- Sarah Mirk
- Doors, donated by the Rebuilding Center.
If you work or hang out around Old Town, take a late lunch and head over to NW Fourth and Burnside at 1 PM or a little later. It’ll be worth your time.
While the city continues to roll out the red carpet for the Occupy Portland campers over in Chapman Square, a homelessness advocacy group has started its own tent village up in Old Town. They’re having an open house today to show off the spot—and the response from the city might not be so kind. Already the Tribune, which first reported on the camp, says city officials are raising questions about the camp’s legality.
“We’ve gone out of our way to make sure we’re up to code. It’s private property,” says Mike Dee, president of the group that’s been working on the camp for several seeks, Right2DreamTwo, acknowledging the camp hasn’t directly spoken with the Bureau of Development Services but that it has had general talks with the fire marshal and city planners.
Dee applauded the city for going hands-off, so far, with Occupy Portland: “If they can fix the stuff they’re working on,” he said of the protesters, “that helps us, too.” But, he also said, “we hope the city will remember that approach more often as the weather turns cold.” The group has been working on this issue for months—with some of the advocates part of a would-be camp I wrote about last fall in the Mercury, and others, like Ibrahim Mubarak, closely tied to the birth of Dignity Village.
Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who took over permitting from Randy Leonard this year, says he hadn’t heard enough about the camp as of this morning to comment.
- Denis C. Theriault
- Billi, left, and Marty stack wood before the open house this afternoon.
If you need directions, it’s the lot near the Chinatown gates that has the sign that rips Leonard. Leonard, back when he was in charge of permitting, had a fractious relationship, let’s say, with the lot’s owner—shutting down an adult bookstore that’s since been bulldozed and then driving away a food-cart pod. The sign is still there, but now, along Burnside, there’s also a fence made of some 80 doors donated by Rebuilding Center. There aren’t many tents yet, but the group expects more to come after today’s open house.
Dee says his group has obtained a one-year lease from the lot’s owner, after spending months trying to find land for a campsite. The camp has liability insurance and will help pay the lot’s property tax bill ($3,585.19 in 2010). They’ve also promised—much like the Occupy Portland group—to keep the site free of violence, liquor, and drugs.
“This is a private club,” says O’Callaghan. “Only members will be allowed in here.”
Interestingly, the group also has asked an architect to sketch out a layout for the tent village. The plans, Dee says, would accommodate 50 tents. The group might also put up some larger, communal tents and tarps. No food or bathrooms will be offered, given how close the camp is to much of Old Town’s support network for the homeless and the disadvantaged.
“We’re right downtown, next to the gate,” Dee says. “We have access to a lot of resources here. Our main thing is to be a hub, to help people organize, to have a place to sleep.”
Remind me again why I want to go hang out in a homeless camp in the rain?
Wow, I know that lot was listed for sale at $3,000,000. I thought that was a ridiculous price, but if the owner really thinks it’s worth that much I’m surprised they could afford to rent it from him for a year.
I also wonder…aren’t there lots of other lots that could be rented more cheaply?
The lot is completely worthless because Randy the idiot has a hard on for the owner.
Seriously thank you so much Randy for forcing the tear down of a sex shop that wasn’t hurting anything. I never went in but it was a business and it employed people, but hey it would probably be better if there were just food carts there instead… What oh wait, thank you so much randy for forcing out the food carts and replacing them with what, wait for it, a tent camp for those people who harass everyone who is just trying to walk down the sidewalk by asking them for change. Seriously Randy, the last thing downtown needed was another gathering place for the Homeless, but you gave it to us anyway, thanks for nothing dipsh!t.
Reymont: Your comment makes me wonder if the owner of the lot is renting it to the group at a massive discount as an ‘eff you’ to the city, on account the troubled working relationship he has had with city officials in the past.
Dreif, you are correct.
Wow, that’s pretty funny.
At least someone did something!!! It is only going to get worse, and if we just sit back and expect all the homeless to just disappear we are being naive. We live in a time where families have lost everything, and where are they to go? We as a country need to realize that if we do nothing they will do something, and I am sure the something they may do will be far worse than just camping in a deserted lot… Give them hope, and someplace to sleep without harassment and we all may be surprised in what at least some of them may do with their lives.
Let’s stop throwing stones, and put ourselves in their shoes. While some may have chosen this lifestyle there are many who have not!! We must not concentrate on the few who do, but on those who have no other choice. But for the grace of God..there go I…something to remember when you feel so down on the homeless…
If you think that there is a cure for homelessness, then you are the one being naive.
Why doesn’t someone build a real homeless shelter for these people, ie a mental hospital – because that’s what most of these people really need – medical attention and treatment. Instead we’re going to celebrate a free flophouse planted right in the middle of Crackton? Are they going to dispense free lithium at least?
This won’t end well…and is not good for the city. I completely agree with the above posters that this is a spiteful move by a property owner who was miffed over city oversight. Creating an open air mental institution/methadone clinic/ halfway house in the middle of downtown is just flat out stupid and misguided.