Over the weekend, organizers for Right 2 Dream Too—the “rest area” for the homeless flourishing on some vacant parcels at NW 4th and Burnside—took to Facebook and posted their latest assessment from the city’s code enforcement bureau.
The bill is part of a yearlong city crackdown, since spun out into a court fight, that accuses the site of illegally operating as a “recreational” campground. And, according to a high-resolution copy of the bill obtained this afternoon, some big numbers pop out.
The overall amount owed by the group and its landlords—who are leasing out their prime downtown property for pennies a year? $12,592.02, including interest payments and other late fees. The monthly fine? More than $1,400. And how much has R2DToo and its supporters sent the city so far? $3,833—putting the total fines/penalties levied by the city at more than $16,000. Court papers filed last month said the amount owed, as of September, was about half as much.
- courtesy of Right 2 Dream Too
The group has been quietly helping scores of Portlanders with its low-drama, low-to-no-cost model of success and empowerment since it opened in October 2011. Meanwhile, developers and other powerful downtown voices, like the Portland Business Alliance, are trying to persuade city officials to shut the place down.
They’ve even been playing dirty. The PBA sent a letter, for instance, accusing the camp of seeding a crime spike in Old Town. But as we reported last month, the police bureau—after looking at the statistics when we asked for them—said that couldn’t be proven true.
This bill also raises some questions. Where does all that penalty money go? Will the city donate it to social services agencies doing similar work? And why is Right 2 Dream Too, and not its landlords, named on the bill. The city has routinely taken pains to try and distinguish between the two when it was making, before the lawsuit silenced them, its more bellicose comments.
All the same, I’ve phone up Ross Caron, spokesman for the Bureau of Development Services, and I’ll update if I hear back.
What a travesty. I hope that penalty money goes to further social services rather than to a city paid consultant making $300 an hour to teach a highly paid city employee how to perform his job duties.
Correction to your bolded text: $3,833.80 was just the amount put on principal. $3893.25 was the “last payment” total. Did they pay before the last payment, too? That would make the amount even higher.
Pay up bitches!
So the lease is pennies on the dollar, and the city is only charging $1400/month in penalties….seems like a pretty decent rent rate for a prime location in the heart of the city. Especially when divvied up between the dozens of resters. Maybe one less herion fix or three less Steel Reserves for each person once a month would have paid that off if they had been willing to be participants in society.
I’m being kind of jerky about it, and have a lot of sympathy for the homeless that have honestly not chosen this path for their life….but c’mon, there are options for those people slightly better than homelessness.
Yeah, “there are options for those people slightly better than homelessness.” It’s exactly what they have now — and it’s R2DToo. I’m downtown frequently, and they are really doing it right at at that corner. I also know one of the organizers who has been homeless as long as I’ve lived in Portland. He wouldn’t be supporting if it was folks drinking and shooting up. I know you are just be facetious, and that shit obviously goes on in the homeless community, but R2DToo sprung up because the city doesn’t have enough beds for everyone who wants one. Period.
Yes, some homeless folks are addicts, and yes some homeless folks choose to not get a job, but everyone deserves a safe space to sleep at night, I think. It was a sleazy porn store beforehand, and an empty lot after, and it my estimation it’s being used for the greater good now. And it’s not hurting anyone. So I think the city should just lay off and/or work with the group to find another space. Because if homeless folks aren’t staying there, then they are just going to be spread throughout the city and endangered. I’m happy this is a safe space for people.
The city doesnt have the right to charger anything when its on private property. that is being leased by the landowners themselves. The city claims that the rest area is a recreational facilities. I don’t see anyone there that want to be sleeping in tents. The point of the rest area is for the houseless to have a safe and uninterrupted place to sleep. So they will be able to function the next day just like you and me who need to go to work, school or where else that life take us for the day. In December alone 12 people who stayed at R2DToo found housing.
@ j’peaux & skinhnarath Thank you for the replies. I really don’t like the corner probably due to the fact that I’m uncomfortable with it. I’m consistently one paycheck away from not being able to afford rent, and while I’m far from being homeless, since I do have some family and friends that would be welcome to take me in, it can scare the crap out of me.
I would agree that an empty lot is an appropriate place to have a tent rest area, but I think another reason I am somewhat uncomfortable with the location is the overall concentration of poverty in that area of Old Town and it’s effect on the local businesses (uncomfortable people like me are weary of making the area anything more than a very focused destination, i.e. I’m going to Brody Theater and not even thinking about going anywhere else – not that there is much else for money spending loiterers [but how much does this have to do with businesses not setting up shop there due to the perceived concentration of poverty?])
The City does have the right to charge for land use violations. That is one of the core duties of a today’s planning departments around the nation. I applaud Right 2 Dream Too’s attempt to challenge this in the court however, and I hope media other than the Portland Mercury pick up the story to bring light to the fact that we have a huge problem with people who don’t want to camp out for the rest of their lives. I believe the statistic of 12 people finding permanent (or at least warm) homes in December. That is great news and I hope it’s a consistent statistic!