I want to talk about Oasis Village. Oasis Village is a homeless camp that will open in Redmond in 2024. Oasis village will be located to the northeast of the airport. I would like to look at the long term vision for Oasis village. It seems that this is a permanent place that will expand forever into Terrebonne and Powell Butte.

I would like to make a long term plan for Oasis Village. I call it the Millican plan. Millican is a place on Highway 20 toward Burns, about 15 miles southeast of Bend.

My plan is this: Deschutes County needs to make a homeless camp in Millican. A big one. Before it opens to the public, it will relocate all the people who want to be relocated into it from Oasis Village. Then oasis village can be permanently closed and become what it is suppose to be, a staging area for Oregonians displaced from a emergency, earthquake, wildfire, whatever.

The real issue here is whether or not Deschutes County needs one location where all the people seeking assistance for homelessness can go to get the assistance that is available to them. I think that answer is yes. That place used to be Bend, now it is Redmond. I think Millican is the right place for this. It can also be a place for refugees and illegal immigrants.

Also, for a statewide homeless center, I think the extreme south east corner of the state would be a fine location.

Charles Webster Baer

Redmond