The 411 on Illegal Camping and the Pandemic

 CORVALLIS - During the pandemic, The City Council has ordered it’s law against illegal camping to loosen dramatically. 

It’s hard not to notice the tent cities that have developed in the areas, like the communities under the Highway 20 overpass in downtown Corvallis, or the closed BMX park. 

Normally, the law on illegal camping states as follows: 

5.03.080.080.02 - Illegal Camping:

1. It is unlawful for any person to camp in or upon a public right-of-way, park, sidewalk, alley, street, under any bridge, or any properties owned by the City of Corvallis except as provided in Section 5.03.080.080.04 below, or Chapter 5.01, as amended, or by declaration of the City Manager of Emergency Circumstances. 

2) A violation of this section is a Class C Misdemeanor.

However, amid the pandemic the City of Corvallis now allows “camping at any park,” according to the Corvallis Police Department’s Capt. Joel Goodwin. I.e. illegal camping will not be enforced.

“There certainly is a visible change that we’ve seen with COVID in terms of the number of people that are visible in our parks. Of course homelessness is not a new thing, but what we’ve noticed is with COVID we’ve seen quite a few more people that are out of the parks and more visible,” said Captain Joel Goodwin of the Corvallis Police Department. 

A young man who wishes to be unidentified, walks along the path by the tent city below the HWY. 20 overpass, Corvallis.

Alongside the illegal camping laws not being enforced, non-profit Unity Shelter (with authorization from The City of Corvallis) has established a managed tent camp in the BMX park, adjacent to the Men’s Shelter and Hygiene Center in South Corvallis, off of Chapman Place. This includes set up such as designated tent camping platforms with adequate spacing, toilets, trash service, and hand washing sinks. Additionally, showers, warming tents, and food may be available as well. The BMX track is closed for all other uses while the managed camp is in place, and currently, The City Council has announced that the camp shall end no later than May 15. 

Green tents blend into the tree line edge lining the Willamette River, near Corvallis Skate Park. 

Additionally, a limited number of recreational vehicles (RV’s) and cars are allowed to park at Pioneer Park parking lot, overnight. This is only with prior approval from the City of Corvallis however, and following a background check. They do not have any on site facilities for dumping/disposing of water and its inhabitants. As of current, the City is not taking new applications from the general public. All other camping at other municipal and park system parking lots is not permitted. RV and car camping at Pioneer Park is scheduled to end on March 31.

See it all here: https://www.corvallisoregon.gov/cd/page/temporary-overnight-camping-information

“At some point there was a bit of a shift because I think initially with COVID it was the ‘stay at home and save lives’ philosophy, and that’s changed and evolved over time. But with that initial philosophy cities across Oregon received guidance for our homeless community members; we don’t want to move them, just like we don’t want people to leave their homes; moving could potentially increase the risk to other community members,” said Goodwin. 

“Another trend we have noticed is that not only do we have more people camping in public places, but that many of them are not from this area, because a lot of other communities have sort of resumed their previous practice of addressing it, we have people from communities as close as Albany, as far away as other states that are coming to Corvallis, because they know it’s [illegal camping] is not being enforced, and  they know that there are alot of services that are offered here too.” 

Below the Corvallis HWY. 20 overpass.

“This sort of complicates the problem I think for our entire community. And this is a community problem, it’s not a police problem, and I think that people often look to the police to solve it, because problem solving is part of our job. Some of the behaviors become police issues, but it’s something that we all need to figure out a solution together to address it. Many of our service providers were already at their maximum, and now this is adding to that. So it’s making it much more difficult for them too.” 

Some available resources for the community include Community Services Consortium (this includes multiple counties), Jackson Street Youth Services, Community Outreach Inc, and Roadrunner Resources (for students). 

Many cities have already gone back to enforcing their illegal camping laws, such as Albany, which also has an officially managed homeless camp on their close BMX track as well. City officials met in Sept. 2020 to discuss a 90 day - four stage - plan that ultimately “cleans up” all homeless camps in the City, excluding the managed camp at the BMX track. Read about the Albany City Council meeting here.

“However, if there are certain behaviors that violate other park rules, they can be asked to leave,” said Goodwin. 

