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ASHLAND CITY COUNCIL Council continues to grapple with 'travelers' issue Law enforcement, community help and coordination with other cities seen as top priorities Comment By Bert Etling Ashland Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By Bert Etling Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Nov. 18, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Nov 18, 2015 at 7:22 PM By Bert Etling Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Nov. 18, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Nov 18, 2015 at 7:22 PM » Social News An increased uniformed presence downtown, coordination among community groups and working with other Oregon cities emerged as leading ways Ashland could cope with growing issues with aggressive behavior by transients in the downtown area during an Ashland City Council study session Monday evening. "Downtown safety is an existential crisis that a lot of people think we have right now," said Councilor Rich Rosenthal. "If people don't feel safe downtown, all these other issues we're working on are secondary." The discussion, intended to whittle down a 13-point action list that has emerged from previous study sessions and a public meeting focusing on the issue, did not make much progress in taking items off the city's to-do list regarding so-called "travelers" hanging out on downtown streets, but some priorities did emerge. "Clearly, the chief (of police) and law enforcement are going to have to come through with a proposal .. we know we need a uniformed presence," said Councilor Pam Marsh, "we're looking for them to tell us a way to do that." She added that "we haven't had a chance for community organizations to come forward to pick up a piece of this," she added, mentioning that the "lodging association" will pick up the "panhandling piece" and the Ashland Culture of Peace group could help with an "educational ambassador." Councilor Stefani Seffinger, who asked for the item to be on the agenda, said she sees efforts needed in three key areas: coordination with community groups; looking at increased funding for law enforcement, including the possible use of cadets; and having the mayor reach out to work with Eugene and other municipalities facing similar challenges to "advocate for" more funding for job training and affordable housing. "Ashland itself is never going to solve the problem of homelessness," Seffinger said. "Clearly the city can't figure out all the pieces," echoed Marsh. "The city can clearly not do everything." "I would like to see some organization with other Oregon cities," agreed Councilor Mike Morris, "particularly on what 'aggressive panhandling' is, what we could enforce and couldn't enforce." "I'm less interested in creating more laws," added Marsh. "I don't think that's the solution. The solution is changing the culture, which takes lots of people. It's not the laws. We have lots of laws." "We need something concrete," said Rosenthal, "or there will be people here Jan. 5 (2017, after the next council election) who will demand it." (This paragraph has been changed to clarify Rosenthal's intent.) Mayor John Stromberg asked councilors to send to him their ideas for consideration at a future study session, and said "we need to do some specific financial feasibility analysis to bring more uniformed presence — if we wanted to have two uniformed officers downtown six days a week from 10 or 11 a.m. to when the theater gets out, we need to get a feeling for the numbers. ... Could we do it by June? Or would it take a year? ... This is not something we're going to knock out. ... We're going to have to stick with this as an ongoing evolving topic." Bert Etling is editor of the Ashland Daily Tidings. Email him at [email protected] or call him at 541-631-1313. By Bert Etling Ashland Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By Bert Etling Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Nov. 18, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Nov 18, 2015 at 7:22 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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