Cops Close City Hall Sidewalks For “Cleaning”

From Matt Davis at the Portland Mercury, May 15 2008

From the cops:

Early this morning the Police Bureau closed the sidewalk around City Hall for cleaning. All individuals were removed and the sidewalk will remain closed until Safe and Clean completes the cleaning. Once the sidewalk reopens, individuals will once again be allowed to walk or protest on the sidewalk in front of at City Hall. Police will enforce all applicable laws related to camping and sleeping on the sidewalk.No one was arrested during the sidewalk closing. However, one person was arrested about a half hour later. The man, 20-year-old Andrew Newman, was arrested for Interfering with a Police Officer after he refused repeated commands to get out of the street.

Discuss.

 

City Hall Protesters Moved For Cleaning Crew

From KPTV.com, May 15, 2008

Homeless people who were camped outside Portland’s City Hall since late April were swept away by police Thursday morning.

Officers at the scene said protesters were forced to move so cleaning crews could clean the sidewalk.The protesters want the city to suspend its anti-camping and anti-loitering laws. While protesting is legal, camping in front of City Hall is not.After the sidewalk is cleaned, police said they will allow people to walk or protest in front of City Hall again. However, they said officers will enforce applicable laws related to camping and sleeping.

 

Homeless protesters removed from City Hall

From KATU.com, May 15, 2008

CAPTURE VIDEO

Portland police removed homeless protesters who have been sitting in front of Portland’s City Hall building Thursday morning. One man was arrested for not getting out of the street.

The sweep of protesters began about 6:30 a.m. after police issued a warning earlier saying the protesters were in violation of a no-camping city ordinance. A large group of officers were on hand for the confrontation, but only one person was arrested.

The protesters, most of them homeless, are upset about the ordinance and other city laws they say violate their civil rights.

Many had been camped out in front of the City Hall building for up to three weeks.

On Wednesday, Portland mayor Tom Potter warned protesters they were in violation of the law and that officers would break up the group, but the deadline for such action was flexible.

Some of the protesters left the area while others congregated across the street. City crews arrived with power-washing equipment shortly after the protesters left the sidewalk area.

Following cleanup of the area, it will be technically legal for the protesters to take their spots on the sidewalk again, which may lead police to clear them again according to current city statutes.

 

City Hall protestors cleaned out

From the Portland Tribune, May 15, 2008

A three week protest by the homeless in front of Portland City Hall ended abruptly this morning as police moved in.

Just before 6 a.m., two officers began stringing yellow police tape around City Hall while another dozen officers wearing blue protective gloves, began asking protestors to move. Most were given just a couple of minutes to gather their belongings.

There was some shouting, but no visible struggles and no arrests until one protestor refused police orders to get out of the crosswalk. He was quickly handcuffed and put in the back of a squad car. Police identify him as Andrew Newman, 20. He is charged with Interfering with a Police Officer.

Many of the protestors left with their belongings, while a small group yelled at officers from the park across the street.

Some of the protestors say they will go right back to the sidewalk in front of the building as soon as the police tape comes down. Portland Mayor Tom Potter tells KPAM 860 the homeless have a right to protest, but cannot camp on the sidewalk.

Portland Police say they will enforce all applicable laws related to camping and sleeping on the sidewalk.

A cleanup crew spent about an hour picking up garbage and pressure washing.

For the past three weeks, a large number of homeless have been camped out in front of the building, hoping the city would add more shelter beds and relax anti-loitering laws.

 

Police Clear Sidewalk Outside Portland City Hall

From OPB.com May 15, 2008

Portland police closed the sidewalk in front of city hall early Thursday morning and cleared out a group of homeless protestors.

Police spokesman Brian Schmautz says the sidewalk was closed to clean up debris from the protest — which began nearly three weeks ago.

Brian Schmautz: “We had some issues with some fecal material, syringes, over the course of the last couple weeks and just thought it was appropriate for the safety and sanitation — a lot of food out there — and just want to make sure it’s a safe environment.”