“We have seen a significant increase in aggravated assault among adults, and much of that is related to our parks. We have seen several stabbings for example at the [Corvallis] Skate Park in recent months, and other assaults." 

There are No Camping Enforcement Zones, however. These include:

• Proximity to rivers, waterways, and floodplains;

• Environmentally sensitive areas (such as wooded areas, Riparian zones and other protected natural areas);

• Park locations within 50 feet of designated play areas, ballfields or park features;

• Parking lots;

• Other city rights-of-way.

Alongside camping in parks, the parks department provides trash service in some areas, such as the skatepark camp (highway 20 bridge camp). This camp is not managed, but still allowed because it’s in any park.

“The City of Corvallis has provided direction that they want to continue not enforcing illegal camping in our parks,” said Goodwin.

At a Glance:

Who: Corvallis Capt. Joel Goodwin

What: 411 on Illegal Camping in Corvallis.

Informative Links: No Camping Enforcement Zones, https://www.corvallisoregon.gov/cd/page/temporary-overnight-camping-information

Ways to Get Help or get Involved: Community Services Consortium, Jackson Street Youth Services, Community Outreach Inc, Roadrunner Resources (for LBCC students).  

Roadrunners Place 6th in MikesBikes World Championship

Competing among 80 teams from the U.S. to Asia to Europe, LBCC’s team of Roadrunners made it into the final round of the MikesBikes Championship, placing sixth in the business simulation competition.  

To make it into the final round, teams from across the globe compete against one another, creating a business simulation where they produce and market various types of bikes, with well over 20 different business variables that they were expected to control/analyze. Each day was equivalent to one year of business, and the teams had one month in total to produce the highest shareholder value for their bike companies. 

Here's the simulation website:

https://www.smartsims.com/news/mikesbikes-world-champs/ 

Coming in hot in sixth place were Linn-Benton students Rachel Tweedy, Cydney Diaz, Alexander Clapp and Isaieh Heiken. 

It’s apparent that this team's memorable experience was one for the books, valuing communication and learning to work together in a competition that had no guidance other than a 60-page manual. 

“I think it was pretty overwhelming at first, especially because I didn’t know anybody on my team, and it was a lot more challenging than the simulation we did in class,” Tweedy said. “It was a much more advanced version and I just didn’t expect it to be as complicated as it was.” 

“I would say that it was intimidating because not only was it more complicated, it was also on such a big stage. Competing against the best teams on such a big stage was exciting and intimidating,” said Heiken. 

“‘They [MikesBikes] were just like, alright here’s this 60-page manual, read it and do good.’ So it was really neat to be able to sit there, especially for the first meeting, to talk to everybody and see where everyone is at and how they want to do things, because especially when it’s virtual like this, it’s really hard to connect with everyone and see how things are going to work together,” said Clapp.

According to the group, this exercise (or competition) is unique to anything that's typically done in school, as there was no one overseeing their work. They were on their own. 

“This was definitely new, we had to just jump into it. I feel like we learned a lot about compromise, weighing benefits and giving into people’s ideas for the good of the group. We just went for it. You open the manual and it’s like ‘Oh, this is going to be very different,’” said LBCC and high school student Diaz. 

And as an almost-accidental-put-together-team, boy did they show up. With much of their time spent arguing, this team had to learn to compromise on a lot of ideas with one another, and in contrast, learn the best way to present and persuade their ideas, which in turn became a very real world-like situation. 

“The reason our Zoom calls would last two to three hours was because half that amount of time was spent arguing and talking about all the things we got wrong, so it took a while,” said Heiken. 

All together this team spent about 90 hours on this project over a month's time, and finding the time for this competition amid their school studies and personal lives was no easy task. 

“We would disagree a lot, but I think that’s what made our team as successful as it was, because we had to really think out every single decision and prove our points as to why we think that,” said Diaz.

However, these Roadrunners agreed on one thing -- that their willingness to work with each other and communicate openly and respectfully was their saving grace.

“There was no easy decision, so when someone wanted to have their way they had to do all the things to show why it would be better than somebody else, and that really helped because we ended up finding out the best and most efficient way to do things,” said Clapp.

