The sidewalk along part of Exchange Street in downtown Astoria is about the right size: Just wide enough to legally camp on, said Timathy Bachteler.
Or as legally as he can under the city’s camping ordinance. When he’s all set up, ideally there is still the minimum six feet of “clear, continuous width” for pedestrians that the city requires.
Bachteler is part of a highly visible group of unhoused people who regularly camp along a two-block area that stretches from the CenturyLink-owned building at 11th Street across from the Astoria Public Library to a former Lutheran church on the corner of 12th Street. In the middle is the Astoria Senior Center and a building that houses law offices.
On Monday, the Astoria City Council plans to discuss and vote on a new ordinance that would temporarily ban people from parts of the city if they commit certain crimes or offenses ranging from serious charges like arson to lesser charges like camping violations.
The ordinance would create enhanced enforcement zones downtown as well as in Uniontown and Uppertown. People who violate the ordinance could be excluded for up to 90 days, but would still be able to enter the exclusion zones to access social services, go to work, or attend religious services among other things.
Under the proposed ordinance, exclusion orders would need to be approved by an Astoria Municipal Court judge before they could be issued or enforced and people would be able to appeal the order. Once someone was excluded, if they returned to the area and committed additional crimes or offenses, they could face criminal trespassing charges — and, with that, appearances at the Clatsop County Circuit Court and the possibility of jail time.
Proponents say the ordinance gives police another tool to address growing instances of bad behavior in Astoria. Critics, however, worry it could unfairly target homeless people.
Even as Astoria Police Chief Stacy Kelly and Mayor Sean Fitzpatrick emphasize that the ordinance is intended to address bad behaviors — not to single anyone out — homelessness and issues related to Astoria’s unhoused population remain at the heart of the debate for both sides.
“You can’t say that it’s not going to impact the homeless population,” Kelly told KMUN. “That isn’t accurate. But to say that it’s directed just at the homeless isn’t accurate either.”
Anyone who commits an offense listed under the proposed ordinance could find themselves excluded, he said. Still, he acknowledged, “I think the Exchange group is kind of the lightning rod for everything right now.”
‘A little bit of everything’
Astoria police say the Exchange Street campers are unique in that many have persisted at the location now for some time, despite receiving frequent citations for violating aspects of the city’s camping ordinance. They interact frequently with police and social service workers.
The Exchange Street campers move between the blocks often and are very aware of what the city’s camping ordinance requires “because it gets drilled into our heads every single day,” Bachteler said. Even so, he estimates he has racked up more than a dozen citations, tied to oversleeping or leaving his possessions along the sidewalk. He previously faced a misdemeanor charge for a different incident.
“I always keep my area clean … Tim does too,” said Bachteler’s neighbor, Samantha Limlaw, who has been homeless for most of her life. She cleans up other people’s encampments, too, if they aren’t interested in making the effort or aren’t able to do the work themselves.
They say most of the campers are just trying to get by and that only a few people cause problems — something police and businesses confirm.
The proposed ordinance categorizes offenses that could lead to someone being excluded from an area into three different tiers, from most serious to least serious. With the Exchange Street campsites, Kelly told KMUN that police have responded to a number of domestic disputes between campers.They field what can be daily complaints about trash and campsites cluttering the sidewalk.
“So, a little bit of everything,” Kelly said.
While there have been a handful of serious assaults among the campers, he said most of the offenses they see fall into what would be the lesser Tier 3 category in the proposed ordinance. For the most part, Kelly doesn’t believe people walking by the campers are in any danger from them.
“I think the violence we see is homeless-on-homeless,” he said.
Still, he added, “I think there are a few people down there dealing with mental health issues that could scare people. I can see why the average citizen is scared … I 100% understand why they feel the way they do. But then, I also understand the perspective from other people who, you know, have worked around the homeless community and are more comfortable with it. They realize that it’s mental health and they give them their room.”
Mixed opinions
Opinions about the campers are mixed at the nearby Astoria Senior Center.
One group KMUN spoke with said the Exchange Street campers have never bothered them directly and seem to keep to themselves. But some said they felt uneasy around the campers and won’t park near the encampments.
