Comments

1
Mr. Boisserac

The crimes that you listed are the kind of crimes that are perpetrated against homeless women daily.

But then again, the world revolves around you and your hard-working wife, doesn't it?

Fucker.
2
Of course his examples are extreme, rare and over the top.

But the reality is the city expands and encourages homeless encampments in Portland.
3
Oregon Department of Energy Brandt Boissera(n)c?
4
FOR REFERENCE PURPOSES ONLY: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.s…

ALSO, YOU SPELLED THE IDIOTIC LETTER-WRITER'S NAME WRONG, IT'S ACTUALLY "Brandt Boisseranc"

5
Wow, when I rant at city councilors and make over-the-top accusations, false claims, etc., I never expect that my name and the things I saw will be put out there for everyone to read. I'll try to be more careful now. Still, something is not right about that.
6
I meant "say", and I didn't believe the content until after I saw the reference, Graham. I can see why he was so P'd O.
7
Name's fixed. And I've updated with the contents of a conversation with Mr. Boisseranc.
8
Dude! That lady spend several thousands of dollars restoring her home! HOW DARE A PERSON WHO HAS NONE SLEEP NEAR IT?!!? I demand justice.
9
When I first heard of this on TV, it wasn't presented as just one car / family in the parking lot - which can be alot easier to swallow than imagining 50 cars and tents all over your neighborhood church parking lot.
Better idea - why don't we just turn 'dignity villige' into the temporary shelter it was thought up to be - instead of permanent housing - and let many newly homeless car campers, etc, get their feet on the ground from there?
10
Mr. Boisseranc is a real gentleman to have responded the way he did to Mr. Fisch's release of his emails and the Mercury's characterization of his emails and the neighbors' reactions.

Full disclosure, I also live right by the Moreland Presbyterian Church. And although I live right across the street from the Church, I would have had no clue about this program were it not for Mr. Boisseranc--the Church notified only a VERY small handful of people about its program and has done next to nothing to educate neighbors about the program.

This, notwithstanding the fact that neighbors--not Church members--will be dealing with the Church's guests between the hours of 10pm-7:30am.

I have been impressed by Mr. Boisseranc's measured approach to dealing with this issue and the Church's initial refusal to answer even the most basic questions about this program. The Church was going to dump this project on its neighbors' laps without conversation first to get buy-in. Good Christians? Maybe. Bad neighbors? Definitely.
11
Why doesnt the church carve out a small place for her to stay in the church? Especially now that it has been advertised that a woman is going to be staying in her car overnight. Sounds like she is even more vulnerable now. I would also be concerned with the long term plan if I were a neighbor.
12
Yeah, I have to second that: really not a good idea to alert everyone to where a woman will be sleeping alone in her car overnight. I'd say they've put that person at risk with that statement.
13
How about testing this program out in the West Hills, Dunthorpe, etc.?
14
Fuck homeless women, their husbands might come looking for them and disrupt our precious neighborhood

Nevermind that domestic violence shelters are hideously underfunded, I don't want that shit where I live.
15
Gloworm is right. If they trust this woman enough to let her sleep in their parking lot, why not let her sleep inside the church? There's obviously room. If the church doesn't trust her enough to sleep inside, they probably shouldn't trust her enough to sleep in their parking lot.

Btw, kind of weird to use a person's letter in a story without contacting them for comment first, no? Unless of course, the whole point in using his name in the first place was to shame him, which would be ever so journalistically responsible.
16
I think generally (though of course with many specific counterexamples) these 'Christians' have been rather open about helping, sheltering and feeding the needy for going on two thousand years. If you move in next to a church you should expect the poor to show up at times otherwise it's not really much of a church is it?
17
I am also a neighbor, whose name was printed, without permission in the blog. I indeed wrote to the city and the pastor and was properly dismissed by both. "The city wants this program and it will move forward." I live two blocks from this church. Did you folks know that ANY church and ANY non-profit can open up their parking lots for those without shelter? Probably not. June 4th, 7PM at Moreland Presbyterian Church,1814 SE Bybee is where you can come and share your ideas. I personally think Denis C. Theriault is creepy.
18
I agree with Chuck that writing a letter to a city council member should not lead to your name being published. Are all communications with city council members or the mayor automatically public record?
19
@17 - You wrote a letter "to the city" - a public body - and you expected permission before your name was printed in the papers?

