Adam Wickham Portland police are planning their most intensive crackdown on homeless camping in years, saying complaints over “entrenched” homelessness have reached a tipping point. Beginning Tuesday and extending into June, officers will target encampments throughout the city’s Central Eastside—demanding campers take down their tents, and pushing social services on them. “For a couple of […]
Homeless
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Mayor Charlie Hales Says He’ll Look to Create More Camps Like RIght 2 Dream Too
Dirk VanderHart The lot at SE 3rd and Harrison where the city wants to move R2DToo Mayor Charlie Hales says one Right 2 Dream Too isn’t enough. Fresh off news, first reported by the Mercury, that the respected, self-policed homeless rest area may be moving across the river, Hales said today that he believes in […]
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The City Says It’s Finally Found a Spot For Right 2 Dream Too. With A View!
This week’s issue will hit the web and news boxes later this morning. Until then, here’s a preview of the latest Hall Monitor column. ON MONDAY, Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Amanda Fritz walked a group of Central Eastside businesspeople to a grassy, gravelly patch by the east end of Tilikum Crossing. It’s a gritty […]
Posted inCrafty
Handmade to the Streets
In a city where everyone is a crafter of some sort, it’s sweet to see a thoughtful little project like this: Ashleyann Burnett got tired of watching a homeless man trying to keep himself warm on MLK with a flimsy sheet, and decided to start designing and making warm blankets with the lifestyle of a […]
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Portland’s Park Rangers Will Get Training From Right 2 Dream Too
Illustration by Devon Devereaux Commissioner Amanda Fritz—a longtime friend to the homeless rest area Right 2 Dream Too and a booster for expanding parks ranger service—has found a way to bring the two together. In a discussion last week over the lack of attention Portland’s small band of rangers gives the city’s east side, Fritz […]
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Two Months In Jail for the Homeless Woman Who Just Tried to Kill Portland’s Camping Ban
FRANÇOIS VIGNEAULT Multnomah County Circuit Judge Stephen Bushong looked down and scratched at the back of his neck, like you do when you don’t like your options. The judge had just heard, this morning, from attorneys in the case of Alexandra Barrett, the homeless woman whose many arrests and citations for camping-related offenses last year […]
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Judge Rules Portland’s Camping Ban is Legal, But Says “We Must Do Better Than That”
ILLUSTRATION BY FRANÇOIS VIGNEAULT A Multnomah County judge ruled this morning Portland’s camping ban is perfectly legal, stymieing the latest attempt to rein in a controversial strategy for dealing with homelessness via the courts. In a 19-page opinion, Multnomah Circuit Judge Stephen Bushong found that the law passes constitutional muster. It doesn’t, as public defenders […]
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County Prosecutors Say Portland’s Camping Ban Is Legit
ILLUSTRATION BY FRANÇOIS VIGNEAULT Multnomah County prosecutors are parrying the latest attempt to dismantle Portland’s camping ban, insisting the law doesn’t infringe on the right’s of the city’s homeless, or criminalize people for their homelessness. In a legal memo filed yesterday [pdf], the district attorney’s office says claims the ban constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” […]
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Homeless Advocate Marc Jolin is Leaving JOIN for the County
Multnomah County Marc Jolin Marc Jolin, one of Portland’s most visible advocates for the homeless, will leave his current position as director of the organization JOIN to take a job with Multnomah County next month. The brand new position, as the director of a new county-wide board focused on ending homelessness, will take Jolin away […]
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That Unmarked Homeless Storage Facility is Getting an Address!
Indulge us again, won’t you, in the confusing circumstances of the small, unmarked, and unkempt property on SW Barbur where the city stores valuables confiscated from homeless campers. Yesterday, we asked Portland Fire & Rescue about the Portland Water Bureau-owned property, and were told something surprising: there were no records of this squat, 64-year-old pump […]
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It’s Not Snowing. It’s Still Terrible Outside. More Warming Centers and Shelters Have Opened to Help
We’re staring at another night with temperatures below freezing, never mind wind chills making things worse. And the rain and sleet we’ve had today, in the wake of the snowpocalypse that wasn’t, seems primed to turn to ice. In short? It’s still going to be incredibly dangerous for neighbors living on the street. The housing […]
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Portland’s Urban Renewal Agency Has a Deal in Place to Purchase Right 2 Dream Too’s Old Town Lot
Another looming shoe seems ready to drop in the long-running saga over Right 2 Dream Too’s quest to trade its land on NW 4th and Burnside for a more permanent home. According to city documents (pdf) obtained by the Mercury, the Portland Development Commission will vote as soon as this Wednesday on a tentative deal […]