Sidewalk Resolution is Coming to Council. Give Us Your Feedback.
Mon, October 12, 2009 4:54pm
Dear Portlanders,
My colleagues on the City Council and I want to thank all of you who have been part of the discussion about how best to manage our sidewalks downtown.
As you know, this is both a complicated issue and also an opportunity for us to better assist those who need our help in these trying economic times, respect the legal rights of all sidewalk users while making our downtown the nation’s best place to work, live, play or do business.
For the past several weeks, we've heard from concerned citizens and organization from diverse viewpoints, from the small business owner to the downtown resident, from the homeless advocate to the casual observer. And the feedback we have received has been invaluable.
The result is a draft City Council resolution that outlines our proposed policy, operation and process path forward on this issue. Below you will find links to the draft Sidewalk Management Plan Resolution and a Frequently Asked Questions document.
Please provide us with any additional input by 5 p.m., Thursday, October 15, 2009; please reply to: samadams@ci.portland.or.us.
The final draft of the Sidewalk Management Plan resolution will be heard by the City Council on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at City Hall.
Yours,
Sam Adams
Mayor, City of Portland
View the resolution:
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=266982
View the FAQs:
http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=266981
Comments
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Posted by: Dorothy DeSilva - October 13, 2009 09:58 AM
Dear Mayor Adams and City Council,
The increase of trash around the city is quite glaring. (16th and Glisen looks like a city dump.)
I think we should care for the truely homeless, but addicts and runaways should be handled in a different manner. Also, why do homeless people have dogs when they cannot care for themselves? (Dog droppings have also increased in the city.) Everyone I have talked with states that the city is really going downhill because of the increase in trash and tagging and dog doo. Carts overflowing with "stuff" line sidewalks, like scenes out of some Third World country. Please keep in mind that most citizens are repulsed, but non-vocal regarding messes they observe. You hear from a very organized vocal minority regarding homeless rights, but the silent majority are overlooked.
Dear Mayor Adams and City Council,
The increase of trash around the city is quite glaring. (16th and Glisen looks like a city dump.)
I think we should care for the truely homeless, but addicts and runaways should be handled in a different manner. Also, why do homeless people have dogs when they cannot care for themselves? (Dog droppings have also increased in the city.) Everyone I have talked with states that the city is really going downhill because of the increase in trash and tagging and dog doo. Carts overflowing with "stuff" line sidewalks, like scenes out of some Third World country. Please keep in mind that most citizens are repulsed, but non-vocal regarding messes they observe. You hear from a very organized vocal minority regarding homeless rights, but the silent majority are overlooked.
Posted by: Alain - October 13, 2009 12:01 PM
Huh, maybe I'm missing something here but this reads more like a press release than an action plan.
1., 7. City Attorney - go cut and paste existing code into one chapter, and oh BTW see about complying with Federal Law. Nothing about new code. If the old code was good enough to deal with the problems, then it's time to shuffle the deck downtown since it clearly wasn't being implemented by those elected and paid to do the work
2., 3. Portland punts and kicks ball right back to same the PPB that created most of the hubbub. No feedback loops except a vaguely tasked "Sidewalk Management Plan, with an oversight committee" that has no authority over PPB. I love Amanda but last time I checked the PPB is in Saltzman's portfolio.
4., 5. Worthy goals but isn't this process already underway. Nick is doing yeoman's work and while it's nice to be stroked what does this have to do with "WHEREAS, media reports and community concerns about aggressive panhandling have been increasing;"
6., 8. A little taste for the PBA. The FAQ's talks about “Give Real Change, Not Spare Change” and a request for charity is being “protected speech”. Are we going to have Macy's glad handing Pioneer Square with bell ringers or ???. When did Sit/Lie and the red headed step child of Sit/Lie become the Downtown Business Recovery Act.
9. Skip to my "Loo" my darling Randy. Portland the town with a big heart and a small bladder. The PBA is happy to share their tills but not their toilets. It's absurd, ask anyone over 55 about just how hard it is to find an accessible toilet near almost any MAX stop. PBA really wants to help, make their toilets freely available to the public, not their cash registers.
10. Good idea, just don't turn it into Trimet's," You have called after 5:00 pm, please call back during our regular business hours" or "Thanks for contacting TriMet... someone will get back to you in 7 business days". One of the reason things got so crazy was the feedback loops were so twisted that minor complaints had time to fester into major grievances. The only number in this City where you can get an immediate response is 911 which punts the problem right back to PPB. At least integrate this component with the non-emergency PPB/PFB number.
I understand that this is a statement of principles and not a section of code and I appreciate that Portland is a "process rich" town, but is this really all we have to show for the work and fuss to date. This isn't rocket science, most of the rest of the country's big cities worked out most of this stuff long ago, lets get the show on the road.
Respectfully submitted,
Alain
Huh, maybe I'm missing something here but this reads more like a press release than an action plan.