I think you and your neighbors have your heads stuck up your asses.

Welcome to Portland, homeless people live here. They already live in your neighborhood, the church is just trying to help one lady.
20
@18 - for the most part, yes. If not directly disclosed by being posted on a website, you can go through a process to get just about any information regarding a public agency disclosed.

Send an anonymous letter.

I'm just repeatedly shocked at how fucking stupid some "citizens" are about public processes in a democracy.
21
Make vague statements and call others "fucking stupid"...excuse me if I don't take your word on this, ax. I'll wait for Denis to respond.
22
Neighbors react in an ugly fashion? Neighbors react in a surprised fashion when something gets rammed down their throats with no public comment until after the program is going forward.

A parking lot is not set up for living. A church makes a fine shelter; it has bathrooms, heat, probably a kitchen, etc. Isn't the church telling these people that they don't trust then to be in their church? It's easy to say "You can sleep in my parking lot." when you don't actually live next to the parking lot.

All of you homeowners, do you think the city will lower the assessed value on your property for taxes now?

I've lived in other cities and seen this happen before. It's one car...to start. If the church and city are so proud of their program, why be sneaky about it? Because they have something to hide. You'll see.
23
In Seattle, churches host up to 100 people in tents in on their properties. Tent cities 3 & 4 are hosted and supported by churches and move every 2 to 3 months. Amazing how small minded our progressive town is - freaking out over one woman sleeping in her car.
Clearly, the folks with the problem here have never found themselves in this vulnerable situation and lack compassion. People without housing are just like you. Some of them have college degrees, some don't. Some have addictions, some don't. These are human beings! Have a shred of decency - drop the fear factor and get to know the folks that your local church lot is hosting. In the future, I hope we will adopt a Seattle like model.
24
I'll chime in on the public records question: If you write a letter to city hall, especially in a case like this, it's public record. And when reporters ask for that stuff, city officials in most cases are obligated to turn it over, whether they want to or not. We should always bear that in mind.

That said, not everyone's as familiar with the rules and the law and what's fair game. That gives *me* something to bear in mind for next time.
25
Thanks for explaining that, Denis. I'm no shrinking violet, but I need to keep in mind that Lars Larson can get his hands (or whatever) on the loo haiku I send to Randy Leonard every week.
26
Um, Todd, why aren't you CCing those to me?
27
Attorney/Client privilege?
28
Well, there, the cat's out of the loo.
29
I love how all the neighbors keep saying that the Church is "forcing" this on them. It's not their parking lot! It's the friggin Church's. How does it effect you? If she wasn't in the parking lot, she'd still be homeless nearby! Get over yourself.
30

"The resolution approved Dec. 21, establishes a one-year pilot project that will let people without shelter to “sleep overnight in a vehicle, camper or trailer parked on an existing parking lot of a host.” The resolution limits hosts to one designated area per partner, with a maximum of four vehicles at a time. It does not, however, allow for tent campers."
http://streetroots.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/city-opens-up-overnight-camping-option-for-select-sites/
31
I couldn't even finish the damn article. These people are a bunch of classist shitbags. At least the churches are trying to help people.

Once again, let's hate on poor people Portland! Great job, hypocritical asshats.
So much for liberalism.
33
You're out of line, Mr. Teriault. You probably haven't given anyone legal ground, but still these are private individuals who weren't standing up in front of council, and had every reason to believe they were emailing someone privately. We as citizens should have the right to speak frankly with elected representatives in some measure of privacy without out names being shat upon for everyone to read. Maybe you hadn't shat upon their names, but their words and names will be here for eternity for others to do so.
34
I live about a block away from the church. I think their program, as described here, sounds great. But I also think that it was pretty dumb not to explain it better ahead of time. And it is totally unfair to Boisseranc to act like his example of a transient man committing a violent rape is hysterical nonsense: that was TRUE, and was 2 blocks from the church, about a year ago. There was coverage in the Sellwood Bee; here's an article from the Oregonian.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.s…
I sure hope someone from the church or the city told that woman and her neighbors the details of this program before they heard about it from rumors.
35
I agree with Julie in SE. I thought the letter was ok notification (I also live a block away), but was unaware of the rape. Still, crime happens. Everywhere. Stay vigilant but don't force your neighbor to stop charity work because of it. I sure hope that we neighbors can show some class and decency to the unfortunate homeless person/family when they show up.

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