Mayor Tom Potter’s successor will inherit homeless issue

From Anna Griffin of the Oregonian, May 20, 2008

Weeks of camping at Portland City Hall put the issue in the forefront but resolved nothing

Anybody who thinks being mayor is an easy job should have dropped by City Hall last week.

Out front, a lone remaining homeless protester shouted slurs against Tom Potter to passers-by: “He has a black heart! He doesn’t care about the homeless! Where does he think we’re supposed to go?”

Inside, e-mails castigated Portland’s mayor for taking 21/2 weeks to move the campers: “What kind of a bum is this guy?” wrote one constituent. “Why didn’t he round these people up the first night they were there? Why doesn’t he just tell them all to get a job?”

Nope, being mayor isn’t easy, certainly not when it comes to an issue as difficult as homelessness.

Potter knows few people in town are thrilled with the way he let the protest stretch out. But what else was he supposed to do?

“Some people think I should have gone slower in moving them. Some people felt I shouldn’t have allowed them out there at all,” Potter said. “I know I didn’t make anybody especially happy, but that’s not my job.”

He expects his successor — who may be decided today — will face the same dilemma.

A group of homeless men and women moved onto the sidewalk on the Fourth Avenue side of City Hall on April 25, rallying against police plans to sweep out encampments under the Burnside Bridge and other popular spots. Over the first two weeks, the nightly crowd grew to more than 100.

At first, Potter seemed content to let the protest die out on its own. Police were under strict instructions not to force the protesters to move as long as they behaved. The mayor changed strategy, however, when organizers began to lose control.

Last week, Potter announced that police would begin to enforce the camping ban. Officers closed off the sidewalk for cleaning, and most of the protesters left. Fewer than a dozen remained Monday in a park kitty-corner to City Hall.

The problem is that Potter was stuck with no obvious solution.

“They had two demands that I could not meet,” he said. Protesters wanted him to lift the bans on camping and loitering on city sidewalks.

“But it was hard to argue against their issues,” he said, “because there should be no homelessness. So we tried to give people a chance to leave gracefully.”

Politically and practically, he couldn’t lift the anti-camping ban: Even though police rarely cite people for it, the law is a useful tool for cleaning up homeless camps when conditions get too unsanitary or dangerous.

But he also doesn’t have anyplace for the protesters to go. Although the city opened 102 extra shelter beds, many of the people outside City Hall either couldn’t or wouldn’t use them.

Portland spends $37.5 million a year working to provide more affordable housing and find both temporary and long-term shelter for homeless people. But there isn’t enough housing to go around — there are wait lists both for shelter space and permanent housing.

Potter is an unlikely bad guy for either side, and probably one of the few mayors in the country patient enough to allow a crowd to camp outside the front door of his office for two weeks. He’s both a former Portland police chief schooled in the command-and-control style of leadership and a quintessential Portland liberal who believes in the public’s right to protest.

He knows from personal experience how much officers hate the annual sweeps of homeless people under bridges and overpasses, and knows how pointless those sweeps can be given the lack of adequate housing options. He’s also an advocate for homeless people who served as executive director of New Avenues for Youth, a nonprofit that helps homeless young people get off the street and has helped with construction work at Dignity Village, the permanent homeless camp in North Portland.

As mayor, he’s left housing issues to Portland’s political expert: City Commissioner Erik Sten. But Sten resigned at the end of April. That left the mayor in charge of housing temporarily, until Sten’s replacement is elected either today or in a July 15 runoff.

And while both homeless protesters and law-and-order types criticized his leadership over the past two weeks, no one else was stepping up to do anything. Other City Council members stayed mum. Neither of the major candidates to replace Potter — business owner Sho Dozono and City Commissioner Sam Adams — had much to say.

Soon, however, protesters will have someone else to yell at.

Potter has two pieces of advice for the new mayor when it comes to avoiding future protests:

Keep working on long-term solutions to end homelessness, but also look for more middle-range solutions such as transitional housing. The city needs more places for people to go while they’re waiting for permanent space, something more stable and comfortable than a shelter bed.

