To: Kitty Piercy, City of Eugene Mayor, Jon Ruiz, Eugene City Manager, Kevin Foerstler, and Eugene City Council
Remove All Fences and Stop Future Fences from Being Constructed
Remove All Fences and Stop Future Fences from Being Constructed
Why is this important?
The City of Eugene has been criminalizing our homeless community members for years and continues to do so at great cost. People have been arrested for violating no trespassing signs when sheltering themselves from the weather. Their RV's in which they live have been impounded along with all the belongings in them. They have been giving out violations and tickets for "illegal" camping and yet the City has not put the necessary effort needed into providing adequate shelter. In fact they have been doing things to make it even more challenging for people to self-shelter, such as constructing fences.
Fences were constructed by the City (Parks and Open Space) under the overpass near 1st and Jefferson, near Washington Jefferson Park with a budget of $67,000. They were built in addition to the fences that were previously constructed in the park. Instead of using that money to come up with a solution to people having to live without shelter, they are using it to push people out of spaces that provide some shelter from the rain as well as a safer place to sleep.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists all of our human rights, including the right to housing. The City is not only in violation of this human right, but is also exacerbating this violation by not allowing people to self-shelter themselves. Recently the U.S. Department of Justice issued a brief in a court case that said punishing people who are sleeping outside when there are insufficient numbers of shelter beds being provided is a violation of the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and thus "cruel and unusual punishment. Preventing people from accessing a place to self-shelter it seems is equally a violation.
There are plans for more fencing to be constructed in other areas as well, which means more of our taxpayers' money being used to do so. Please tell the City of Eugene, to remove any and all fences already constructed and to stop plans of any future fence construction as well.
Fences were constructed by the City (Parks and Open Space) under the overpass near 1st and Jefferson, near Washington Jefferson Park with a budget of $67,000. They were built in addition to the fences that were previously constructed in the park. Instead of using that money to come up with a solution to people having to live without shelter, they are using it to push people out of spaces that provide some shelter from the rain as well as a safer place to sleep.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists all of our human rights, including the right to housing. The City is not only in violation of this human right, but is also exacerbating this violation by not allowing people to self-shelter themselves. Recently the U.S. Department of Justice issued a brief in a court case that said punishing people who are sleeping outside when there are insufficient numbers of shelter beds being provided is a violation of the 8th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and thus "cruel and unusual punishment. Preventing people from accessing a place to self-shelter it seems is equally a violation.
There are plans for more fencing to be constructed in other areas as well, which means more of our taxpayers' money being used to do so. Please tell the City of Eugene, to remove any and all fences already constructed and to stop plans of any future fence construction as well.