1., 7. City Attorney - go cut and paste existing code into one chapter, and oh BTW see about complying with Federal Law. Nothing about new code. If the old code was good enough to deal with the problems, then it's time to shuffle the deck downtown since it clearly wasn't being implemented by those elected and paid to do the work
2., 3. Portland punts and kicks ball right back to same the PPB that created most of the hubbub. No feedback loops except a vaguely tasked "Sidewalk Management Plan, with an oversight committee" that has no authority over PPB. I love Amanda but last time I checked the PPB is in Saltzman's portfolio.
4., 5. Worthy goals but isn't this process already underway. Nick is doing yeoman's work and while it's nice to be stroked what does this have to do with "WHEREAS, media reports and community concerns about aggressive panhandling have been increasing;"
6., 8. A little taste for the PBA. The FAQ's talks about “Give Real Change, Not Spare Change” and a request for charity is being “protected speech”. Are we going to have Macy's glad handing Pioneer Square with bell ringers or ???. When did Sit/Lie and the red headed step child of Sit/Lie become the Downtown Business Recovery Act.
9. Skip to my "Loo" my darling Randy. Portland the town with a big heart and a small bladder. The PBA is happy to share their tills but not their toilets. It's absurd, ask anyone over 55 about just how hard it is to find an accessible toilet near almost any MAX stop. PBA really wants to help, make their toilets freely available to the public, not their cash registers.
10. Good idea, just don't turn it into Trimet's," You have called after 5:00 pm, please call back during our regular business hours" or "Thanks for contacting TriMet... someone will get back to you in 7 business days". One of the reason things got so crazy was the feedback loops were so twisted that minor complaints had time to fester into major grievances. The only number in this City where you can get an immediate response is 911 which punts the problem right back to PPB. At least integrate this component with the non-emergency PPB/PFB number.
I understand that this is a statement of principles and not a section of code and I appreciate that Portland is a "process rich" town, but is this really all we have to show for the work and fuss to date. This isn't rocket science, most of the rest of the country's big cities worked out most of this stuff long ago, lets get the show on the road.
Respectfully submitted,
Alain
Posted by: Max Parmer - October 13, 2009 03:42 PM
"The Portland Police Bureau shall create and regularly update a work plan to be approved by Commissioner Dan Saltzman to enforce laws prohibiting criminal behavior on sidewalks including littering, harassment, disorderly conduct and drug dealing;"
Why on earth would this be necessary? All the aforementioned are already *criminal* acts, I think criminal justice should be equal whether the act occurs on a sidewalk, in an apartment building, in a park or so forth.
This makes me concerned that this is still a push to predominantly discriminate against the people of the sidewalks, those who have no where else to go.
"The Portland Police Bureau shall create and regularly update a work plan to be approved by Commissioner Dan Saltzman to enforce laws prohibiting criminal behavior on sidewalks including littering, harassment, disorderly conduct and drug dealing;"
Why on earth would this be necessary? All the aforementioned are already *criminal* acts, I think criminal justice should be equal whether the act occurs on a sidewalk, in an apartment building, in a park or so forth.
This makes me concerned that this is still a push to predominantly discriminate against the people of the sidewalks, those who have no where else to go.
Posted by: mike bond - October 13, 2009 04:43 PM
Laws and ordinances like these are always misued. How is this to stop drug dealing? Do you just start checking every person sitting on a sidewalk , with this new law as an excuse? This is just one more thing that "you can't do!" why?"because it's illegal." Lame.
Laws and ordinances like these are always misued. How is this to stop drug dealing? Do you just start checking every person sitting on a sidewalk , with this new law as an excuse? This is just one more thing that "you can't do!" why?"because it's illegal." Lame.
Posted by: Janelle - October 13, 2009 06:46 PM
Hi Dorothy,
RE: Posted by: Dorothy DeSilva - October 13, 2009 09:58 AM
". . . (16th and Glisen looks like a city dump.). . .
Carts overflowing with "stuff" line sidewalks, like scenes out of some Third World country. Please keep in mind that most citizens are repulsed, but non-vocal regarding messes they observe. You hear from a very organized vocal minority regarding homeless rights, but the silent majority are overlooked" (DeSilva,D., 2009).
Dorothy, "Glisen" is spelled "G-l-i-s-a-n." Dorothy, who are the silent majority--people with homes? As far as the homeless who are drug addicts, Portland is badly in need of not only shelters but treatment centers. I think it is sad that people who have homes and don't have substance abuse addictions are not very well informed. I, myself, have been homeless, and I had to wait over three months for a shelter just last year. I am also working on my second bachelor's degree and by the grace of God live on campus with a recent 9 hour a week job as well. I feel that it sucks that Portland, Oregon (my birth city) is in the top 5 for unemployment, hunger, and homelessness.
The city of Portland should ask for donations from people that have the means to help the suffering—as well as families, the county, state, and federal government. We are all connected, life is more important than being repulsed by another person’s suffering.
