Why doesn’t the City of Longview just hire more police officers and arrest the homeless people at Alabama St and living in other parts of the community?

Being homeless is not a crime.  When crimes (theft, assault, malicious mischief, trespassing, drug possession, burglary, possession of stolen property, disorderly conduct, unlawful display of a weapon, bomb incident) occur in and around the Alabama Street camp, Longview Police Department has been arresting the suspects involved in those crimes. Also, the staffing needs of the police department are not singularly tied to the people living at the Alabama Street camp.  The patrol staffing level for the police department has remained the same since 1980 – it is 1 supervisor and 4 patrol officers.  Since 1980 we have seen a 40% increase in police calls for service and 0% increase in patrol staffing levels.  In addition, we are not able to book every suspect into jail.  Jail booking restrictions limit our ability to book on some offenses.

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1. How does the mission statement address not only the quality of life for the homeless citizens in Longview but the housed taxpayers as well?
2. What is the purpose of providing shelter for these people? Shouldn’t they secure housing on their own?
3. How does the city plan to guarantee a low or no impact on surrounding areas when the city has failed for three years with the unhosted site?
4. How will a hosted site / hosted safe parking at Alabama Street continue to affect the local neighborhoods, businesses, and the city shop? Where will the city shop workers park?
5. Why should businesses have to pick up bags of trash in front of their business weekly, and why should they have to pay for the labor to pick this trash up?
6. How will this program prioritize only citizens of Longview and not any person or persons who decide to come? How will we know that they are locals?
7. How are you determining a location?
8. What happens to residents who choose not to accept the rules of a hosted camp?
9. What are the plans for the people who do not want to participate in this program?
10. How does the City plan to provide extra support to the Longview Police Department as this hosted camp is established and everything stabilizes?
11. Why doesn’t the City of Longview just hire more police officers and arrest the homeless people at Alabama St and living in other parts of the community?
12. Are residents allowed to enter another residents dwelling? How do we plan to keep this from happening?
13. What is the duration of this housing plan?
14. Is a resident in one of the “huts” no longer considered “unsheltered” or “homeless”?
15. Once the hosted shelter site opens, are we going to pass an ordinance against unhoused transients?
16. Are we just going to continue to ignore the destruction that is happening already?
17. Why aren't businesses held responsible for their shopping carts?