Twitter is calling it another Occupy Portland reoccupation, a la the PSU park blocks incursion the weekend before last. But my eyes—after a visit to a chilly Gateway Green vale where nine or so people had gathered around three tents and a modest campfire—tell me it’s not quite there yet.
But the talk that Occupy Portland is making a second stab at establishing a new camp is certainly real. Update 6:25 PM: Occupy Portland tweeted a statement about the new campsite, calling it an “autonomous” occupation in simpatico with OPDX’s governing model. That statement is after the cut.
Word got out early this afternoon that some former occupiers were heading east, toward Rocky Butte, to construct a new home for campers who had nowhere else to go when the city cleared out Chapman and Lownsdale squares this month.
When I headed out a couple of hours later, after taking the MAX out to Gateway and biking north on the I-205 path, I expected to see a bustling scene. Instead, I saw one campfire and just two tents, with one more about to go up. And only four people, listening to music piped thinly from a battery-powered laptop. But they were hardly self-conscious. Instead, they were excited.
A camper who called himself simply the Monk of Gateway insisted people would “come in ones and twos, but they’ll be coming.” Tad, who dubbed himself the organizer of the site, says he wants to instill a sense of order at the new camp: sign-in logs, names on tents, no violence, etc. Another, Metal, said “we’ve had a bunch of kids getting kicked from doorway to doorway. This is for them.” (It seems fitting that occupiers would decide to reclaim and hold land that once held a creaky old county jail.)
People did seem to be streaming in, slowly but surely. An organizer from labor group We Are Oregon even briefly surveyed the scene and spoke with some organizers. But the site has some big problems: It’s on ODOT land, not federal land, as some organizers insist. It has yet to receive General Assembly approval, which means Occupy’s store of camp supplies and necessities (like generators) may not be available.
And, perhaps most importantly, the land is already spoken for. After years of wrangling, Gateway Green will soon become a city/state public bike park. Construction on bike paths could begin as soon as next year. The cops didn’t show up while I was there, but I’m pretty sure they won’t be far behind.
#OccupyGateway is an independent, autonomous occupation by people who have adopted the principles of our spokes council for democratically organizing themselves as a community of houseless people. Under this model, each community creates its own guidelines. It is best accessible by bicycle or on foot.
Directions: (site not accessible to cars, including news vans and police cars)
From Gateway transit center walk to the I-205 bike path, cross over I-84 on the bike path, then take dirt road to the right. Walk for another five minutes through grasses and trees. The site is between I-205 and I-84 and currently consists of three tents.Occupy Portland applauds any autonomous community of houseless people who choose to create a nonviolent community for themselves, and while this is not a GA-approved activity, we hope the spokes council model will prove useful to them.
These out-of-towners will be surprised how their ‘nonviolent’ community turns out near the site of the most police calls in the city.
Is that George Carlin and Willie Nelson?
wow the ol’ troll one-two!
LOL
Just curious, do all the homeless people now just say ‘occupy’ to gain support?
I truly wish ’em the best of luck, I really do.
Haven’t these sorts of Occupy actions have been around for decades under most overpasses downtown?
And boom goes the Mercury…reporting on homeless camps movements. Look, there’s shit out there, and the privileged middle / low class (just a term, I’m an AFDC kid) should be pissed, but really? There’s a percentage that can’t/won’t be “mainstreamed”ish and the Mercury is giving them good press? Fick that. Yeah, Fick.
Well let’s see…among other things, this happens to be nowhere near any sort of governmental building or business…So what exactly is being occupied other than space is somewhat unclear.
OCCUPY STEEL RESERVE
You could just go down to Water Ave. next time you want to report from Occupy, save yourself the drive out to east county.
I don’t have a problem with this…I mean It beats camping under an overpass. And this was what about half of “Occupy Portland” was comprised off anyway. Say, I hear the Mayor has a nice lawn….just saying
Occupy Dignity Village.
Oh look. Naive white libtards. So rare in Portland!
Remember, TPI and Jails referred people to us. There is no room. From occupyportland.org:
A NOTE ON URBAN CAMPING 11/29/11
Tens of millions of people currently struggle daily to meet their basic needs in the wealthiest nation on Earth. All indications are that the fight to survive will only get worse unless political and economic power in the United States is returned to the 99%. Here in Portland, the 1% mismanage public funds and control all “public” land while hundreds have no where to sleep. Meanwhile, major media sources continue to marginalize and silence the voices of economic refugees.
The failure of the City of Portland to provide shelter space for all the unhoused people who need it has led to the development of small groups of unhoused people supporting each other in building shelters as they can, where they can. When the city evicted Occupy Portland from the parks where we had lived together as a diverse group of activists for five weeks, many unhoused individuals and families were forced to re-seek shelter under Portland’s bridges and subjected to harassment by police officers. Right2Survive’s Blog on Occupy Portland’s eviction day outlined the disheartening shelter situation that the unhoused face:
“Housing Commissioner Nick Fish has stated that the city is opening some winter beds early to provide for some people who will be displaced by this eviction. As of Saturday afternoon, there are no beds available for unhoused women in Portland, according to 211. The Salvation Army was scheduled to open a winter warming center this week, but that has not happened. City Team Ministries, which charges $5 for a bed, and Portland Rescue Mission, which uses a lottery system to fill beds, are regularly full and must turn people away.
According to the most recent homeless count, there are currently 1700 people sleeping outside in Portland. Mike O’Callahan of Right 2 Survive surveyed people in city parks and under bridges for two weeks shortly after the homeless count. Of the 75 unhoused people he spoke to, only 15 said they had been surveyed by outreach workers performing the count. Right 2 Survive feels there has been an extensive undercount of people actually sleeping outdoors, but even accepting the city’s numbers, there are still more than 750 people without a safe place to sleep.”
http://right2survive.wordpress.com/2011/11…
Occupy Gateway was an independent, autonomous occupation by people who worked together at Occupy Portland. They adopted the principles of the spokes council model to democratically organize themselves as a community of unhoused people.Occupy Portland applauds any autonomous group of unhoused people who choose to create a peaceful community for themselves, and while this was not a GA-approved activity, we hope the spokes council model will prove useful for this community in all future camps.
Until City Hall begins to seriously address economic inequality, unhoused people and their allies will continue to find shelter wherever they can which includes erecting camps in public spaces.If you believe that Mayor Adams should create a space for the unhoused to set up an organized community within the city, please call the Mayor’s office directly: 503-823-4120 or
email: mayorsam@portlandoregon.gov
****This is a statement from the public relations committee.****
It’s the FLEA Party.
maybe you paint your tents pink and glue heavy duty plywood to the walls too so when the earth liquefies from the enormous earthquack that is sure to hit ANY SECOND NOW your tent will remain intact. Sic.
Maybe you Occupy P-towns can paint their tents pink and reinforce them with heavy-duty plywood glued to the walls and floor and roofs so when the enormous earthquak hits and the ground liquefies and all the other tents go out to sea to see Capt Poseidon yours will remain intact and float on top of the new seashore.