Editor:
A couple of weeks ago a bunch of people and their gear were in the street, in the space between two parking spots along the curb across from the library. They wouldn’t move so people could back in and park there.
Why should they have the right to be in the street, which is primarily meant for cars? What happened to my right to be able to park there?
Another time I parked in the parking lot, facing the library. Another group (or same ones?) planted themselves in the back-out area, so I couldn’t back out without hitting them. Did they move? No! I finally managed to wiggle out of there, gritting my teeth.
We need more police presence there for a while, until those people learn to wait for the bus by the bus shelter, not all over the territory. They should stay on Kalmia, not on 13th or the parking lot.
Why do we pussy-foot with the out-of-control mental cases? They have rights, but so do the rest of us, who are grateful for rules of civility and we obey them. People who don’t want to live like that are anarchists and shouldn’t be disrupting the rest of us, who also have rights.
And what’s the deal with the constitutional “right to gather”? I had always assumed that such a gathering would have a purpose, such as a political rally, street preaching, etc. But waiting for a bus, and harassing people at the farmers market, is not a constitutional gathering. It’s a lot closer to loitering than what the framers of our Constitution – who likely had experience in trying to legitimately gather under the disapproving eyes of the agents of the Crown – likely had in mind.
Can that bus stop be moved somewhere else, not so “in-your-face” with the public and businesses? Maybe behind Santiam Drug, where a dentist’s office used to be?
Joan Scofield
Sweet Home