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Mayor Caves to Business Demands on Pushing Houseless Out of Downtown Mayor Wheeler has expanded the Sit/Lie ordinance. It appears Wheeler caved in to the complaints of the Portland Business Alliance, which has supported the ordinance over the years and has been complaining about the presence of houseless people. Around Thanksgiving, Mayor Wheeler convened a closed door meeting of 75 PBA members, with representatives of the County, the District Attorney and the police (Portland Mercury , November 29). It appears no representatives of or advocates for the homeless community were present and, without any public process, the City made eight additional block faces into "pedestrian only" zones. This includes the sidewalk in front of Columbia Sportswear, whose owner Tim Boyle wrote an op-ed threatening to pull out of Portland due to homeless people (Oregonian, November 10). Though current law requires documentation of safety concerns to restrict sidewalks, the word of the police was good enough this time ( Mercury , December 6). A competing op-ed from Business for a Better Portland said compassion, not more police, is the answer (Oregonian, November 26). Individuals and families who are homeless have also been expanding into various neighborhoods in Portland, and this has caused many complaints from residents of Lents, Montavilla, and Laurelhurst neighborhoods. The Overlook Neighborhood Association (ONA) was ready to adopt a bylaw by which no homeless person would be allowed to attend their meetings (PPR #72). However, a threat by the City's Office of Neighborhood Involvement to no longer recognize ONA put a stop to this. There have also been many complaints regarding RVs parked along city streets being used for housing. On October 18, the Willamette Week reported that 156 RVs were towed between January 1 and mid-October-- meaning people are not only losing their housing, but also belongings which were in the vehicles. |
January, 2018
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People's Police Report
#73 Table of Contents
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