Police say most of the homeless protestors moved across the street when officers arrived.

However, one man was arrested for yelling at the police and refusing to move from the middle of the street. The sidewalk will re-open later Thursday after cleaning crews finish their work.

 

Update: Yellow police tape circles Portland City Hall, homeless protest gone

From Michael Rollins at the Oregonian, May 15, 2008

Yellow police tape circled the Portland City Hall block this morning and signs of a homeless protest were — momentarily, at least — gone.

The tape prevented access to sidewalks and bus stops next to City Hall. Work crews were washing sidewalks and picking up garbage outside City Hall.

CAPTURE VIDEO

Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Brian Schmautz said about 15 officers cleared the sidewalk around 5:30 a.m. Over the course of an extended protest by the city’s homeless, “fecal matter and syringes” accumulated, Schmautz said, creating an unsafe environment. He said city workers would clean the sidewalks this morning and then reopen them. Afterward, anyone would be allowed to return and protest, but that the city planned to begin enforcing its no-camping rules.

Homeless demonstrators had camped out for two weeks to demand a suspension to Portland’s anti-camping and anti-loitering laws. Most had left shortly after sunset Tuesday, after a meeting with Mayor Tom Potter. But a small group refused to go, saying the decision to end the protest amounted to “arbitrary surrender” on the part of the group’s leaders. They had remained in place yesterday afternoon.

Arthur Rios, a spokesman for the group, said yesterday that the protesters who left were reacting in part to fears that the police might move in and forcefully clear out the campers during the night. Rios said demonstrators were also “coming to terms” with political reality.

Below is a video from the protest, shot earlier this week by Faith Cathcart of The Oregonian:

CAPTURE VIDEO

 

Forget the green zone

An unsigned editorial opinion from the Oregonian, May 15, 2008

A lesson from Dignity Village is that “temporary” homeless camps have a way of sticking around

Mayor Tom Potter extricated the city from a tense confrontation this week. He had let the overnight campout at City Hall swell into a party and spin on too long.

But he did end it, finally, on Tuesday. He got involved personally and negotiated intensively. And he brought the campout to as graceful a conclusion as anyone could have hoped for. That’s especially true given the fact that he didn’t budge on the campers’ basic demands.

They were asking for something inherently unreasonable, unfair and just plain wrong: the right to usurp city sidewalks or city parks as campgrounds. They wanted Potter to suspend city ordinances that prohibit such camping and loitering.

True, that would not have been in Potter’s power to do. But the mayor, to his credit, refused to even pretend such a suspension would be good.

He managed a difficult balancing act. He stuck up for the rights of the homeless to shelter, which his staff scrambled to provide (even though the protesters weren’t necessarily interested in the shelter beds his staff secured). But the mayor also stuck up for the public’s right to public places. City sidewalks and parks belong to the community and should never be treated as anyone’s private property.

There is a worrisome loose end, however: the notion of a “green zone.” Potter said he would at least be willing to discuss the idea of designating a zone where homeless people could camp temporarily and link up with mental health or social services. He’s not wrong to discuss the idea. The problem is in that word “temporarily.”

How would the city ensure any camp or zone of this sort is truly temporary? Dignity Village, as you’ll recall, was supposed to be temporary, too. Eight years later, it’s still going strong. The other problem, which Dignity Village also encountered, is the difficulty of finding a site that doesn’t infringe on other people’s rights. To find one, Dignity had to move out to a city leaf-composting yard near a prison.

In the end on Tuesday, the demonstrators picked up their sleeping bags and left, vowing to continue the protest during daylight hours but suspend the campout. There is a big difference between the two, and that’s the distinction the mayor drew.

“We understand that the mayor is not going to do anything to help us overnight,” one of the protest leaders, Arthur Rios, said Tuesday. “We want to leave with the victories we’ve won, and we want to leave in solidarity.”

Fair enough. The protest leaders deserve some credit, too. And they deserve housing. But no one deserves permanent “temporary” campgrounds.