Sincerely,
Janelle
Hi Dorothy,
RE: Posted by: Dorothy DeSilva - October 13, 2009 09:58 AM
". . . (16th and Glisen looks like a city dump.). . .
Carts overflowing with "stuff" line sidewalks, like scenes out of some Third World country. Please keep in mind that most citizens are repulsed, but non-vocal regarding messes they observe. You hear from a very organized vocal minority regarding homeless rights, but the silent majority are overlooked" (DeSilva,D., 2009).
Dorothy, "Glisen" is spelled "G-l-i-s-a-n." Dorothy, who are the silent majority--people with homes? As far as the homeless who are drug addicts, Portland is badly in need of not only shelters but treatment centers. I think it is sad that people who have homes and don't have substance abuse addictions are not very well informed. I, myself, have been homeless, and I had to wait over three months for a shelter just last year. I am also working on my second bachelor's degree and by the grace of God live on campus with a recent 9 hour a week job as well. I feel that it sucks that Portland, Oregon (my birth city) is in the top 5 for unemployment, hunger, and homelessness.
The city of Portland should ask for donations from people that have the means to help the suffering—as well as families, the county, state, and federal government. We are all connected, life is more important than being repulsed by another person’s suffering.
Sincerely,
Janelle
Posted by: Joe Rowe - October 13, 2009 11:32 PM
Comments due Thursday.
Comments deleted and ignored Friday.
Dear Sam, Amanda and all the other city folks that may read this. I know you don't have bad intentions as individuals, but as a combined system you are all a combined monster of indifference to humans with no house. It's worse in other cities, but that is no excuse for the abuses here in Portland.
The only corrective mechanism the City System seems to understand is lawsuits. It does not have to reach that point. Got courage? write a memo like this:
I encourage revision from the public:
Whereas Portland City Council has ignored the constitution and wasted a lot of time from police and people on the streets:
We, the City Council hereby resolve the new people's right to live, sleep and sit in public without lies.
1) People have a right to exist and sleep (assemble) without restraint as per Sec. 26, Article 1 of the Oregon Constitution. We will pass no law and we will train all enforcment staff and community members that nobody should restrain anyone peacefully assembled, which includes but is not limited to: sleeping, eating, protesting, on any public way. Public staff will be tested on their training. We offer an apology for previous attempts, now ruled unconstitutional.
2) Someone partially blocking a sidewalk by sleeping or protesting on a public way is a peaceful assembly. It may seem annoying to some, but it is not illegal when people have to walk around other people.
3) Non-Peaceful assembly includes only violations of the many state and city statutes that remain on our books because they have held up in courts under precedent. Enforcement staff must follow the law and are discouraged from hasty citations. Two wrongs don't make a right. Sections of Disorderly conduct have been abused and ruled unconstitutional, and the greatest care should be taken to not abuse ORS 166.025 and other statutes.
3) The city will create a clear written guide to encourage the community on how to resolve various non-peaceful assemblies without a citation when possible. ( statute violations ) The community includes enforcement staff who must often mediate communication between those assembled and the human targets of their concern. All stakeholders will be involved in creating this guide and it will address the many basic facilities needs. The city may compensate for cleaning of publicly accessible toilets provided by private businesses.
4) The city holds the Portland Police and their trained discretion in the highest regard and renews our goal to avoid outsourcing any enforcement to private contractors who often have staff with less training and sustainable compensation. The city accepts full liability from such contractors and acknowledges that human rights violations often occur more frequently and with less resolution from such outsourcing. The city ombudsman will draft a plan with all stakeholders to rebuild the IPR, include all enforcement staff, take telephone complaints and ensure that repeat violations from enforcement staff meet appropriate documented consequences, including the minimum of removal from public contact.
5) In the spirit of accessible technology such as the Tri-Met Transit tracker, the city shall create a simple call in system for those who wish to avoid sleeping on the streets. It will indicate if and where any beds are available each night and be linked to resource providers in real time, much like GPS on busses. The city will continue to create both short and long term housing/sleeping conditions until the the call data shows that requests for temporary and longer term sleeping conditions are met.
6) All staff in the city Attorney's office will take a constitution class and test. They gave city council the improper counsel (advice) that prior reforms were constitutional, when in fact they violated both human rights and the constitution. Ongoing reforms will seek input from legal staff representing all stakeholders and reach beyond city legal staff advice. Torture and other violations of human dignity are not legal just because you can find a few layers who give the OK.
Comments due Thursday.
Comments deleted and ignored Friday.
Dear Sam, Amanda and all the other city folks that may read this. I know you don't have bad intentions as individuals, but as a combined system you are all a combined monster of indifference to humans with no house. It's worse in other cities, but that is no excuse for the abuses here in Portland.