“Often times it would be the three of them [Tweedy, Clapp, and Diaz] against me, and I would have to spend a good 20 minutes trying to figure out how to convince them to do something, and sometimes it would work, and sometimes it wouldn’t,” said Heiken as the laughter from the team filled our interviewing Zoom room. “We were open to the debate, and I think that’s what made us such a great team.”

Curious what the most difficult business variable they were judged on was? Me, too. 

“Oh that’s an easy question! The thing about MikesBikes is that once you're behind in the simulation, and not one of the top teams, it’s really hard to climb back up because these teams are constantly going to grab more and more market share. What really nipped us in the butt before the finals, was in the first two days we seriously messed up in our production. We either missed out on sales or overproduced,” said Heiken. “Trying to understand that variable [production] was key to every other variable.” 

And just like in real life, market share is up in the air.

“It’s so hard to predict what your market share is going to be, and that’s how it is in the real world, too,” said Tweedy. “They just give you a bunch of data, and it’s your job to interpret it, so that’s why I think it was so difficult.”

“We didn’t talk to anybody from the program, other than emailing the help desk once!” said Clapp. 

“It’s hard to say [what we would have done differently] because at the end of the day, we still don’t know what went wrong; we kind of know, but not really,” said Heiken. 

Moving forward, Tweedy is a business administration major and wants to go into Human Resources, or that kind of management side of business where she can make a large difference in the world of business and for individuals. However, she says it's been really hard to look for jobs and go to career fairs since everything has been online. We all know how things have changed since the pandemic, and it’s vastly spilling over into students' lives.

Heiken is a business administration and marketing major. He aims to get involved with lots of things, where he can practice his skills in communicating and donate his time and knowledge to meaningful causes. He currently sits on a couple of local boards -- serving as the marketing coordinator for the Linn County Animal Rescue Board, vice president for the Corvallis New Business Generation Board, and is the social media manager for the Lebanon New Business Generation Board. He also works as the marketing director for The Commuter. 

Clapp is moving on to OSU to study accounting and join the investors club, and eventually earn his business master’s at either OSU or UO. He dreams of helping people invest safely and smartly with their money, in order to grow their futures comfortably. The pandemic has also significantly made it difficult for him to get an internship, since everything is online. 

Diaz is finishing up her high school career this spring, and then will be dual-enrolled with OSU and LBCC this fall, and plans to study business agriculture, where she can find something that pairs business and the outdoors. 

This Roadrunner team emphasized and recommended  that anyone who is invited to the MikesBikes Championship should absolutely go. 

“This was arguably one of the most valuable things I’ve done in a long time,” said Heiken. 

“This was a really good experience to work as a team outside of the classroom, especially as a student if you don’t have business experience, this can really give you a taste of what it’s like to work without a rubric, without that teacher guidance. It was a really good opportunity to really grow and develop on your own without that guidance boxing you in,” said Tweedy.

At a Glance:

Who: LBCC Students Rachel Tweedy, Isaieh Heiken, Alexander Clapp, and Cydney Diaz. 

What: MikesBikes World Championship sixth place winners. 

Where: Online - Find Out More Info. Here: https://www.smartsims.com/news/mikesbikes-world-champs/

LBCC Student Nia Alvarado Reflects on SLC Vice Presidency.

With only one term left before leaving Linn-Benton Community College, here is a light shone on our SLC Vice President, Nia Alvarado. 

She is a computer science major at Linn-Benton Community College, and is dual-enrolled at OSU as a computer science major with an option in artificial intelligence. She’s been at LBCC for two years now, and is about to graduate. She will continue on with OSU, and take some summer classes at Chemeketa Community College. 

She has been a Roadrunner for two years, and for five terms she’s been our SLC V.P. Spring term will be her last one in student government. 

What inspired you to study computer science with an option in artificial intelligence?

Oh, it’s actually really interesting. I had to write an essay my senior year about artificial intelligence, and originally I was against it. But I actually found myself loving it and falling in love with computer science. I always thought I’d be a politician, which is crazy because I hate politics now. So that essay inspired me to explore engineering as an entire field. I really didn’t know much about it, and I hated math, and didn’t really like science until that year.

What is it about A.I. that you love so much? 

