month I wrote "Seeing Salem's homeless sleeping outside stirred up these feelings." But I've got to be honest. I didn't share all of the feelings I had.  Along with feeling bad about the plight of the homeless, I also don't like what homeless people are…
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Posted in2020 election Homeless

Seeing Salem’s homeless sleeping outside stirred up these feelings

Yesterday I walked around downtown Salem before and after my 6 pm Tai Chi class. On Court Street I saw several people lying on sidewalk benches, completely covered in gray blankets that I assume had been given out in anticipation of the next round of cold, snowy weather. On Commercial Street I saw others in sleeping bags lying on the sidewalk in the doorways of businesses that had closed for the day. My core feeling was, How can it be that the United States is so uncaring about citizens living on the street?  It just seems so wrong, so very…
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Posted inCity of Salem Downtown Homeless

Salem’s homeless problem is hurting downtown businesses

Below you'll find a opinion piece about Salem's downtown homeless problem written by Carole Smith. She and Eric Kittleson live downtown and lease space to several Court Street businesses. So they have an up-close and personal perspective on how homeless people are impacting Salem's urban core. Smith submitted the piece as a guest opinion to the Statesman Journal, which declined to publish it. I have no idea why, since what she wrote is timely, provocative, and based on both her own direct experience and that of her tenants.  I'm also sharing a video Kittleson took on a Sunday morning around…
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Posted inCity Council City of Salem Homeless

Arta Potties SOS! Why isn’t Salem embracing public portable restrooms?

Rebecca Maitland Courtney is frustrated with her home town. She has a right to be. After coming up with the idea for Arta Potties, artistically-decorated portable toilets that serve both the homeless and ordinary people, she's finding that other cities are giving her a lot more love than Salem.  I just spent an enjoyable hour talking with Courtney. She's a caring, creative woman who can't understand why it is so difficult for people in Salem to come together and embrace a great idea: making restrooms a right for all in downtown, rather than a privilege for those who have the money…
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Posted inHomeless

Straight talk about Salem’s homeless problem: answer is more money

Yesterday I learned a lot about our local homeless problem via a Salem City Club program, "A Profile of Salem's Homeless Population: Our Unique Challenges."  Jimmy Jones (Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency) and Ron Hays (Community Resource Trust) presented a lot of interesting information about how many people are homeless in Salem/Marion County, and why they're in this dire situation. I'll share some of those facts below.  First, though, I'll get to the bottom line of what I grasped from the talks by Jones and Hays, and some follow-up Googling into the broader question of what really works to help…
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