SALEM, Ore. — On Wednesday, Oregon Department of Transportation crews spent the day cleaning up 16 locations in the Northeast Salem area where people camp on public property.
One of the spots slated for a sweep was the site of a deadly crash over the weekend, where police said a drunk driver crashed into a homeless encampment near Northeast Front and Division Streets in Salem around 2 a.m. Sunday. The crash killed four people and injured two.
A 24-year-old man named Garon was one of the many houseless people working to collect their belongings Wednesday before crews moved through. Nearly all his belongings fit into a shopping cart, draped with a tarp. Garon said that he has lived on the streets as far back as he can remember.
Wednesday morning, Garon said he was awoken by his “street sister,” who told him they had 45 minutes to grab their stuff.
While he said he’s lived his whole life on the streets, the move was still an ordeal.
“It is a little stressful,” said Garon.
But what adds to the stress is that he's still coping with the death of his friend Luke Kagey, who Garon said turned 21 years old in June.
The area will now hold painful memories for Garon and others who lost friends.
“It ain't gonna be the same coming back through,” he said.
But if Garon does come back, it'll look a lot different. On Wednesday, crews removed tents, trash and other items left behind. A tree was also removed for safety reasons after it was apparently hit during the car crash, said an ODOT spokesperson.
For now, Garon said he knows of another place he can go — a different, out-of-the-way campsite — but that's not necessarily the case for other houseless people who will need to find a place to sleep.
“It just puts a lot of stress on people that don't need it, you know? There are a lot of good people out here,” said Garon.
Other people experiencing homelessness who spoke to KGW said they hope there's a better solution other than sweeps.
An ODOT spokesperson said clean-up work is expected to continue on Thursday with additional monitoring of cleaned-up sites in the next week.