The only corrective mechanism the City System seems to understand is lawsuits. It does not have to reach that point. Got courage? write a memo like this:
I encourage revision from the public:
Whereas Portland City Council has ignored the constitution and wasted a lot of time from police and people on the streets:
We, the City Council hereby resolve the new people's right to live, sleep and sit in public without lies.
1) People have a right to exist and sleep (assemble) without restraint as per Sec. 26, Article 1 of the Oregon Constitution. We will pass no law and we will train all enforcment staff and community members that nobody should restrain anyone peacefully assembled, which includes but is not limited to: sleeping, eating, protesting, on any public way. Public staff will be tested on their training. We offer an apology for previous attempts, now ruled unconstitutional.
2) Someone partially blocking a sidewalk by sleeping or protesting on a public way is a peaceful assembly. It may seem annoying to some, but it is not illegal when people have to walk around other people.
3) Non-Peaceful assembly includes only violations of the many state and city statutes that remain on our books because they have held up in courts under precedent. Enforcement staff must follow the law and are discouraged from hasty citations. Two wrongs don't make a right. Sections of Disorderly conduct have been abused and ruled unconstitutional, and the greatest care should be taken to not abuse ORS 166.025 and other statutes.
3) The city will create a clear written guide to encourage the community on how to resolve various non-peaceful assemblies without a citation when possible. ( statute violations ) The community includes enforcement staff who must often mediate communication between those assembled and the human targets of their concern. All stakeholders will be involved in creating this guide and it will address the many basic facilities needs. The city may compensate for cleaning of publicly accessible toilets provided by private businesses.
4) The city holds the Portland Police and their trained discretion in the highest regard and renews our goal to avoid outsourcing any enforcement to private contractors who often have staff with less training and sustainable compensation. The city accepts full liability from such contractors and acknowledges that human rights violations often occur more frequently and with less resolution from such outsourcing. The city ombudsman will draft a plan with all stakeholders to rebuild the IPR, include all enforcement staff, take telephone complaints and ensure that repeat violations from enforcement staff meet appropriate documented consequences, including the minimum of removal from public contact.
5) In the spirit of accessible technology such as the Tri-Met Transit tracker, the city shall create a simple call in system for those who wish to avoid sleeping on the streets. It will indicate if and where any beds are available each night and be linked to resource providers in real time, much like GPS on busses. The city will continue to create both short and long term housing/sleeping conditions until the the call data shows that requests for temporary and longer term sleeping conditions are met.
6) All staff in the city Attorney's office will take a constitution class and test. They gave city council the improper counsel (advice) that prior reforms were constitutional, when in fact they violated both human rights and the constitution. Ongoing reforms will seek input from legal staff representing all stakeholders and reach beyond city legal staff advice. Torture and other violations of human dignity are not legal just because you can find a few layers who give the OK.
Posted by: SeChris - October 14, 2009 03:39 AM
Indeed, returning Portland to a higher moral ground by requiring each and every citizen to participate in a Homeless Immersion Program is what is needed. Households should be picked at random and the inhabitants should be forced to leave, with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. Prior to forcing the residents to leave, the police will have selected, at random, a half dozen or so homeless people who would assume residence and be given access to all of the belongings and bank accounts of the former residents.
This would be a lot like a Burn Unit that scorches 70% of persons body with third+ degree burns so that people can ‘empathize’ with burn victims. Any wonder that with all the free food handed out by the Feral Human Coalition, that we are seeing even more strays show up here with children that should have never been born and will be consigned to a life of problems, or being a problem?
What is repulsive is the enabling of homelessness as an acceptable lifestyle choice. What’s next? Designer lice combs and sandal-wood scented Rid? Perhaps a person could go to a salon and get inked, pierced and lice? What would bring dignity back to Oregon would be a system that flushes out the effluence of human debris that comes here and creates a cesspool of Portlands Living Room. It isn’t enough that those of us functional people can barely look at a stranger down town without being accosted by some social malcontent who thinks a hard-luck story will mask stupidity and laziness and they believe that entitles them to mooch off of citizens who would rather work at making their lives better than work at finding new excuses for their own failings and more ways to sucker people. Now we’ll have to step over this miserable wretched human garbage or violate their constitutional rights? Please. Mace comes in large containers of there is no shame in laying a cloud of it all over a panhandler. “I was being harassed, officer”. Works every time and the cop will probably buy ya a cup a Joe for it.
Dignitary Village didn’t work. It was a financial Rat Hole and a boil on the butt of Portlands better nature. If the people who live lives of sloth, addiction, malice and social deficit want to engage in a codependent relationship with people fomenting classism that resent a hardworking, meaningful, productive, resourceful, honest and healthy lifestyles that are the product of intelligence, good choices, diligence and basic self respect, great, more power to them but they shouldn’t get any public money for their effort because neither side of that codependent relationship contributes anything positive to society. The party on one side of that relationship says, “I can’t/won’t/don’t want to make anything of myself”. The other party say, “it’s too much for anyone to bear and you shouldn’t have to, here is a blanket and a bowl of soup and once you’re feeling better, we’ll show you how to scam the system to get whatever you can, and not give anything for it, just like we did”.
