Medford, Or.- Jackson County Commissioners have seen first hand what can happen if people are allowed to hang out outside the courthouse.
“We’ve had problems with them trying to force the doors to get entry into the building after hours,” Jackson County Commissioner Bob Strosser said. “We had a generator that was stolen.”
Now they have asked the city of Medford to expand the exclusion zone that was set in May.
“It’s about people who are doing things that are doing things improper and just can’t stop doing it,” Strosser said.
Strosser stresses the ordinance is not about targeting homeless people.
“Lawful business is not the issue, it’s purely the exclusion of people who can not follow the rules and behave themselves,” he said.
Currently, the zone is bordered by Bear Creek, Oakdale Avenue, 6th Street, and 10th Street, but commissioners want to include the rest of the government campus.
“We’re not going out to seek problems but we are concerned about our staff,” he said. “There have been quite a number of complaints.”
Strosser says the problems he is referring to are people harassing others and doing things in public they shouldn’t be doing.
“We’re not interested in bothering them for legitimate activity, it’s when they come over here on our property and they have no legitimate business,” he said.
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