The warming shelters were great. Now Gresham needs to get on board. There was only one little-known warming center open at the beginning of the teen-temperatures. Later a couple others opened up, but people were on the verge of dying out there.

Good to see the Tribune starting to cover these issues a little more sensibly:

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.…

Actually, the Multnomah County East building in Gresham was used as a warming center. Also there is a family-with-kids warming center near the 82nd Avenue MAX station (behind the Elmer's).

I heard somewhere that a high school gym in Gresham opened, not sure if that was true.

In the winters the east county becomes a lot more severe than in Portland.

The important thing here:

1. Most shelters do not allow drunks or druggies while being under influence. The EWC specifically allows them; no one is excluded and left out in the cold to die. They are usually among the first to get hypothermia and die, and we accommodate them so that they won't be found dead.

2. It has been the key policies of the EWC to eliminate any barrier to admission. So there is no TB card required, no identification requirements, etc. We also allow dogs, cats, and even a bunny (we had a tiny kennel for a bunny or a ferret!). Sure, a few volunteers got sick, and so probably did many clients (one of many reasons why many people stay away from shelters: people do get sick from homeless shelters!), but that risk was minimal with our encouraging everyone to use hand sanitizers, wash hands, etc., and certainly a lesser risk than freezing death or injury.

3. I understand where Eric is coming from. ARC is a disaster-relief organization, not a social service agency. But I do not think people just came because EWC was a "cool place to hang out." If he felt that way, it is probably because people were trying to keep their spirits up. There is no requirement for the clients to look and act miserable. No one even suggested that. I'd rather like to see happy people getting along than angry and unhappy people fighting. In any case, the great super-majority of people who stayed there were simply very grateful that we were there for them, despite the overcrowded and occasionally unpleasant conditions.

4. Yes, I have said many times that there ought to be a peripheral security. Also perhaps there should be at least one person on site with a DPSST security guard certification (in other words hiring someone from Wackenhut or some other companies). The Portland Police Bureau "promised" to send an officer to check on the place every once in a while but that wasn't quite adequately done. As for the "driving away the homeless" concern, I suppose there must be a way to balance the two conflicting needs. The problem was that outside the building was unmonitored, so there were fights outside, we found a lot of mess (which I do not go into details here) in the bush and the parking lot.

Hm, the guy who was found dead in the cemetery: Couldn't the Portland Police Bureau arrest him for trespassing on the government property? Perhaps that could have been the easiest route to get him inside.

Somehow I had an impression that the city declared the state of emergency, and thus failing to report to the EWC or another shelter would have constituted a crime in itself. But I was apparently wrong. This year I was told that we were not supposed to take people into the shelter against their will. Sure, this can become a big question of civil liberties... and I'm among the first to be alarmed by someone insinuating that an Officer Friendly could arrest a homeless person, saying "I'm from the Government and I'm here to help you." Perhaps in Sweden, yes; not in the U.S. of A.! Perhaps ACLU and the Oregon Law Center can offer valuable insights on this matter...

By the way, thank you Commissioner Nick Fish and his family, Mayor (then Commissioner--it was still December 2008!) Sam Adams, and the nice and brave folks from the Portland Fire Bureau, especially Fire Marshall Jim Morelli (He stopped by, like, every three hours, every night! Did he ever get any sleep?)! The flexibility, innovative thinking, and the willingness to go extra miles to help people during the most adverse weather of the recent decades, were simply astounding. This is the City that Works, indeed! Keep the good work!