Just like a child who gets over a cold by necessity because mom remedies the situation with pine tar and honey along with no TV and a 24 – 48 hour ‘all clear’ time once the sickness passes, the homeless in Portland could use a dose of tough love. How many homeless would there be in Portland if those getting public assistance were required to give back in the form of seeing to it that, to start, the Portland Metro area was spotless and the homeless lived in barracks where they were roused out of bed around 4:30 AM by guards with tasers and attack dogs, and did at least 6 hours work before they were required to attend classes run by educational interns so that they could obtain better work because they had some education? Portland just had a big storm. Why are these free loaders out cleaning up?
Right, too idealist and it violates the individuals right to be human debris. Never mind all of the nonsense that the ‘do gooders’ spew out. They are just trying to capitalize on homelessness or manage their ill placed guilt.
Indeed, returning Portland to a higher moral ground by requiring each and every citizen to participate in a Homeless Immersion Program is what is needed. Households should be picked at random and the inhabitants should be forced to leave, with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. Prior to forcing the residents to leave, the police will have selected, at random, a half dozen or so homeless people who would assume residence and be given access to all of the belongings and bank accounts of the former residents.
This would be a lot like a Burn Unit that scorches 70% of persons body with third+ degree burns so that people can ‘empathize’ with burn victims. Any wonder that with all the free food handed out by the Feral Human Coalition, that we are seeing even more strays show up here with children that should have never been born and will be consigned to a life of problems, or being a problem?
What is repulsive is the enabling of homelessness as an acceptable lifestyle choice. What’s next? Designer lice combs and sandal-wood scented Rid? Perhaps a person could go to a salon and get inked, pierced and lice? What would bring dignity back to Oregon would be a system that flushes out the effluence of human debris that comes here and creates a cesspool of Portlands Living Room. It isn’t enough that those of us functional people can barely look at a stranger down town without being accosted by some social malcontent who thinks a hard-luck story will mask stupidity and laziness and they believe that entitles them to mooch off of citizens who would rather work at making their lives better than work at finding new excuses for their own failings and more ways to sucker people. Now we’ll have to step over this miserable wretched human garbage or violate their constitutional rights? Please. Mace comes in large containers of there is no shame in laying a cloud of it all over a panhandler. “I was being harassed, officer”. Works every time and the cop will probably buy ya a cup a Joe for it.
Dignitary Village didn’t work. It was a financial Rat Hole and a boil on the butt of Portlands better nature. If the people who live lives of sloth, addiction, malice and social deficit want to engage in a codependent relationship with people fomenting classism that resent a hardworking, meaningful, productive, resourceful, honest and healthy lifestyles that are the product of intelligence, good choices, diligence and basic self respect, great, more power to them but they shouldn’t get any public money for their effort because neither side of that codependent relationship contributes anything positive to society. The party on one side of that relationship says, “I can’t/won’t/don’t want to make anything of myself”. The other party say, “it’s too much for anyone to bear and you shouldn’t have to, here is a blanket and a bowl of soup and once you’re feeling better, we’ll show you how to scam the system to get whatever you can, and not give anything for it, just like we did”.
Just like a child who gets over a cold by necessity because mom remedies the situation with pine tar and honey along with no TV and a 24 – 48 hour ‘all clear’ time once the sickness passes, the homeless in Portland could use a dose of tough love. How many homeless would there be in Portland if those getting public assistance were required to give back in the form of seeing to it that, to start, the Portland Metro area was spotless and the homeless lived in barracks where they were roused out of bed around 4:30 AM by guards with tasers and attack dogs, and did at least 6 hours work before they were required to attend classes run by educational interns so that they could obtain better work because they had some education? Portland just had a big storm. Why are these free loaders out cleaning up?
Right, too idealist and it violates the individuals right to be human debris. Never mind all of the nonsense that the ‘do gooders’ spew out. They are just trying to capitalize on homelessness or manage their ill placed guilt.
Posted by: Joe Walsh - October 14, 2009 10:04 AM
When you have all the resources in place to care for the houseless then and only then can you start to think in terms of regulating the city streets, parks or under bridges. This city is not trying to help those who are 25% veterans on our streets, or the runaways, or the people who are just lost in this society; you are placating the business community. The people who complain about panhandling, and people sitting around our city will not even use the correct language, most people are not homeless they are houseless, (told to me by a person that just wanted a place to call his own and take a shower every day.) These laws you want to pass are unconstitutional and should be scrapped--when will you learn? We have young people who freeze to death or are beaten so badly that they no longer care about living, work on those problems and the rest will take care of itself.
