Punk ass bitches, indeed.

A few days ago, I was riding my bike down 11th Avenue, past the corner of Willamette right by the LTD station when I saw this man on the corner holding a sign. "Punk ass bitches, eh?", I thought. Must be a good story there.

It turned out to be quite a sad story. Jim had been camping down by the river at Delta Ponds for a while now. Camping is illegal anywhere in the city, but there are a few spots where one is less likely to be bothered, and Delta Ponds is one of those places. But on Tuesday afternoon, while he was away for a while, the Parks Department cleaned up his campsite, which contained everything he owned, and disposed of it.

Not only is such an action unethical and inhumane, its also unconstitutional, thanks to a landmark ruling by the Ninth Circuit last month concerning a similar situation in Los Angeles. The government does not have the right to dispose of personal possessions... it constitutes illegal seizure without due process under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Unfortunately, violating the constitutional rights of the homeless is de rigueur as far as the City of Eugene is concerned. I was saddened but not the least bit surprised to hear this recent development in this so-called "Human Rights City". It has been a longstanding policy of both the Eugene Police Department as well as Parks and Open Space to dispose of possessions found on public property, but I foolishly assumed that in light of the Ninth Circuit ruling, the city would have changed its policy.

I called up the Parks Department and spoke with them, and they had no knowledge whatsoever of the recent court ruling and didn't seem concerned about the fact that their actions were unconstitutional. Ignorance is no excuse when someone's rights are violated. Nice way to kick a man when he's already down.

And so, I wrote a letter, an "intense verbal spanking" as my friend Sabra put it. Sometimes government needs to be spanked. Sometimes they also need to be sued, and I hope that Jim explores that option. I can't help him sue, but I can gladly spank.

My letter to Mayor Piercy and the City Council reads as follows:

October 5, 2012

Greetings. I'll start this one with a quote:

"We conclude that the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments protect homeless persons from government seizure and summary destruction of their unabandoned, but momentarily unattended, personal property." Lavan v. City of Los Angeles 

In early September, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Lavan v. City of Los Angeles that confiscating and destroying the personal property of the homeless constitutes unreasonable seizure. This ruling is legally binding upon the State of Oregon. The full opinion can be found here: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2012/09/05/11-56253.pdf

Last Tuesday, James Finn, a homeless man who sleeps on the river at Delta Ponds, left his belongings for a short period of time while attending to other business. Sometime in the early afternoon, a Lane County Sheriff's crew "cleaned up" his belongings and disposed of them in the county landfill, in violation of his constitutional rights as set forth in Lavan. Among the possessions seized were his bicycle, bike cart, tent, backpack, tarps and tools, and the flag that had been draped over his father's coffin at Arlington National Cemetery.

Mr. Finn spoke to several people at Parks and Open Space, who told him that it was their policy to confiscate and dispose of property that they find unattended in city parks. I learned of this situation Thursday afternoon, and on Friday I spoke to John Clark at Parks and Open Space, who told me that the department seizes and disposes belongings as current policy, that they knew nothing of the ruling, and that they were not told anything by the city and/or county regarding a change to the policy.

My first question: why hasn't general council for the city and/or county informed the Parks Dept. that this behavior is unconstitutional? The court ruling made national news, and many in the activist/advocacy community are aware of it. Surely local government can't be ignorant of such a significant ruling. The facts and circumstances here are clear-cut. The Parks Department (and EPD) have no choice but to immediately refrain from seizing people's possessions. And in the case of seemingly abandoned possessions, the City needs to leave notice of seizure, adequately store the seized possessions and allow the owners to come forth. The current policy in place by the Parks Department unquestionably violates the constitutional rights of homeless people in the City of Eugene.

My second question: how is the City and County going to make amends for the violation of Mr. Finn's Fourth Amendment rights? As I see it, either the Sheriff's Department needs to start digging through the landfill, or the City of Eugene and/or Lane County needs to adequately compensate Mr. Finn for the destruction of his possessions. Ignorance of the law is no excuse for violating Mr. Finn's constitutional rights.

This situation is completely unacceptable and needs to be immediately rectified. I look forward to hearing how local government plans on accomplishing that, and I expect that the Parks policy will be immediately changed so that such blatant constitutional violations do not land the city in federal court.

With regards,
Alley Valkyrie