Speech
to the Grants Pass City Council, 9/5/12.
Honorable Councilors, Mayor, and
Manager:
I
went to Baker Park to see if that trash pit had been cleaned at all since I
complained two weeks ago. It was still a
trash pit. I watched a woman come and
clean the bathrooms and leave. Two weeks
ago, I watched 4 men in an Aspire truck empty two trash cans. Apparently, that’s all the city does in that
park, while the trash and weeds pile up in and around it.
Baker Park, litter in the parking lot
A
police officer rode in on his motorcycle.
I had to ask him if he was there in response to the litter compliant I’d
called in. Of course not, but he said
that he had complained numerous times about the trash himself. He said that he’d talked every year to Parks
about thinning out the weeds so police could see people camping. He was down there to see who he could cite
for disorderly conduct offenses. We had
a nice chat, commiserating about the mess.
Baker Park, weeds
I
call this man a police officer for
good reason; he is one who actually tries to keep public order, for which he is
widely hated among the disorderly poor. Unfortunately,
he is not allowed to cite richer people or organizations for letting their property become disorderly, like Baker
Park.
That power was taken away under
Manager David Frasher after police and firemen were combined and called Public
Safety, when Code Enforcement was created and later called Community Service
Officers, or CSOs. Public Safety
officers are not allowed to notice and cite weeds and litter, and even CSOs
work only by citizen or supervisor complaint.
A year or so ago, when I tried to get a passing CSO to look at a
problem, he said that I had to call it in, and then he would be told to look at it.
With supervisors who pick and choose
what will be looked at and who do their best to discourage citizen complaints,
powerful landowners have become safe from citation for allowing their
properties to become disorderly nuisances.
A few properties get abated, but one can complain about others repeatedly
and nothing is done.
And
now, as he pointed out, he can cite, but the disorderly poor mostly don’t care,
because we have no jail space for disorderly conduct or failures to appear for
it. He seemed to be thoroughly
demoralized, as others must be also.
They signed up to police, not
just enforce state laws. Please
eliminate the CSO department and ask all
of your officers to read our nuisance code and enforce it on sight.