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Bend Councilors Discuss Abandoned Car Policy

BEND, OR -- Complaints about people living in cars in neighborhoods had the Bend City Council questioning policy, this week. Police Chief Jim Porter reviewed for Councilors the process of tagging a vehicle parked in a residential area more than five days. Seven days later, if the vehicle is still there, it is tagged for towing. Seven days after that, it's supposed to be towed. “A realistic side or humanistic side of that is, this is in fact their residence. And we do try to avoid seizing these vehicles. Because if we seize them we make them homeless.” Balancing the idea of taking what essentially could be someone's home and addressing resident complaints were discussed. 

 

Councilor Victor Chudowski argued the timeframe provided to move cars should be shortened. “They’re not complaining about the fact that that person is homeless. The specific complaint is that these people are parked, they’re living in front of my house for too long. And that’s a very simple, it seems to be, to address. If it is five-days narrow it down to three.” 
 
After discussion, however, there was not enough support on the Council to change the timeframe, so the current policy remains in place.

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