I wonder how much the owner of the property pays in taxes every year? I can't imagine his thumbing his nose at Randy Leonard and city codes to last forever - and that spot has got to be worth alot of money.

Fines of $583/month? That's got to be a lot cheaper than going through their application process, and building infrastructure. $583/month, to have another homeless shelter downtown? Totally worthwhile.

@frankieb - I think it's actually two legal lots. According to PortlandMaps.com, his property taxes last year were $9,308 total.

Only the bigger lot has a sale on record - $160,000 in 1995. Together, the city has them both appraised at $1.16 million.

I know the guy had it listed for $3,000,000 a while back, but that seems ridiculously high.

The monthly fines are in place only for three months, as Sarah's story notes. Then it's daily fines. And they're all attached in a lien that makes getting any money for the property, let alone $3M, much more annoying.

@Denis - Where does it explain that in the story? I can't find any reference to three months, or daily fines, or liens, or any of that. In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it actually DOESN'T say any of those things that you just claimed it did. You are LYING, and it needs to stop.

And if you're paying more than a million dollars for the property - and probably a lot more right after, to develop it - does getting $1,500 in fines cleared up in the process really sound like a big hurdle?

The only thing I'm trying to say is that to have even a vacant piece of property, worth a bundle, sit idly by while collecting fines and having to pay taxes on it without generating any income - just isn't going to last.
The owner of the property doesn't really care for the homeless, he is more interested in pissing Leonard off.
And maybe he has a right to feel that way.
But the homeless living there shouldn't get to feeling too comfy.