A new day center planned for Old Town/Chinatown will be a good start, especially if planners succeed in turning it into something more than a warehouse for homeless people to stay during the daylight hours when shelters are closed.

The new guy, whether it’s Adams or Dozono, should expect more protests. The economy is likely to worsen. Even with the city’s existing 10-year plan to end homelessness, affordable housing is still hard to find.

The city and county will probably never have enough money to help everyone who is on the streets because of an addiction or mental health problem.

“Whoever comes into this position next is going to have to find a balance between understanding the issue from their own personal perspective and understanding the citywide good,” Potter said. “On an issue like this one, that can be very, very hard to do.”

 

Portland moves sidewalk protest

From the Oregonian, May 15, 2008

Sit/lie – Police tell homeless advocates at City Hall that camping won’t be allowed

Portland police moved homeless campers from the sidewalks outside City Hall early Thursday, but their public protest for more housing and permission to sit on sidewalks and camp on public land remained.

Mayor Tom Potter asked police to act so workers could clean the sidewalks, said his spokesman, John Doussard.

“We had campers out there for 21/2 weeks,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter where your campsite is, after 21/2 weeks it needs to be cleaned.”

Around 5:30 a.m., officers told about two dozen people — most lying on the sidewalks — to move along, said Sgt. Brian Schmautz. No one was arrested as the protesters left, Schmautz said, but about an hour later, officers arrested Andrew Newman, 20, for standing in the street and yelling at police.

Police wrapped the area in yellow tape, then cleaning crews moved in from Downtown Clean and Safe, a service that the Portland Business Association runs under city contract. Those workers used to be homeless, part of a “homeless to work” program run by the business association and Central City Concern, PBA spokeswoman Megan Doern said. The business association did the job for free, she added.

Many protesters crossed the street to Chapman Square Park, hanging out and holding up protest signs while the cleaners worked. The sidewalk opened again about 12:30 p.m. Police handed out a list of rules explaining where protesters could stand on the sidewalk and saying they could have animals and property with them in those spots for eight hours — but no more camping.

“We’re basically looking for a clean slate, so people understand it’s a protest, not camping,” Schmautz said.

Several protesters declined to comment but passed out fliers asking for “the immediate repeal of sit/lie & camping ordinances” and “affordable and safe housing in Downtown Portland.”

 

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.

 

Update: Homeless protest ends, then begins again outside City Hall

From Anna Griffin & Joe Rose at the Oregonian, May 13, 2008

Just when it appeared that the homeless protest outside City Hall had ended, about a dozen demonstrators have apparently decided to stay put.

Many of the demonstrators, who had camped out for two weeks to demand a suspension to Portland’s anti-camping and anti-loitering laws, left shortly after sunset. 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.

Arthur Rios, a spokesman for the group, said 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.

“We understand that the mayor is not going to do anything to help us overnight,” he said. “We want to leave with victories we’ve won. And we want to leave in solidarity.”

Of course, there wasn’t complete solidarity. As the sun set over downtown, members of the group gathered in a circle outside City Hall to debate what some feared would be misinterpreted as “giving up.”

“If we disband the group now,” shouts a man in a dirty baseball cap, “there’s no saying if we accomplished anything!”

Just before midnight, a small group of demonstrators remained. “As you can see, there are still people here,” said a man who declined to give his name. “The decision to leave was an arbitrary surrender, and we won’t go.”

A couple curled up on a blanket on the sidewalk. Some of the people milling about admitted that they weren’t homeless, but rather supporters of the cause.

The apparent end of the protest came hours after Portland Mayor Tom Potter and leaders of the homeless protest outside City Hall talked behind closed doors. They emerged seemingly no closer to finding a peaceful and mutually satisfying end to the two-week-old demonstration.

