The work group, which met for the first time on June 25, was not initially referred to as the Downtown Good Neighbor Partnership. For a description of events surrounding the work group's formation, see the CANDO Archive blog post, "City Scrambling to Save Son of Sit-Lie."
The invitation-only first meeting was held at the Urban Development Department. Michael Livingston and I asked Kristin Retherford if we could attend just to observe, and were asked not to come to the first meeting, because its primary goal was to obtain invitees frank opinions as to the purpose and goals of the work group away from the public eye. When it appeared at the meeting that UGM had brought additional reps, Kristin had Neal email us that we could attend, but by then it was too late.
Present: Kristin Retherford, Facilitator; Dan Clem, Moises Ramos and Bruce Donohue with UGM; Ashley Hamilton with MWVCAA; Tom Hoffert with the Salem Area Chamber; the owner of Glance Optics & Eyewear (330 Court Street) and others unknown. Not present: anyone from NWHS or law enforcement.
Asked for meeting highlights, CANDO Chair Neal Kern wrote in an email, "Based on Kristen's comments the group will be trying to generate ideas, but not making decisions, for addressing homelessness in the downtown area in a less public environment than the task force meetings from last year. Conversations focused on a service model in Eugene called CAHOOTS affiliated with an organization called the White Dove Clinic."
Emails from Kristin a couple of weeks after the meeting described it thusly:
During the meeting the group talked about the importance of accountability. UGM staff talked about the role this plays in their own operations as did Ashely [Hamilton] from ARCHES. I posed the question of what this would look like more broadly, and if a behavior-related ordinance is an example of what they meant by accountability. When many answered yes, I then posed the question of what that might look like and put some options on the table for their consideration such as: daytime vs. all the time, warnings vs. citations, how many warnings before someone would be trespassed from the downtown, if they were trespassed and then excluded from the downtown what kind of service barrier would this be, what if people were trespassed or excluded from the public right of way, but could still visit service providers and enter an exclusion zone for the purpose of seeking shelter, meals, or other services from a provider. We also talked about CAHOOTS, the need for better communication tools for the businesses, and the need for more shelter. Additionally, we talked about the work ARCHES and UGM staff are doing to reach out to downtown campers to get them up and out of doorways before businesses opened. Police staff was unable to make it to this particular meeting so we didn’t get into a discussion about LEAD. Additionally, updates were given on constructions projects that will result in more service capacity at ARCHES and the future UGM building.
However, asked whether there was at this first meeting any mention of revisiting a sit-lie/camping ban or other "enforcement" measure, Neal wrote in an email, "There was no specific mention of sit/lie. One business owner spoke briefly on a vagrancy ordinance but did not specify what that would entail and there was not much follow up discussion on that topic." Dan also denied there was any discussion of sit-lie.
A couple of weeks after the meeting, news broke that City Council would be considering revisiting a sit-lie/camping ban at its July 22d meeting. See "Son of Sit-Lie Returns." In response to negative media reports, the City reported that, "The City has initiated collaboration meetings between staff, Salem Police Department, service providers, and downtown business and property representatives to provide updates on efforts and improve communication between parties. This informal group is...intended to function as the good-neighbor partnership described in [Downtown Homeless Solutions Task Force] Recommendation [3]." (See DHSTF Rec #3 here.) After this, the group was called the Good Neighbor Partnership.
On July 22, Kristin emailed five work group members saying, "At the Partnership meeting we had in June, there was some discussion about holding a community forum where service providers could talk about projects and services, where businesses could talk about their experience, and where the City and SPD could speak about what we are doing and/or challenges we are experiencing. The proposed [sit-lie] ordinance was pulled from tonight’s agenda at Councilor Andersen’s request as he is not in town and Council rules allow for items to be rescheduled at an absent councilor’s request. It will likely be rescheduled for September. If at all possible, I think it would be great to hold a community forum in late August. Do you think this is feasible?"
At the end of July, Kristin emailed the entire work group saying, "At the August meeting, we will be discussing the proposed [sit-lie] ordinance as well as an FAQ for businesses, and the possibility of hosting a community forum with a panel discussion to share information."