 

Police forcing homeless to end City Hall campout

From KGW, May 15, 2008

CAPTURE VIDEO

The remaining homeless protestors camped in front of Portland’s City Hall were being cleared out by police Thursday morning, whether they wanted to leave or not.

The protest has continued nonstop for about three weeks.

Homeless people gather at City Hall to protest the City’s decision to remove them from bridge areas.

Representatives from the protest group recently told KGW they had decided to leave on their own accord after a Tuesday afternoon meeting with Mayor Tom Potter.

But they were not all gone on Thursday morning, so police decided to step in. Officers said the protestors had to move because it was time to clean the sidewalk. At least one protestor was arrested and there was a lot of yelling, but no major scuffles.

Portland Police announced earlier that officers would start patrolling the sidewalk.

“I strongly support your right to protest,” Portland Mayor Tom Potter said earlier in the week. “However, the city has the right to make reasonable time, place, and manner rules for the conduct of protests in public spaces, and can also act to protect the public from unnecessary obstructions as well as health, sanitation, and safety problems. Protests must comply with the City’s camping and sidewalk obstruction ordinances.”

Police had warned that they would start giving written and verbal warnings and then make any arrests if necessary.

 

Let Me Sleep at Homeless Protest at Portland City Hall

From Joe Anybody, May 16, 2008

Veteran homeless protester sleeps and gets taken to hospital … he tells me what happened earlier when they (ambulance) came and “got him.”

 

Rules of the Game – Homeless Protest Stretches On

From Amy Ruiz and Matt Davis of the Portland Mercury, May 14, 2008

Tuesday afternoon, May 13, with the homeless protesters in front of city hall facing enforcement of the city’s camping ordinance, five representatives sat down with Mayor Tom Potter.

The meeting did not go so well. Potter didn’t let the protesters record the conversation. Afterward, protest organizer Arthur Rios Sr. waved the mayor’s prepared statement, and told assembled reporters that Potter “already had a response to this meeting before we even had this meeting.” Rios Sr. vowed to keep up the protest, and headed outside to tell the crowd what had transpired in the meeting.

Potter spoke next, reading from his statement—which noted that the city “spends $37.5 million every year on programs to end homelessness, get people into jobs, and develop housing.”

“We feel that it’s time that they comply with the rules that are set up around protesting,” Potter said. City staffers handed out copies of the sit-lie and camping ordinances, but it’s unclear when police officers will begin enforcing them.

The meeting capped off a weekend of tension, as homeless people and their allies continued to protest the city’s sit-lie and camping ordinances, plus inadequate shelter and housing options.

On Saturday morning, May 10, as a group of homeless people kicked off a third week of protesting in front of city hall, police stopped by to hang bright orange signs, which noted that the site would become an illegal campground on Tuesday, May 13. Protesters say they were ordered to the curbside of the sidewalk, and told that unattended belongings would be confiscated.

A few hours later, the police stopped by again. Central Precinct Commander Mike Reese told the protesters on the south side of city hall that TriMet bus drivers had called in to complain, alleging that the protesters near the bus stop were sticking their legs out into the street.

Protesters argued, pointing out they were only on the curbside at the cops’ behest. For two weeks, they’d peacefully camped out alongside city hall’s balustrade—far from passing busses.

The détente ended with seven arrests, after six protesters refused to budge and were arrested for interfering with an officer. A seventh—protest organizer Larry Reynolds—was handcuffed for resisting arrest. (Go to blogtown.portlandmercury.com/politics for footage of the arrests.)

The next day—as the crowd counted down the hours to May 13, worried they’d be “swept” away from city hall just after midnight—protesters sent a letter to the mayor, requesting a public meeting.

“We want a real dialogue about the homelessness and affordable housing,” the letter said, asking for a meeting “before any attempt to remove our protest.”

Potter responded, scheduling a closed Tuesday afternoon session, and reiterating his ground rules: “While I believe in your right to express your views, I also believe that every right comes with a corresponding responsibility to respect the law.”