Wow. Nice work Dirk. This is exactly how the private sector profits from prison labor and creates a cyclical relationship between the City, the Portland Police, disenfranchised houseless populations, and private security companies using tax dollars. Thanks for filling in the gaps where the public can't always see these dollar figures.

Having hourly minimums for professional services is quite common amongst the private sector. Going out and doing 20 minutes of work just isn't profitable.

And while I agree oversight of private labor and services with public money is 100% necessary, it still seems like PPS is giving the city a bargain. $21K for 6 months of work is still quite a lot cheaper than having 2-3 salaried and benefited city employees doing it.

And OneBrownGuy, not entirely sure what you're trying to say? I would think PPS would much rather use it's own labor force to do site clean ups and bill the city more than have to just oversee prison laborers that they can't bill for.

"The total cost: $272.88."

Oh no! 300 dollars!

I'm honestly shocked that this task costs so little than so much. This article comes off like it's trying to reveal something BIG but it only reveals how crazy inexpensive PPS is.

I'll also assume this also means the city will have fewer legal/insurance liabilities and the overall onus is on Pacific Patrols, so hopefully people understand what the true cost of this is. There's so many cost savings associated with doing this convoluted task, and it makes sense to go a private contract route for now.

There's a few thousands things the Mercury could have done an exposé on city costs and contracts. This isn't it. Does the Mercury have the taxpayers' wallets in mind (with this crazy $20k expenditure) or is this an overall homeless issue they are against that the city is tearing down camp sites?

Are you all PPS employees undercover? Our dollars can and should go to better things, and real INFORMED reporting is exactly what is missing in a society pumped full of soft news and 10 second clips.

I've often wondered why instead of having campers on the run and hiding and therefore stockpiling garbage the nazi mayor hales doesn't just pay that $200K to one city inspector to go around and inspect campsite and make sure they are up to code- this would of course entail allowing them to camp on non-privately owned properties such as the woods in the middle of Portland and under highways- places where the public IS NOT USING ANYWAY.

And instead of paying to remove garbage simply require them to pay for garbage service. Work with them instead of against them and make money instead of wasting it. This is simply above the level of thinking mayor Hales is capable of.

Or just outlaw them from the earth god gave all of us free of charge and wait for them to invade and pollute your personal property so you can waste your money herding them like pigs to the next 'no tresspassing' sign- they're just human beings after all.

Let's not forget needles. That little girl who stepped on one in the park over the summer? Totally preventable if you have them in a designated space and put a needle drop there instead of having them hiding under city bridges. But hey she's just a human being too.

The campsite cleanups that are done in SE Portland are the only thing helping to keep businesses going, otherwise it would like a huge garbage dump. It's too bad there's abuse of funds in the program because the actual service is worth it.