Protesters still want a suspension of the city’s anti-camping and anti-loitering laws, which allow police to cite people who sleep outdoors on public property or sit on downtown sidewalks. Potter still won’t suspend the laws because he said they’re a useful tool for police to ensure public safety.

But the mayor did suggest that he’d discuss the idea of a “green zone” for homeless people — a centralized place where those who can’t find shelter space can camp temporarily and receive help from mental health professionals and social workers.

At the same time, he reiterated that police would begin enforcing the anti-camping and anti-loitering laws this evening by offering oral and then written warnings to people who break them. Those who don’t comply could face arrest.

“We feel that it’s time they comply with the rules set up around protesting,” the mayor said. “… I’m not saying you can’t protest. I’m saying that when you protest, you still must follow city laws.”

City code allows people to protest for up to eight hours at a time.

Rios said protest leaders ultimately pushed the idea to clean up and move out, with the support of much of the group. He said the group likely would continue to demonstrate at City Hall during the day but find other spots to camp overnight.

“I understand that there are people who may not like the decision or how things went today” in the meeting with Potter, he said. “But we are the ones that the group chose to represent them.”

 

Portland homeless protesters given ultimatum

From Anna Griffin of the Oregonian, May 13, 2008

Mayor Tom Potter says arrest will begin if the camp-in doesn’t end now

The city of Portland and the homeless protesters camped outside City Hall are headed for a showdown.

Mayor Tom Potter gave the crowd gathered on the Southwest Fourth Avenue side of the building until today to comply with the city’s anti-camping and anti-loitering laws. The protesters say they’re not leaving until the mayor agrees to at least a temporary suspension of the law against camping.

That means in all likelihood Portland police will end up forcing the protesters, some who have been in front of City Hall for more than two weeks, to move their belongings.

In a letter sent Monday afternoon, Potter agreed to meet with the protesters for a second time this afternoon. But he rejected their request that the meeting be open to the public and reiterated that he intends to begin enforcing city law.

“I strongly support your right to protest. 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,” he wrote. “Protests must comply with the City’s camping and sidewalk obstruction ordinances.”

The camp-in began April 25 in response to a confluence of events. Every spring, after extra winter shelter space has closed for the season, miniature tent cities spring up under bridges and in city parks. About the same time, police go through and warn occupants that they’ll soon sweep out the camps. The sweeps usually coincide with the start of the summer festival season, which began earlier this month with Cinco de Mayo.

This year, a group of campers responded to the police demand that they move along by taking their complaints — and their stuff — straight to City Hall. City laws prohibit camping on public property and loitering on downtown sidewalks, but protect people who are protesting.

For the first two weeks, the mayor ordered police to allow the camp-in to continue. But over the past few days, police say, the crowd became more unruly. TriMet drivers complained that some protesters have tried blocking bus stops and stuck their legs into the road.

City Hall security guards have begun warning visitors away from the first-floor bathrooms because of unsanitary conditions. Police say they’ve seen heroin deals and report that the crowd is now peppered with people who seem to care less about helping the homeless than with stirring up trouble.

“It looks like there’s a radical element there that isn’t homeless,” said Cmdr. Mike Reese, who oversees Central Precinct.

On Saturday, Potter announced that police would begin enforcing city laws at the protest. Officers ordered protesters to the outside of the sidewalks around City Hall and arrested seven people for resisting a police officer and, in one case, resisting arrest.

Potter has found city money to open 102 extra shelter beds. But many of the people protesting don’t want to go to shelters because they’re traveling with dogs, with a girlfriend or boyfriend or are disabled. Shelters typically don’t accept animals and split up men and women. Some people are also just happier camping out, said protest organizer Arthur Rios, perhaps because they’re not comfortable in large groups or fear having their belongings stolen while they sleep.

Rios and other protesters want Potter to temporarily lift the -camping ban, perhaps for a few weeks. They talk about a “green zone,” a centralized campsite where homeless men and women could meet with mental health workers, nurses and social workers in addition to spending the night.

