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Grants Pass tackles vagrancy problem Friday Dec 2, 2016 at 4:02 PM Dec 2, 2016 at 4:02 PM By Madeline Shannon of the Daily Courier Grants Pass officials say they have already taken steps to deal with the vagrancy problem in their city, but they also are looking for ideas from the community. "This is high on the council's priority list," City Manager Aaron Cubic told the audience during a public forum at City Hall Thursday evening. "We want to address this issue as a community." Some of the problems, which are particularly acute in the downtown area, include misdemeanor crimes, trespassing and aggressive panhandling. The city's Public Safety Department has introduced different measures since 2012 to address these problems, according to police Chief Bill Landis. "We started to issue citations, let them know what wasn't acceptable, make them pour out their alcoholic beverages," Landis explained. "We began to let them know they weren't just going to have their way in our community and create unsafe, unpopular behavior that affects our businesses." Solutions put forward by city staff complemented those voiced by people at the forum. "One thing they do in Portland is, if a homeless person knows someone who is willing to help them, they will buy them a bus ticket to connect with that person," said Tom Bange, owner of Action Appliance Service in Grants Pass. "That sounds like a win-win way to help." Landis responded, "We do that here. We try to touch bases with family or friends in the destination that they're desiring before we put them on the bus." A lot of money has been spent addressing problems in recent years. According to Landis, $1 million went into establishing the Grants Pass Sobering Center, which gives police a better option than simply taking people to the county jail. The money for the Sobering Center included a state grant for $500,000 and a lot of private fundraising. "Just that number alone, a million dollars, was from a group of people who came together and said, 'Hey, what if?' " Landis said. "We track the results and make sure it's a good thing for the citizens and that it's doing what we thought it would do." In addition, the city and St. Vincent de Paul raised $94,000 to start St. Vincent's mobile kitchen program, which will serve food at different locations throughout the city on different days. The solution is an attempt to avoid daily gatherings at a single location: the St. Vincent's Dining Hall on Seventh Street, which has been operating at that location for the past 18 years. "The city had a $24,000 commitment that bought a contract between us and St. Vincent de Paul, where they will cease on-site meal service at their facility," Landis said. Some of the solutions that came up during the forum's brainstorming session will be added to the list of actions already taken or planned. "A lot of the things I outlined have been completed and are working, and some of those are works in progress," Landis told the Daily Courier. "One of the things that's really effective (about) hearing from the community is continuing to come up with ideas and strategies as well as working on the ones we've implemented." — Reach reporter Madeline Shannon at 541-474-3813 or [email protected]