I love the connection to the human brain that it has with it, and it’s connection to machinery. I really like how we can take simple everyday things, like my Google Home that I can’t live without, and apply it to make our lives easier. I also really like future technology, and so I wanted to be a part of that push into the future.

What are your plans for after college and your future career?

Interestingly enough, I will probably never touch computer science again, unless it’s for my own personal gain or use. After LB I’ll be finishing up at OSU next year, and after that I’m not sure if I’ll be working full time, going to school, or both. But, I’m actually going to be pursuing a different degree in a career field I want -- I’ll be doing aerospace engineering.

I don’t want to be a part of space exploration, I want to start off by working on smaller projects like satellites.

Unfortunately, nowhere in Oregon has this program, and so I’ve actually checked out a program in Florida. I’m also looking into Boulder University in Colorado. I wanted to be closer to home and go to USC, but I don’t want to pay that price; they’re expensive and living in California is super expensive.

 

Switching gears, talk about your your position as V.P.: 

I really like it. It was more than I thought it was going to be, not workload wise, but it has been a great experience. I went in thinking that this is something that will be great for my resume; I would get letters of recommendation, I get to work with staff, and I know how staff connections have always helped me personally. 

It’s been a really great experience because my team are amazing people, with all different types of majors and personality types. We also have a guide [Rob Camp] who helps us with a ton of things, classes or any department. 

What kind of things do you do in SLC?

We do quite a bit [in SLC] that goes unnoticed. With the elections, we just got our results back from people that voted and their feedback for what we need to do, and a lot of stuff we already do, so just getting that out there next year I think is going to be huge. We help out with graduation, we pay for a pretty big amount of it, and help with and pay for pretty much all of the events you used to see on campus -- hopefully, we’ll get black to normal life soon. We hold tuition hearings, also talk with faculty and make sure they are not overstepping students. I personally have a judiciary board that I run, and we go through all the documents, by-laws, and the [SLC] constitution that we all voted for, and make sure it stays updated. We keep track of all the money that is allocated to the clubs, making sure that they are staying updated and engaged. We also have open Zoom meeting times for students, Monday through Friday.

Why is SLC important, and what made you want to become a part of it? 

I believe SLC is important because we are the voice for the students. Students can reach out to faculty themselves, but it’s not always so easy for them to get into contact with them, like we can. Angie Geno [SLC president] and I meet every month with President Lisa Avery, and we are also able to talk with representatives, and lobby for students for whatever cause it may be. [This year, they’re lobbying for financial support for the school.]

What’s been the greatest challenge being in SLC? 

The biggest challenge would be for me personally, managing our time. Right now, I don’t have to worry about too much currently, and usually we’d be doing things like events, and things that we can’t really do this year. Almost all of our activities have been cut this year, and we’ve lost a few members.

What’s your biggest accomplishment in SLC?

I’d say probably getting out of my comfort zone. I originally was going to be the legislative affairs director, but then our initial V.P. didn’t meet one of the requirements, so that’s how I fell into the position; I didn’t get elected. So I didn’t expect to be in this position at all, so having to talk to all the faculty and go to all these meetings, and having to speak when I’m normally a quiet person in class, really forced me out of my comfort zone.

What’s one thing SLC has done that you feel has made a big difference? 

We donated $5000 to the LB Thanksgiving Food Drive, and so students could come get money for groceries. Which was nice because people saw that we donated money, and so they donated money. 

Another one that I feel will be really great [once it’s up and running] is that we created a volunteer website, where you can see volunteer opportunities, and there’s a chance that some of that volunteer work will equate to a certain dollar amount that will be applied to the student’s LB account or debt. 

Who have you found at LB to be really helpful?

(Student Leadership Coordinator) Rob (Camp) is a huge one, he helps me with absolutely everything. He goes out of his way to make sure his students will not fail.

At a Glance: 

Nia Alvarado

Position: Student and LBCC SLC V.P. 

Age: 21

Hometown: Independence, Oregon. 

Education: Working on associate and bachelor’s in computer science with an option for artificial intelligence at LBCC and OSU. 

Dream: To work as an aerospace engineer, working on technologies that launch us forward into the future. 

Other Interests: Everything fashion, snowboarding, hiking, traveling, and almost anything science (except chemistry!).