Potter has said he won’t — and can’t — lift the anti-camping ordinance.

“We’re encouraging them to find other lower-impact camping spots,” Reese said. “Typically, we don’t go looking for campers unless we get complaints.”

On Sunday and Monday, protest organizers went through the crowd seeking volunteers willing to risk arrest if it comes to that. More than two dozen spoke up. Yet even people who are arrested are likely to be back on the street — and back to square one — within a matter of hours: Rios, for example, was arrested Saturday afternoon and released six hours later.

“We’re assuming they’re coming and they’re going to sweep us out, and we’re going to have to respond,” Rios said Monday afternoon. “We’ve done everything they asked us to do so far. All that has changed has been how the mayor and the police have responded to us.”

 

Homeless protest at City Hall clears out at sunset

From Anna Griffin and Joe Rose at the Oregonian, May 13, 2008

Campers disband in fear of a nighttime police sweep, but some say they’ll be back during the day

The around-the-clock homeless protest outside City Hall — with its sleeping bags, hand-scribbled signs and stuffed shopping carts — is over.

After more than two weeks of camping out on sidewalks to demand a suspension of Portland’s anti-camping and anti-loitering laws, demonstrators packed up and scattered shortly after sunset Tuesday.

But Arthur Rios, one of the protest leaders, said they will return to demonstrate during the day. Protesters decided to leave Tuesday night for fear the police might move in and clear out the campers during the night, he said.

The demonstrators were also “coming to terms” with political reality, Rios said. “We understand that the mayor is not going to do anything to help us overnight. We want to leave with the victories we’ve won. And we want to leave in solidarity.”

There wasn’t complete solidarity, however. As night fell, group members gathered in a circle outside City Hall to debate what some feared would be misinterpreted as giving up.

“If we disband the group now,” shouted a man in a baseball cap, “there’s no saying if we accomplished anything!”

Hours earlier, Mayor Tom Potter and leaders of the homeless protest talked behind closed doors. They emerged seeming no closer to finding a peaceful and mutually satisfying end to the demonstration.

Protesters still want a suspension of anti-camping and anti-loitering laws, which allow police to cite people who sleep outdoors on public property or sit on downtown sidewalks. Potter still won’t suspend the laws because he said they’re a useful tool for police to ensure public safety.

Yet in what looked like at least a baby step toward conciliation, Potter suggested that he would be willing to discuss the idea of a “green zone” for homeless people — a centralized place where those who can’t find shelter space can camp temporarily and receive help from mental health professionals and social workers.

That idea can be on the table when a committee that oversees the city’s 10-year plan to end homelessness meets next week, he said. He’s invited protest leaders to be a part of the discussion.

At the same time, he reiterated that police would begin enforcing the anti-camping and anti-loitering laws Tuesday evening with oral and then written warnings. Those who didn’t comply could face arrest.

City code allows people to protest for as long as eight hours at a time.

The number of protesters surged to almost 150 at one point when the prospect of a police sweep grew more likely. Many people packed their belongings and prepared to move if forced.

Rios, one of seven arrested and released Saturday in a dispute with police, said the group had several strategies ready if police moved in. In the end, though, the group’s leaders advocated continuing the protest during the day but finding other spots to camp overnight.

The mayor and protest leaders seem to be feeling the pressure and tension of a struggle that has stretched into its third week with no obvious compromise in the making.

Rios came out of the mayor’s conference room to complain that Potter’s staff had written a response to the meeting in advance and forced protesters to turn off tape recorders given to them by reporters at the Portland Mercury, an alternative weekly, after Potter refused to open the meeting to the public.

Potter didn’t take kindly to a question about how he could have allowed a large group to camp outside City Hall for two weeks without expecting public safety problems. He stared at the reporter for a moment before responding. “That is a really dumb question,” he said. “Would you like to rephrase it?”