Joe Walsh-Lone Vet
Individuals For Justice
VVAW, Veterans Against Torture
When you have all the resources in place to care for the houseless then and only then can you start to think in terms of regulating the city streets, parks or under bridges. This city is not trying to help those who are 25% veterans on our streets, or the runaways, or the people who are just lost in this society; you are placating the business community. The people who complain about panhandling, and people sitting around our city will not even use the correct language, most people are not homeless they are houseless, (told to me by a person that just wanted a place to call his own and take a shower every day.) These laws you want to pass are unconstitutional and should be scrapped--when will you learn? We have young people who freeze to death or are beaten so badly that they no longer care about living, work on those problems and the rest will take care of itself.
Joe Walsh-Lone Vet
Individuals For Justice
VVAW, Veterans Against Torture
Posted by: Gordon Sturrock - October 14, 2009 11:30 AM
A society can be judged by how it treats its poor, its homeless, and its disadvantaged. May God have mercy on our children.
Gordon Sturrock
Squadron13 and VeteransAgainstTorture
A society can be judged by how it treats its poor, its homeless, and its disadvantaged. May God have mercy on our children.
Gordon Sturrock
Squadron13 and VeteransAgainstTorture
Posted by: Susan Bassett - October 14, 2009 11:43 AM
This seems to be a feel-good document. I'm more interested in seeing actual code changes. And where was this plan when there was discussion about how to handle those issues with "save a space for the parade" folks? Is this aimed at only getting the homeless off the streets or is really going to be a comprehensive sidewalk code?
This seems to be a feel-good document. I'm more interested in seeing actual code changes. And where was this plan when there was discussion about how to handle those issues with "save a space for the parade" folks? Is this aimed at only getting the homeless off the streets or is really going to be a comprehensive sidewalk code?
Posted by: Mike Tabor - October 14, 2009 02:08 PM
When I walked out in the cold rain and wind to my job yesterday... I thought to my self "what if I lived outside in this type of weather all day and night?" To think that the city is creating a "resolutions" to criminalize folks that are without a home or place to go is actually morbid. Why are you not creating answers to the problem? This is a human Rights issue that the newly formed "Portland Human Rights Commission" should get involved with.
Is there any concern or compassion for the homeless that can be done, by city hall, with out using the beefed up restrictions, courts, jails and police? This resolution is only looking at creating ways to target homeless folks for not being in (or having) "their own homes"
I keep hearing about aggressive panhandlers? I never see them though? All I see is "aggressive anti panhandlers" ..these are folks that are up n arms about poor people. They are the only ones that I see openly being aggressive, loud and rude.
And resolution #10 creates a Internet / phone line to complain to? Wow ...why not create answers for the issues, instead you create a ways n means to network/target the folks most affected by not having a home.
This is going to get ugly and mean out on the streets...the city's resolution is only fostering the fear and hate… and prepping for the onslaught of "legal moves to use on or against poor folks" Citizen activists should be preparing to videotape the crap that is going to be rolling down hill from this ill conceived resolution. Let the public see by the camera lens ... the issues of the poor being hassled by this resolution and who are going to be targeted by all the needed "security" which is being thrown at them as mention in the #3 resolution.
I wouldn’t call this a resolution of anything, it is just legal talk for justified harassment.
When I walked out in the cold rain and wind to my job yesterday... I thought to my self "what if I lived outside in this type of weather all day and night?" To think that the city is creating a "resolutions" to criminalize folks that are without a home or place to go is actually morbid. Why are you not creating answers to the problem? This is a human Rights issue that the newly formed "Portland Human Rights Commission" should get involved with.
Is there any concern or compassion for the homeless that can be done, by city hall, with out using the beefed up restrictions, courts, jails and police? This resolution is only looking at creating ways to target homeless folks for not being in (or having) "their own homes"
I keep hearing about aggressive panhandlers? I never see them though? All I see is "aggressive anti panhandlers" ..these are folks that are up n arms about poor people. They are the only ones that I see openly being aggressive, loud and rude.
And resolution #10 creates a Internet / phone line to complain to? Wow ...why not create answers for the issues, instead you create a ways n means to network/target the folks most affected by not having a home.
This is going to get ugly and mean out on the streets...the city's resolution is only fostering the fear and hate… and prepping for the onslaught of "legal moves to use on or against poor folks" Citizen activists should be preparing to videotape the crap that is going to be rolling down hill from this ill conceived resolution. Let the public see by the camera lens ... the issues of the poor being hassled by this resolution and who are going to be targeted by all the needed "security" which is being thrown at them as mention in the #3 resolution.
I wouldn’t call this a resolution of anything, it is just legal talk for justified harassment.
Posted by: JB - October 14, 2009 03:16 PM
I agree with Mike T.
Work on resolving homelessness, especially now in this economy, because we will see the homeless population grow by leaps and bounds.
In response to Dorothy.... Homeless people deserve to have dogs too. The dogs provide companionship and protection.
