The enormous camps along the Springwater are far more than a nuisance. There have been rapes of women using the bike path and many, many assaults. Most adult males won't ride a bike on it unless they are in a group. The bike path has been effectively closed by the hundreds of illegal campers. Let's not forget the substantial volume of human feces, both on the shore and on the bike path. Heck, the campers even put furniture along and on the path. I wonder if it would have taken three years to get some government attention if they had tried all this on I-5.

Please don't think this is just a Portland problem. Here in Eugene we have some pretty sizeable camps with all the same problems. Not surprisingly, we've lost 37% of our cycling community as our campers have been allowed to privatize our public amenities.