Potter said the city has opened 102 extra shelter beds since the protest began, and 18 sat empty Monday night. He also noted that the crowd outside City Hall now includes a number of people who aren’t homeless. Perhaps, the mayor suggested, those people could take a few homeless men and women home with them overnight during the protest so they don’t violate the law.

A moment later, someone asked the mayor whether he would be willing to take a homeless person into his house.

The mayor’s answer was brief: “No.”

 

City Hall and homeless talking past one another

From Anna Griffin of the Oregonian, May 11, 2008

As the homeless protest at Portland City Hall hits its third and apparently final week, the philosophical gap between city leaders and protesters grows even wider.

City leaders say protesters need to stop camping outside City Hall now that they’ve been provided with more shelter space. Homeless people and their advocates say they never asked for shelter space. Rather, they want the right to sleep outdoors and looser anti-loitering laws.

For now, there’s no obvious middle ground. Even if this protest ends Tuesday, as Mayor Tom Potter seems to have declared it will with his decision to start forcing campers out over the weekend, more are likely in the future. Everybody agrees the city needs more permanent housing, but that’s a long-term solution dependent on a finite — and shrinking — pool of money.

“This is a broader social problem all over the world,” said Austin Raglione, his chief of staff. “We can’t find permanent housing on demand, immediately. That takes time. But we do have shelter beds.”

The protest began when a group of homeless men and women, infuriated by police sweeps of camping sites beneath the Burnside Bridge, relocated to City Hall. As many as 100 people have gathered at times, wrapping around three sides of the seat of city government and crowding busy downtown sidewalks.

Portland laws bar people from overnighting on public property and loitering. But because this is a protest, those rules don’t apply.

Protesters say their immediate priority is an end to those laws, or at least a promise that city police and private security guards won’t enforce them. Several headed indoors and up a floor to speak at last week’s City Council meeting.

“I don’t want anything from you. I don’t want any free ride from you at all,” said Lisa Iacuzzi, part of the group now calling itself the “Homeless Liberation Front.” “I have a master’s degree. I paid my way for my own education. I don’t want anything free. I just don’t want to be treated like a criminal.”

Potter thanked Iacuzzi and the other protesters, but said he can’t drop the camping ban or the loitering “sit-lie” law. “The solution to homelessness is not camping,” he said. “It’s moving folks into housing.”

Portland leaders are trying to do exactly that.

Over the past three years, city government has developed more than 1,008 new low-income housing units and replaced more than $20 million in federal housing money cut by the Bush administration, much of it money meant to help people pay their rent.

Portland’s 10-year plan to end homelessness recently won plaudits from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. The number of Portlanders considered chronically homeless has dropped from 1,284 to 386 in the last two years, although advocates say the annual census of who’s on the street can’t count everyone.

But building new apartment complexes and small houses takes time. Plus, there will always be a certain number of homeless men and women who either aren’t ready for permanent housing or don’t want it.

So, while the city builds housing, what happens to the people who aren’t quite ready to move indoors for good? Nobody has an answer.

“It’s going to take some really creative and innovative thinking by the city to couple the real-time realities with the long-term approach of the 10-year-plan,” said Israel Bayer, director of the nonprofit newspaper Street Roots. “They came out and declared success so fast. Yes, the plan says that by 2015 they will have solved homelessness. But there’s never going to be a time when you don’t have people on the street.”

On any given night, there are an estimated 1,400 homeless people in Portland. Nonprofits offer year-round shelter beds and “transitional” housing units for people somewhere in between a spot on the sidewalk and true stability.

The city pays to add shelter space in the winter. Those beds closed March 31, although Potter has responded to the protest by finding money to keep about 100 extra beds open through May and June.

Commissioner Randy Leonard says the city needs to pay for more year-round shelter space, even though the city’s own anti-homelessness plan says permanent housing is the priority.

“All I know is that we weren’t having this problem until the winter shelters closed,” Leonard said. “I know what the advocates are going to say, but I also know what actually occurs. If you give people a place to spend the night indoors, they’ll take it.”

