PORTLAND — The Oregon city at the heart of a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling on homelessness has agreed to ensure camping spaces for at least 150 people as part of a settlement reached with a disability rights group that sued the city over its camping rules.

Disability Rights Oregon, which sued Grants Pass in January, indicated on Aug. 15 that it had reached a settlement agreement. The advocacy group accused the city of discriminating against people with disabilities and violating a state law requiring cities’ camping regulations to be “objectively reasonable.”

“This settlement represents a significant step forward in ensuring people with disabilities experiencing homelessness have places to rest, basic necessities like drinking water, and real opportunity to stabilize their lives,” stated Jake Cornett, executive director and CEO of Disability Rights Oregon.

Grants Pass Mayor Clint Scherf stated in an email Tuesday that the city appreciates having reached an agreement and will “continue to work toward effective measures to benefit all members of our community.”

A copy of the settlement agreement showed the city signed off on it earlier this month.

Josephine County Circuit Court Judge Sarah McGlaughlin in March issued a preliminary injunction blocking the city from enforcing its camping rules unless it increased capacity at city-approved sites for camping and ensured they are physically accessible to people with disabilities.

City ordinances prohibit sleeping or leaving personal property in a park overnight in most cases. Those found in violation can be fined up to $50.

The city posted on Facebook that law enforcement “will begin noticing the parks, and occupants will have 72 hours to remove their belongings.”

The city’s website shows three “designated resting locations” in the downtown area, near City Hall and the police station, where people can stay for four days before having to relocate. The time limit can be enforced unless disability accommodations are necessary, the city said on Facebook.

At resting sites, individuals are limited to spaces that are 8 feet by 8 feet, with buffers of 3 feet between spaces, as outlined in city code.

Under the settlement, Grants Pass must ensure that at least 150 camping spaces are available in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act for the next 12 months. Drinking water and hand washing stations must be available on-site.

The city must also provide $60,000 in grant funding to a nonprofit for homeless services.

Grants Pass, a small city of about 40,000 along the Rogue River in the mountains of southern Oregon, has struggled for years to address the homelessness crisis. The city became emblematic of the national debate over how to deal with the crisis. Its parks in particular became a flashpoint, with many of them gaining encampments blighted by drug use and litter.

Last June, in a case brought by the city, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that communities can ban sleeping outside and fine people for doing so, even when there are not enough shelter beds.

After the high court ruling, Grants Pass banned camping on all city property except locations designated by the City Council, which established sites for the town’s hundreds of homeless people in a bid to move them from the parks.

Upon taking office in January, the new mayor and new council members moved to close the larger of the two sites, which housed roughly 120 tents, according to Disability Rights Oregon’s complaint, which said the sites were frequently crowded, in poor conditions, and inaccessible to people with disabilities because of loose gravel. After the lawsuit was filed, the city reopened a second, smaller site.

McGlaughlin’s order in March said the city had to increase capacity to what it had been before the larger site was closed.

Last year, homelessness increased 18 percent nationwide, driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and an increase in migrants in some areas.

The post Grants Pass settles lawsuit on homeless camping sites appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees.

The agency’s Office of Research and Development has long provided the scientific underpinnings for EPA’s mission to protect the environment and human health. The EPA said in May it would  to program offices that focus on major issues like air and water.

The agency said Friday it is creating a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science “more than ever before.”

Once fully implemented, the changes will save the EPA nearly $750 million, officials said.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement that the changes announced Friday would ensure the agency “is better equipped than ever to deliver on our core mission of protecting human health and the environment, while Powering the Great American Comeback.”

The EPA also said it is beginning the process to eliminate thousands of jobs, following a  last week that cleared the way for President  plans to downsize the federal workforce, despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs.

Total staffing at EPA will go down to 12,448, a reduction of more than 3,700 employees, or nearly 23%, from staffing levels in January when Trump took office, the agency said.

“This reduction in force will ensure we can better fulfill that mission while being responsible stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars,” Zeldin said, using a government term for mass firings.

‘Heart and brain of EPA’

Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, the top Democrat on the House Science Committee, called the elimination of the research office “a travesty.”

“T��� Trump administration is firing hardworking scientists while employing political appointees whose job it is to lie incessantly to Congress and to the American people,” she said. “T��� obliteration of ORD will have generational impacts on Americans’ health and safety.”

The Office of Research and Development “is the heart and brain of the EPA,” said Justin Chen, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, which represents thousands of EPA employees.

“Without it, we don’t have the means to assess impacts upon human health and the environment,” Chen said. “Its destruction will devastate public health in our country.”

The research office — EPA’s main science arm — currently has 1,540 positions, excluding special government employees and public health officers, according to  reviewed by Democratic staff on the House science panel earlier this year. As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists could be laid off, the documents indicated.

The research office has 10 facilities across the country, stretching from Florida and North Carolina to Oregon. An EPA spokeswoman said Friday that all laboratory functions currently conducted by the research office will continue.

In addition to the reduction in force, or RIF, the agency also is offering the third round of deferred resignations for eligible employees, including research office staff, spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou said. The application period is open until July 25.

‘Declaration of dissent’

The EPA’s announcement comes two weeks after the agency  who signed a “declaration of dissent” with agency policies under the Trump administration. The agency accused the employees of “unlawfully undermining” Trump’s agenda.

In a letter made public June 30, the employees wrote that the EPA is  to protect human health and the environment. The letter represented rare public criticism from agency employees who knew they could face retaliation for speaking out.

The post EPA to cut 3,700 jobs, shut down science research office appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.