Jay Patrick

First, I want to say thank you for those who have attended the last several city council meetings. There has been a room full of Redmond citizens who showed the council they do care about their community, that is important.

The citizens spoke on various topics of marijuana, fireworks and homelessness as well as several other topics. Many showed the frustrations of government who often try to take control of people lives under the guise of safety. And government determining they know better than those ill-informed people out there who are actually the ones working and supporting their community and country.

The last few council meetings are showing the council is willing to allow the Redmond community to speak. We can only hope they are actually listening.

Mayor and council: Please do not make the same mistake the state and federal government seem to repeat over and over. Continue to invite comment, help when and where you can but don’t lay down restrictions and regulations because a few activists or loud voices think they know best.

It is sad that the state and federal governments seldom, if ever, use common sense. It appears that the most important goal is to gain power and control. The most important goal should be to protect all its citizens and do it by using commonsense solutions. In Redmond, we must never let the tail wag the dog.

And now second, perhaps Councilor John Nielsen is correct in his statement of “no one wants to live in a motorhome in the junipers,” although I have read in the paper a homeless man saying exactly that.

It is hard to imagine any child’s goal would be to grow up and live in a van down by the river or even a motorhome out in the junipers. Growing up those life goals are more likely along the lines of becoming a pro athlete or a first responder.

As we get older, life’s realities take place in all our lives. Those realities always leave us with choices. Every day there continues to be choices to be made.

Too often in life, everyone faces a smackdown. After those difficult times we need to get up, stay positive and face the next day. Working as hard as we can to get past the rough spots and move forward. Every choice has a consequence.

I recently looked at the United States homeless population website. Nothing to be proud of in any state. Oregon falls into the top-5 worst when it comes to the homeless issue, as well as drug addiction.

Our state has many problems, let’s not adopt them into our town.

We are always talking about history, let’s learn from it. Don’t repeat the bad history but build on what was good.

Let’s continue to explore the options as we get up each day, search out that good answer. One that not only helps the smaller group who’s in trouble, but is a resolution that helps out the entire 38,000-plus people in Redmond.

Let’s follow the guidance of one of the last council workshops. That is where the lady heading up the homeless dilemma in Central Oregon who stated the best role for cities is to gather state, federal and county dollars and to direct them to where they would be best used. Let’s use the money from those deeper pockets and from those who have created the issues, to start repairing the problems.

Homelessness is a tough nut to crack, and we may not be able to eradicate it but with all the people in Redmond who care immensely, we can find resolutions to many of the problems surrounding it. These will be some tough decisions.

Ultimately let’s make sure we do not bankrupt our wonderful town. Council needs to think about and exhaust all the avenues of state, federal and county monies first. The state will have resources from the governor’s executive order in January, which has no solid footing yet but we are told it is coming. Let’s demand those dollars the state has made available and is continuing to make from Measure 110.

Use those dollars for solutions to Redmond’s homeless issues. Our nonprofits are jumping forward to fill the gap and it is a huge gap. Some of Redmond’s citizens have the expendable money and or time to help for these families and individuals who need that hand up. That is extremely commendable.

Whenever government is involved in anything it seems to move extremely slowly.

We need our city leaders to stay at the table and figure out how to help those in need without creating other issues for our city.