Years ago I had a pet shop downtown Portland. Homeless people with dogs and cats would come in and buy food for their pets before they would buy a meal for themselves.
Remember...most of us are one paycheck away from being homeless ourselves.
I agree with Mike T.
Work on resolving homelessness, especially now in this economy, because we will see the homeless population grow by leaps and bounds.
In response to Dorothy.... Homeless people deserve to have dogs too. The dogs provide companionship and protection.
Years ago I had a pet shop downtown Portland. Homeless people with dogs and cats would come in and buy food for their pets before they would buy a meal for themselves.
Remember...most of us are one paycheck away from being homeless ourselves.
Posted by: Cristy Murray - October 14, 2009 09:41 PM
The lack of compassion being shown by the City of Portland to it's houseless citizens is alarming and disappointing. Stop wasting time and money criminalizing homelessness and start working on solutions.
The lack of compassion being shown by the City of Portland to it's houseless citizens is alarming and disappointing. Stop wasting time and money criminalizing homelessness and start working on solutions.
Posted by: Janelle - October 15, 2009 06:40 PM
Thank you Cristy, my thoughts exactly.
My fellow Oregonians, this sidewalk issue is primarily a homelessness issue:
It feels like the City of Portland cares more about the environment than the suffering that live on the street. This is our third mayor in a row, Mayor Sam Adams, addressing the Sidewalk issue and they’ve had several rejections called unconstitutional.
I believe healthcare, quicker access to disability, basic shelter, more alcohol & treatment/harm reduction centers, the environment health, employment availability, civil liberties protected on the sidewalk, the criminal justice system to be reformed so people who have non-violent crimes and have done their time can get a job and that the people (not just the City Government, county, federal and all citizens united) who have the means to finance Portland, Oregon's needs for the homeless, should.
This is my vision. I also suggest that the people who have all their basic needs taken care of making fun of the homeless, I suggest you go on a poverty retreat of your choosing—try being homeless for at least one day—and then tell me what you think of the homeless. These are my solutions. Thanks for letting me post them.
Gordon sums it up nicely and I agree:
“Posted by: Gordon Sturrock - October 14, 2009 11:30 AM
A society can be judged by how it treats its poor, its homeless, and its disadvantaged. May God have mercy on our children” (Gordon Sturrock Squadron13 and VeteransAgainstTorture).
Sincerely,
Janelle
Thank you Cristy, my thoughts exactly.
My fellow Oregonians, this sidewalk issue is primarily a homelessness issue:
It feels like the City of Portland cares more about the environment than the suffering that live on the street. This is our third mayor in a row, Mayor Sam Adams, addressing the Sidewalk issue and they’ve had several rejections called unconstitutional.
I believe healthcare, quicker access to disability, basic shelter, more alcohol & treatment/harm reduction centers, the environment health, employment availability, civil liberties protected on the sidewalk, the criminal justice system to be reformed so people who have non-violent crimes and have done their time can get a job and that the people (not just the City Government, county, federal and all citizens united) who have the means to finance Portland, Oregon's needs for the homeless, should.
This is my vision. I also suggest that the people who have all their basic needs taken care of making fun of the homeless, I suggest you go on a poverty retreat of your choosing—try being homeless for at least one day—and then tell me what you think of the homeless. These are my solutions. Thanks for letting me post them.
Gordon sums it up nicely and I agree:
“Posted by: Gordon Sturrock - October 14, 2009 11:30 AM
A society can be judged by how it treats its poor, its homeless, and its disadvantaged. May God have mercy on our children” (Gordon Sturrock Squadron13 and VeteransAgainstTorture).
Sincerely,
Janelle
Posted by: Thomas - October 23, 2009 08:15 PM
Being a 'stranger' from the distant state of Hillsboro, this has only come to my attention today even though I've been trying to get someone's attention about what the 'reduction' of Fareless Square will mean to the disabled -- a related but unfortunately separate issue.
First of all, I have never had a homeless person block my way on the sidewalks -- either when I was healthy enough to walk or now that I frequently need a manual wheelchair to navigate the streets.
On the other hand, businesses block sidewalks with sandwichboards, newspaper boxes, sidewalk dining facilities, and construction zones where absolutely nothing seems to be going on. But of course neither the businesses nor the city have any compunction in blocking my way and basically telling a person like me to roll three times the distance, uphill, just to get across a street.
What does this really teach us? It's much easier to ignore situations when one does not have to look another human in the face -- especially when you tell them to take the long way around or to 'pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.' Our civic and business leaders hide behind the anonymity of their institutions.
I've said it before, if every elected official was required to use a manual wheelchair for one week each year, things would really start to change.
Our problems are spilling out onto the streets and the middle and upper classes don't like it. So what do they want to do? Cut the services to those currently receiving housing, food, treatment, or medical support so someone else can be helped. We always ask those least able to afford the cuts to sacrifice the most to help others.
