Site Navigation

It's Pickleball 11, Houseless 0 As City Preps Mass Encampments

Houseless people who had been living in Laurelhurst Park were swept on October 31 at the request of the City. While the sweeps have been ongoing for some time, the reason on this occasion was not that the campers were annoying the residents of the neighborhood. No. It was because there will soon be a Pickleball court bridging the two sides of the park in what is currently a street. It does seem evident whose needs have the priority here.

The City is currently engaged in a plan to set up places for the houseless to reside-- six outdoor mass encampments of up to 250 people each. This plan would also make it a crime if those who were supposed to be placed in the camps did not comply with the edict to move. While many names have been used to describe the plan, "campus," "camping sites," "internment camps," etc., it does seem as if the plan is both harmful and intimidating and came in a paternalistic manner with little or no input from those directly affected or the agencies and organizations which represent the houseless community.

For example, Shannon Singleton, the Interim Director of the Joint Office of Homeless Services, was asked how much input she had into this plan. Her response was "zero" (Mercury blog, November 21).

Another major issue of concern is that private security guards are going to "patrol the perimeters and surrounding neighborhoods of the tent sites" (Oregonian, November 18). What is the purpose of the patrols? What will the security guards do in the event of any incidents? What will be the oversight and accountability of these private security guards? It is not difficult to conclude what the outcome will be in the event of issues between the residents of the camps and the surrounding neighborhoods.

During this process the number of "camps" and how many people would reside in each has been in a state of flux. It also appears that little, if any, thought has been given to those who are psychologically unable to reside in places that contain many people and are in a certain enclosed location. They may well be cited for not complying with this plan and finding their own camping space. There has also been a concern about how the different sides of this issue have been treated by City Council. When the plan was first to be discussed at Council, Commissioner Ryan asked a group of those in agreement with the plan to speak first although many who were opposed to the plan had signed up prior to the meeting and ended up much later in the day finally being able to testify.

Moreover:

--In November, the Mayor pushed through a budget request for $27 million as a "down payment" on the camps... by taking money away from existing shelters. Wheeler was counting on more funds to come from Multnomah County, but they snubbed him by allotting no funds for the camps on December 15.

--The Mayor also called for a policy forcing people to be placed into mental care facilities against their will, ignoring that there are no facilities which could accommodate that plan... even if it were ethical.

--In response to complaints from businesses, the Mayor started a 90-day "reset" on the inner east side, which led to a large amount of sweeps taking place in early December.

--Commissioner Ryan's former aide Margaux Weeke quit in protest of the internment camp plan, saying they will "cause irreparable harm and trauma" and lead to "criminalization of houselessness" (Street Roots, December 2).

January, 2023
Also in PPR #88

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

People's Police Report #88 Table of Contents
Back to Portland Copwatch home page
Peace and Justice Works home page
Back to top