The Eugene City Council voted to allow the Occupy Eugene movement to stay in Washington-Jefferson Park until Jan. 11 during a work session Wednesday.
Councilors voted 5-3 to extend the movement’s stay in the park past the Dec. 15 deadline originally set last October. The decision came after a vote-approved postponement from Monday night’s city council meeting that included passionate testimony from both sides of in the issue.
The city council extended the deadline in order to have more time to come up with a way to transition the people of Occupy Eugene to another location.
The councilors debated the future of the movement for over an hour at the work meeting, with many having varying opinions on the best options for the camp in the future from the city’s perspective.
City Manager Jon Ruiz said that for the members of the Occupy movement, there is “little or no interest in working toward a transition camp unless we are moving toward a permanent camp.”
Many councilors were sympathetic to the plight of the homeless, but feel that either erecting a permanent camp or allowing the occupiers to stay where they are is not the best option for the city in the future.
“My feeling about the permanent camps is that they don’t work,” City Councilor Alan Zelenka said. “Everyone I talk to says the same thing: that dysfunctional people end up taking over and the camps are hard to deal with. I support going forward, but I am skeptical about a permanent camp.”
In addition to passing the extension motion, the council voted to find a service provider to focus on homelessness that will develop a set of recommendations over the next 60-90 days. The council also voted to create or contact an agency to set up a short-term site for the remainder of the winter designed specifically for chronic homeless with behavioral issues.
At the meeting, City Councilor Mike Clark expressed concern about the costs that the city is incurring. Although he hopes the movement will stay together, he said the council should make a decision sooner rather than later about the future of the camp.
“It seems silly to me to move them if we cannot move them all together to another location,” he said. “We’re not addressing the issue that the longer this goes on, the more police coverage we need.”
Financing is another major concern for the council, which discussed where the money to finance police enforcement and other issues around the camp would come from. Councilors passed a motion stating that the funding could reach up to $200,000 from sources yet to be determined.
Some councilors do not think an extension until Jan. 11 is enough time, and do not foresee significant change in this period. City Councilor Betty Taylor petitioned to extend the date until the end of February, but only two voted in favor of that motion.
A member of the Occupy movement said that they plan to petition the council for another extension as the Jan. 11 deadline approaches.