Advocates say talking about shelter space distracts from the real issue: City laws essentially make it illegal to be homeless. Until that changes — not likely — protests will be a semi-regular occurrence, activists say.

Protesters say they want Potter and the City Council to show the same kind of creativity and compassion as the city leaders who created Dignity Village, the permanent campsite on public land.

That settlement began as a handful of tents gathered under the Broadway Bridge in late 2000 — also amid complaints that Portland’s shelters and other services for homeless people were inadequate. Eventually, City Council members found the campers a permanent home near Portland International Airport.

Patrick Nolen, a community organizer for the nonprofit Sisters of the Road, said some sort of government-approved “green zone” must be part of the solution this time. He suggested the city allow overnight camping in the North Park Blocks. A patrol car could sit nearby to prevent trouble. City leaders could work with mental health agencies and social workers to ensure that campers get help making a transition into housing.

“The sweeps happen every year at this time,” said Nolen, whose organization pulled out of the mayor’s street access task force last week to protest the sit-lie law. “But you can’t sweep people up and not give them another place to go.”

In 1992, demonstrators seeking help for homeless people stormed then-Mayor Bud Clark’s office. Two people were arrested.

In 2003, police arrested six people while breaking up protests — including a “Peace Camp” in Terry Schrunk Plaza — against an earlier form of the sit-lie law and the Iraq war.

For most of the past two weeks, Potter seemed inclined to ride out another round of passive resistance. But Friday, City Hall security guards reported that they’d found feces, semen and needles in the first-floor public bathrooms, the ones protesters had been using. Police noted that the crowd, which had grown from a couple of dozen to 100, consisted of fewer true protesters and more young people who seemed to be there for the thrill of it.

On Saturday, Potter announced that Portland police would begin enforcing the anti-camping law and cracking down in earnest Tuesday. People can still protest, he said, but they cannot camp.

Also Saturday, police arrested seven people after TriMet drivers complained they were sticking their feet into traffic on the south side of City Hall. By Sunday afternoon, the crowd outside the building appeared smaller, numbering about a dozen, plus about 15 more unattended sleeping bundles.

Potter is hoping, aides say, that protesters will take advantage of the 102 new shelter beds the city just opened. Otherwise, the mayor may have no choice but to order police to sweep the area.

 

Seven arrested at homeless protest

From Ashbel Green of the Oregonian, May 11, 2008

Portland police made seven arrests Saturday as they began enforcing Mayor Tom Potter’s decision to require homeless protesters around City Hall to obey laws against loitering and camping.

Central Precinct Commander Mike Reese said TriMet drivers were complaining that youths were sticking their feet into traffic on Southwest Jefferson Street on the south side of City Hall.

Police ordered demonstrators to leave Jefferson Street. When some refused, police started making arrests, Reese said.

Cory Burris, 18; Larry David Reynolds, 43; Christopher Aaron Ryan Kerby, 20; Henry E. Raschke, 59; Arthur A. Rios, 38; Christopher Anderson, 20; and Robert Archambalt, 21, faced accusations of interfering with a police officer. Reynolds faced an accusation of resisting arrest, Sgt. John Holbrook said.

After allowing protesters to camp around City Hall for two weeks, Potter announced Saturday that police would begin enforcing the law.

Potter cited the growth of the two-week protest from 15 people to more than 100 and the problems that has caused.

“The amount of clutter has greatly affected the ability of the public to use the sidewalk. I also have an increasing concern about the safety of both the protesters and the general public,” Potter said in a statement.

“There have been incidents of illegal activity, numerous calls for police and medical assistance, and sanitation concerns inside and outside the building,” he said.

Potter also noted that the city had opened 102 shelter beds and met with protest leaders.

Rios, one of the leaders of the Homeless Liberation Front and one of the demonstrators arrested later in the day, expressed displeasure with the change.

“We don’t think it’s right,” Rios said.