Think about this one -- when a sick person living in poverty on a support system cobbled together by this agency, that department, a couple friends, and those non-profits says "I can't make do with 70% of what I had yesterday -- I don't want to make to just 'make do' anymore -- I need this all to end", why do we have them committed or medicated and FORCE them to accept yet another reduction. Our institutional response is "you will take the cuts, you will like it" then we wonder why people make decisions that lead to living on the streets or under a bridge. That is not everyone's experience, but it happens all around us every day.
These issues are complex -- poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, disability -- and we seek 'cost effect' solutions which are usually one-size fits all. Yes, maybe being moved by the police will get some people to make decisions that begin to move them off the streets; but others need to be reached through treatment (including all forms of mental and physical health); others will respond to a spiritual/religious approach; another will need culturally-sensitive assistance to help overcome language, literacy, or other minority-related forms of discrimination; someone will respond best by having a home, another a job, another might only need a friend.
Wow, imagine a city where they spent $50 million to 'solve homelessness' or 'reduce poverty' or 'end hunger' before they remade a currently serviceable stadium and built a new one for the franchise being displaced which will cost exactly how much?!? In Rome it was "bread and circuses". In Portland it is "circuses and more circuses." But hey, a new slogan will always make people feel like something is being done, right?
Being a 'stranger' from the distant state of Hillsboro, this has only come to my attention today even though I've been trying to get someone's attention about what the 'reduction' of Fareless Square will mean to the disabled -- a related but unfortunately separate issue.
First of all, I have never had a homeless person block my way on the sidewalks -- either when I was healthy enough to walk or now that I frequently need a manual wheelchair to navigate the streets.
On the other hand, businesses block sidewalks with sandwichboards, newspaper boxes, sidewalk dining facilities, and construction zones where absolutely nothing seems to be going on. But of course neither the businesses nor the city have any compunction in blocking my way and basically telling a person like me to roll three times the distance, uphill, just to get across a street.
What does this really teach us? It's much easier to ignore situations when one does not have to look another human in the face -- especially when you tell them to take the long way around or to 'pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.' Our civic and business leaders hide behind the anonymity of their institutions.
I've said it before, if every elected official was required to use a manual wheelchair for one week each year, things would really start to change.
Our problems are spilling out onto the streets and the middle and upper classes don't like it. So what do they want to do? Cut the services to those currently receiving housing, food, treatment, or medical support so someone else can be helped. We always ask those least able to afford the cuts to sacrifice the most to help others.
Think about this one -- when a sick person living in poverty on a support system cobbled together by this agency, that department, a couple friends, and those non-profits says "I can't make do with 70% of what I had yesterday -- I don't want to make to just 'make do' anymore -- I need this all to end", why do we have them committed or medicated and FORCE them to accept yet another reduction. Our institutional response is "you will take the cuts, you will like it" then we wonder why people make decisions that lead to living on the streets or under a bridge. That is not everyone's experience, but it happens all around us every day.
These issues are complex -- poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, disability -- and we seek 'cost effect' solutions which are usually one-size fits all. Yes, maybe being moved by the police will get some people to make decisions that begin to move them off the streets; but others need to be reached through treatment (including all forms of mental and physical health); others will respond to a spiritual/religious approach; another will need culturally-sensitive assistance to help overcome language, literacy, or other minority-related forms of discrimination; someone will respond best by having a home, another a job, another might only need a friend.
Wow, imagine a city where they spent $50 million to 'solve homelessness' or 'reduce poverty' or 'end hunger' before they remade a currently serviceable stadium and built a new one for the franchise being displaced which will cost exactly how much?!? In Rome it was "bread and circuses". In Portland it is "circuses and more circuses." But hey, a new slogan will always make people feel like something is being done, right?
Dear Mayor Sam Adams & Portland City Council,
My real concern here is that people do not die out in the cold due to lack of shelter like last year. This Sidewalk Management resolution seems compassionate, yet even it spells out that there are not enough shelters for those who live outside. I believe there needs to be something firmer to address the underlying issue here, basic shelter.
How about something like: Whereas, the city of Portland will create a committee to ensure that there will be no human forced to sleep outdoors, especially when the temperature drops below 32 degrees. Whereas, the city of Portland, in the interest of human rights and dignity, will diligently seek not only long-term goals of addressing homelessness issues, but short-term goals by declaring a city in the state of emergency to the State of Oregon and the federal government to shelter the homeless so instead of the outdoor sidewalk for a place to sleep, they will be inside.
Perhaps FEMA, the National Guard or the American Red Cross can help out the homeless in Portland, Oregon. Mayor Adams, do you think you could reach out more to entities that perhaps have the means to help the shelter the homeless in Portland, Oregon? In addition, Mayor Sam Adams, put a “Real change, not spare change” bucket on your website to ask the US nation for donations to shelter Portland, Oregon’s homeless. Thank you for listening. I look forward to the final action plan.
Sincerely,
Janelle