The Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission is considering a ban on ocean shore camping in the Curry County city after a petition filed by the Macklyn Cove Condominium Association detailed resident’s complaints against homeless beach campers.
Brookings resident Matilda Tuffey wrote a public comment in favor of the ban. She said residents like her are tired of cleaning up after homeless campers. She’s found all sorts of things on the beach — from tents and garbage to drug paraphernalia.
She described cleaning out the remnants of one camp at the end of the summer.
“It took five of us to drag everything out of the bushes, get it out into the sunlight where we could actually see what was what, and divide it up and put it into big black garbage bags and drag it down the beach,” said Tuffey. “They're too heavy to carry.”
The petition notes that public restrooms near the city’s Mill Beach have been closed for years. A photo was included of a camper in the process of defecating on the shore.
Diana Carter, executive director of the non-profit Brookings CORE Response, helps run the only homeless shelter in the county which she noted is at max capacity.
She said that this petition is only the latest attempt at removing the homeless from public areas in Brookings. A city ordinance passed earlier this year banned camping in neighborhoods and a number of parks and public properties. She thinks chasing campers from the shore, one of their last spaces in the city, is a bad strategy to deal with problems like litter and crime.
“If we just continue corralling them into smaller and smaller spaces, we're going to see more criminal activity,” said Carter. “We're going to see more interpersonal violence. We're going to see a lot more of the things that we're hoping to mitigate.”
She would rather see enforcement of existing laws, like those against littering, rather than widespread bans that impact a population with few places left to go.
“This is a societal issue. And if we want people off of public lands like our beaches and our parks and our public lands out in the forest, then we need to invest in resources here in our community,” said Carter. “And our community hasn't had a good history of doing that.”
Brookings’ city council has considered banning camping on Mill Beach three times since 2009.
Matilda Tuffey, the resident in favor of the camping ban, said she felt sympathy at first for the growing homeless population using her city’s beaches, some of whom said they were fleeing fire and smoke. But her and other resident’s patience has worn out.
“Most of us that have access to the beach have put up signs that say no trespassing so that they don't come into our yards,” said Tuffey. “I feel like it's a constant battle.”
Public comments are open through Oct. 15 on the proposed camping ban. There will also be a public hearing at the Southwestern Oregon Community College in Brookings on Oct. 9. The Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission will consider adopting the rule at a meeting later this year.