He said there still aren’t enough beds for everyone and there still isn’t space for couples or people who own dogs.

Reese said police also told protesters they could no longer camp outside City Hall starting Tuesday night.

Reese said there are lots of protests in downtown Portland and police need to enforce the law equally.

“We’re to be fair and consistent,” he said.

A protester who identified himself as “Jukebox” complained that police were sending mixed messages, first ordering them to the curb, then telling them to get off it.

By Saturday afternoon, the number of protesters had dropped to fewer than 40. There also appeared to be some arguing between protest leaders and some homeless people who were leaving to find someplace else to sleep.

City officials said they thought the protest would shrink after they came up with money to open more than 100 new shelter beds.

Instead, the crowd mushroomed this week and it appeared that transient youth passing through town were replacing the homeless.

After security on Friday found feces, syringes and trash in first floor City Hall bathrooms, Potter’s office, the police and the city attorney’s office decided it was time to start enforcing anti-loitering and anti-camping laws.

“We had noticed that things were changing, but we weren’t making the campers leave because the shelter beds weren’t open,” said Austin Raglione, Potter’s chief of staff.

“Now that they are, it’s better for the people outside City Hall, and it’s better for the people who work in the building if we start enforcing the law,” Raglione said.

“We would like them to treat it as the protest they say it is. You have every right to protest. We respect your protest. But we can’t let you camp anymore.”

 

End the slumber party

Unsigned editorial opinion from the Oregonian, May 6, 2008

Mayor Tom Potter should dislodge the Dignity Village annex that is starting to mushroom on three sides of City Hall

A s in most cities, you can’t just pitch a tent, throw down a sleeping bag and camp wherever you want in Portland.

Several city ordinances make that illegal. Also, of course, it’s unfair. You shouldn’t be able to usurp sidewalks, parks and other public places.

But that’s exactly what’s happening right now on three sides of City Hall. A permanent slumber party has erupted, calling itself a protest. The mayor and City Council haven’t surrendered the building; it only looks that way.

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To be fair, the city did make the campers dial it back a bit. They had to remove tents and makeshift structures — stretched between shopping carts — that had served as roofs. But the carts are still there, along with dogs, blankets, sleeping bags and piles of possessions.

A couple weeks ago, this all started with nine or 10 people. As of 7:45 a.m. Monday, there were 48, by our count. A few were having their first cigarettes; others had pulled out their cell phones to make calls. (The head count in the night hit 72, according to the campers, but some people had to leave early for appointments. A few have jobs; a few even have some kind of housing.)

In hindsight, it was remiss of the city to let this campground mushroom. It’s time, even past time, to say: “Party’s over.” The message needs to be delivered with tact and sensitivity, ample notice and social services offered to those who need and will accept them. It’s inconceivable that Mayor Tom Potter would deliver such a message any other way. But he does need to personally take command of the situation.

Potter must also answer a deeper question posed by this campout: Hasn’t anything improved since the city adopted its plan to end homelessness late in 2004? In effect, the current camp is turning into a kind of annex, and sequel, of the tent camp Dignity Village, even echoing some of the same arguments the villagers made about the need for more humane shelters where the homeless can keep pets and stay with spouses.

The difference is that Dignity Village started before the city launched its plan. Although the plan didn’t end Dignity — it still exists; it even boasts its own Web site — the plan did score some notable successes early on in getting people off the streets.

We’ve touted the city’s plan; the city and county have touted it, too. But much of the hardest work remains to be done, including finding more housing and more income sources for people who move into housing. It’s worrisome that several pivotal figures in the plan’s creation have departed in recent months from City Hall, including Commissioner Erik Sten.

The city may now be in danger of squandering the advances it has made against homelessness. It will take more than the election of Sten’s replacement to sustain the city’s momentum. Potter and the council must also get more involved. Without aggressive leadership from the city, the plan to end homelessness will just sleep-walk into a wall.

It’s time to put an end to the slumber party at City Hall, in more ways than one.