Dean Deonier, director of the Astoria Senior Center, testified at a City Council hearing last week in favor of the enforcement zone ordinance. He told KMUN he feels compassion for the campers and has had positive interactions with some of them. But, he said something needs to be done about the campers who continually cause problems.
While some issues have improved recently, he said there are ongoing concerns about noise and other disturbances that make the seniors feel threatened. Litter also continues to be a problem. As the campers move between the two blocks, Deonier said trash left behind blows down to the center.
Joe Di Bartolomeo, a personal injury attorney, has an office in the building next to the senior center.
“Most of the people are easy to talk to, they’re approachable,” he said of the campers, adding that many of them clean up the parking lot just below the sidewalk on their own initiative. A few have been more difficult neighbors, however.
Di Bartolomeo initially supported the idea of the exclusion zone ordinance as a way to address issues with that last group. But when he saw a copy of the ordinance ahead of the public hearing last week, he started to have questions. He thought the ordinance could pass legal muster, but he also wondered, “What happens when we execute this and start enforcing it?”
Currently, the Exchange Street campers go through regular mini-migrations across the two blocks on Exchange Street. To Di Bartolomeo, the enhanced enforcement zones potentially force more frequent and larger movements across the city as people are excluded from some areas.
“I don’t know how effective that will be,” Di Bartolomeo said and added, “It’s not getting at the root of the issue.”
Di Bartolomeo has represented unhoused people in legal matters and also wonders how they will navigate a legal system where, if someone decides to appeal an exclusion order, they will deal with the municipal court where they will not have court-appointed attorneys to advocate for them and guide them through the process.
‘Everybody’s focusing on the wrong thing’
Social service agencies and homeless advocacy groups are waiting to see what the City Council decides on Monday, but expect that some of their clients could eventually face exclusion under the ordinance if it passes.
“(Clatsop Community Action) continues to vigorously support our clients and the community for social service needs,” Andrea Burch, deputy director at Clatsop Community Action, wrote in a statement to KMUN. “Whatever the outcome, we will be available to those seeking assistance with the resources we have at our disposal.”
Osarch Orak, the executive director of LiFEBoat Services in downtown Astoria, is concerned the ordinance will not be administered equally across all of Astoria’s citizens. He has argued that the city should spend its resources looking at other solutions and give people more options for where they can go.
Orak said the people LiFEBoat serves are very upset.
“And rightfully so,” he said. “They’re all extremely angry because it’s 100% discrimination.”
Orak knows a number of the Exchange Street campers. Many of them come to LiFEBoat for showers and meals. They don’t stay at LiFEBoat’s overnight shelter, however. Some suffer from mental illnesses or they have too much stuff to bring into the shelter and they aren’t willing to leave their possessions behind.
The unhoused people on Exchange Street that KMUN spoke with said what they needed was a place to go during the day to rest and safely store their possessions.
Limlaw and Bachteler both worry about what will happen if the enhanced enforcement zones ordinance passes.
“We do comply the most we can,” Limlaw said, “but what they’re doing is … it’s like they’re limiting every chance we have to try to be comfortable.”
The way she sees it, she is a part of the community too. The money she spends at local stores contributes to the local economy.
“Everybody’s focusing on the wrong thing,” Bachteler added. “They’re not focused on how to get us up off the street … they’re focused on how to round us up like cattle and how to punish us.”
“For being in a situation that not all of us can help,” Limlaw finished.
Kelly, however, is optimistic that if the ordinance passes, he and his officers will rarely use it. He believes the threat of exclusion could be motivation enough for people.
He pointed to a recent example of a woman who police had tried to get into shelter numerous times without success. She became very worried about what an exclusion zone ordinance could mean for her and is now at the Columbia Inn, a shelter operated by Clatsop Community Action.
“She’s been there for a month or so and we could never get her to talk about going to shelter,” Kelly said.
“I’m willing to bet that if we pass it,” he added, “this community will know and they will either start complying or they will move on to somewhere else where they can get away with it.”