Mayor Randy Sparacino | Mayor Randy Sparacino Official website
Mayor Randy Sparacino | Mayor Randy Sparacino Official website
The City is continuing its series of town hall events to talk about the organization's efforts to address homelessness and highlight related challenges our community is facing. This second event was hosted by Ward 1 Councilors Jessica Ayers and Sarah Spansail.
Nearly 150 community members attended the event, and the panel answered 75-100 questions from the audience during the Q&A session.
The panel consisted of Councilor Jessica Ayers, Councilor Sarah Spansail, Mayor Randy Sparacino, City Manager Brian Sjothun, Police Chief Justin Ivens, Fire Chief Eric Thompson and City Attorney Eric Mitton.
During the meeting, Councilor Spansail highlighted the council's commitment to supporting housing development projects such as Prescott Gardens, Orchard Meadows, Summit Gardens and Providence Medford. Last fall, the council approved a resolution that leveraged $107.5 million to support these projects, which will produce over 300 housing units that will serve a diverse population.
One of the questions asked was, "What is the City doing to prosecute the homeless who vandalize and destroy property?"
The issue of homelessness is very complicated, especially when it involves public property. One of the current challenges is that when individuals are charged or arrested, they are typically released immediately from the jail. This creates a frustrating cycle for local government, citizens, victims, impacted businesses and the entire criminal justice system.
Click here for an overview of how the City is addressing homelessness, the current challenges the organization is facing, the work that’s being done by the Livability Team and how the City is investing in services.
The following testimonial was received from a community member following the town hall event:
"Thank you for arranging these town halls to address a very important issue. I agree with the speakers that this is a complex issue and needs to be addressed at the State, County, and City level, along with partnering with non-profit service providers so as to meet food, shelter, health services, and programming for addiction recovery and mental health services."
The next town hall event will be hosted by Councilors Zac Smith and Tim D'Alessandro in Ward 2 on Tuesday, June 6 from 6:00-7:30 PM at the South Medford High School Cafeteria (1551 Cunningham Ave.). Click here for the town hall event schedule.
Original source can be found here
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