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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2009)
IB 3 CEZ.EB21A¥ZKG A DECADE Street roots Education * Dialogue * Independence Judge hears arguments in camping challenge State bill could protect homeowners in foreclosure The Oregon State House has passed a bill that would shield some foreclosed homeowners from lawsuits from their mortgage lenders. The bill aims to protect people who had two mortgages before losing-their homes ta foreclosure. If the home has already been foreclosed and sold because of a default on the first mortgage, and the > second mortgage is with the,same lender,1 the bill prohibits the lender from suing the former homeowner for the second mortgage's interest.' Rep. Brian Clem said he introduced the bill after a constituent informed him that some out-of-state , lenders were using the tactic, which he called | predatory. "Out-of-state lenders should not be able to use bullying tactics to go after already beleaguered Oregonians who have just lost their homes," said ' Rep. Chris Edwards, one of the bilfs co-sponsors. The bill passed 51-6 on June 4. It now passes to . the Senate for a vote. . Seattle te n t city gets a reprieve on industrial site - 'Nickelsville, Seattle's tent city, has moved backed : to the vacant site on which it began nine months ago, with one adjustment: the tents are now erected on the state-owned portion of the riverfront , industrial land, and the campers hope the state will grant them permission to remain there permanently^. The cluster of 155 bright pink tents first formea in.- September on a city-owned parcel of land at th e . , same site in South Seattle, They were evicted from the site in October, and 23 campers were arrested for ; criminal tresspassing. The city recently dropped those charges. ■ Since then, authorities have compelled the tent . city to move several times. Most recently, it stayed in a-church lo tfo r three months before moving back to . 4h»^ftol^to4d^-i'Thecam p e rs .h o p e to ^itio iH Washington'Gov. Christine Gregoire to allow them a permanent spot on the vacant lot. Street Roots strives for accuracy, but we're human. So we also strive to correct errors in our paper whenever possible. Please report any.errors to our managing editor, Joanne ?uhl, at 503*228-5657, or write in to joanne@streetroots.org. May 29: In the May 29 edition of Street Roots, a line of text was accidentally omitted suggesting S t Francis Dinina Hall had closed. St. Francis did close for one day, b u t is now back in operation, serving meals to people in need. BY AM ANDA WALDROUPE themselves, which is indigency, it really turns the idea of equal protection on its istrict Court Judge Ann Aiken heard head;” Landrum said. oral arguments from Deputjr City Landrum said that because the scope of Attorney David Landrum and the Goracke’s case only applies to those Oregon Law Center’s Monica Goracke June experiencing homelessness, overturning the 5 to determine the validity of a class action anti-camping ordinance woùld prevent lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of homeless people, who camped in public city ordinances prohibiting camping and places or erected temporary structurés from erecting temporary structures on public being convicted for violating the ordinance, property. though other groups of people would still be The suit, Anderson et al. vs. the City of held accountable to the law. Portland, claims that for people who are “I’m struggling with your argument,” homeless, the city’s ordinances infringe on Aiken told Landrum. “It seems what you’re thé constitutional rights of freedom from discussing is the status of homelessness. I cruel and unusual punishment, and the right think the analysis is whàt conduct of these . to travel. individuals can be criminalized. Not their Landrum is asking the court to dismiss status.” - . the case because, he says, the legal merits - Landrum responded by saying that the of Goracke’s arguments were not well- two ordinances’ ban on camping or erecting “ founded. Landrum also argued that a.structuré in public places clearly overturning the anti-camping ordinance , addresses conduct. Goracke’s argued that the anti-camping would create a legal precedent for providing certain groups immunity from being ordinance and theway it is enforced by Portland police creates an extraordinary criminally contacted. “Irrespective of the plaintiff’s relative circumstance. ? “What we have in Portland, like in (Los efforts one way or another to alleviate or Angeles), (are) two ordinances that apply not alleviate the condition that; they find C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R ■ during all hours of the day and the night that make it lillegal to eitist, to be, in Portland,” Goracke said. The back and forth continued on for another hour, with Landrum attempting to poke holes in Goracke’s arguments in thé case’s right to travel, right to sleep and due process claims. Goracke emphasized that the lawsuit is challenging the anti-camping and temporary structures ordinances because of the way they are enforced against individuals, and not the language of the ordinances themselves. At the end of oral arguments, Judge Aiken appeared unlikely to accept the city’s motion to dismiss the case, saying in her concluding remarks that the case needs to “put in a different context” in the future, because both sides “are asking the wrong questions.” She said that she expects to issue her opinion on the request for dismissal in the next 10 days. Mike Neal, the Oregon Law Center’s Litigation Director, was present during the arguments and thinks the likelihood of dismissal is slim. “I feel confident in our case,” he said afterwards. • . " - , Latest plans unveiled fo r homeless access center BY MARA GRUNBAUM .. S TAFF W R IT E R epresentatives from Holst Architecture'presented their latest ) renderings, for the long-awaited Resource Access Center to downtown’s Public Safety Action Committee on June 8. ? The RAC, planned for NW Broadway and R -Irving across from the Greyhound bus 2 station, will include a full-service day center, a 90-bed men’s shelter and 130 units of permanent supportive housing. Originally planned to fill the entire block, the building was redesigned with a smaller footprint earlier this year when tax credit funding became scarce. Plans show the slender eight-story building with a façade of dark bricks on the east side and light bricks on the west. The windows are lined with off-center > multicolored accents, which Holst Architecture’s Dave Otte said are meant to keep the building from looking institutional. “What we’re really trying to do is create a usable space that will be inviting, easy to maintain and very durable,” Otte told the committee. The main entrance to the center will be through a courtyard on the east side, which T he L eft C oast E isteddfod a Welsh-American performing arts festival 21-22 August 2009 STORY WALES O nline Poetry, Short Story a n d Im a g e co m p e titio n s, nOw till A ugust 2009 Win $100 and International Acclaim • enter at americymru.nlng.com Winners announced at the live event at the Crystal BallrooM 21-22 August 2009 will feature benches-and parking spaces for bikes and shopping carts. Otte said the courtyard will have a 150-person capacity. “This is intended to be the place to be so people don’t have to line up ... out on the street,” he said. The plans now enter the design review process and will need to be approved by the design commission in about two months, Otte Said. The developers plan to break ground in early fall and finish the project by spring 2011.
