Street roots., May 27, 2011, Page 13, Image 13

♦ .
Street roots
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13
May 27, 2011
Three years, 16 moves; One homeless camp’s search for home
ecently, on my Facebook page, I
wrote that sometimes you have to go
through a journey to get to a journey.
That’s what this journey was like. It started
with Eliese Baker, a Street Roots volunteer,
and I talking about the advocacy I did in
Seattle. Then I told her I’d like to take her
up. to Seattle to show her. Long story short,
we went May 14 to Nickelsville.
Nickelsville, when
^1112
it gets its permanent
property, is going to
WANDERER be an ecovillage.
Because of its
Leo Rhodes
struggles, it looks like
a tent city. The
Nickelodeons have
been working with the city of Seattle and
waiting patiently for their permanent
property. About seven months ago, the city
of Seattle told the Nickelodeons that if they7
stayed a t the old Fire Station No. 39 for six
months, the city would have the permanent
property ready for them. About a month ago
the city said they wouldn’t have the
property ready on May 15 as promised. This
put the Nicklelodeons in a bind. Even
though the city owned the old fire station
and gave permission to Nickelsville to stay
longer, the Nickelodeons had to think about
the neighborhood and the promise they
made to them: that they would be leaving
on May 15. Also what about the next host
neighborhood? They might not believe the
Nickelodeons when they say their going to
stay and leave at a certain time.
The call was put out to help Nickelsville.
They got support, not only from Washington
but also Michigan, California, United
Kingdom and Oregon. On May 13, the
Nickelodeons said they were going to have a
black cat caravan from Nickelsville to City
Hall. It was their last effort to ask the city
for permanent property. They rallied a t ~
It’s SHARE/WHEEL’s governing body.
SHARE (Seattle Housing And Resource
Efforts) has 15 indoor shelters, two tent
cities, housing for work program, and
storage lockers. WHEEL (Women’s Housing
Equality Enhancement
League) is SHARE’S
sister organization.
WHEEL deals with
homeless women’s
issues. I called Tent
City 4 to ask where
the power lunch was.
They gave me the
address. I said out
loud, “That sounds
familiar.” When we
got to the Nickelsville
site, all these
memories started
coming back. The site
is where they started:
Almost 3 years and
16 moves they end up
right back where they
started.
Pitching up our
fuchsia tents, in the
early darkness of 4:30
a.m. About a week
later all the police
and arrests. That was
on city poperty. We
moved right next door to state property.
Everywhere we moved the city threatened
with arrests and fines. With the new mayor,
McGinn, the Nickelodeons have been
working with him toward permanent
property.
The city was leading them on. There
comes a point when you have to put a line
in the sand and say, either you’re with us, or
we’re going to do this without you. It’s going
to be interesting what the city does. I4bund
city buys a permit so they can pitch up their
tents. So, what they are telling the homeless
and the non-homeless is that you can pitch
up a tent for leisure, but you can’t pitch one
up to survive. A gasp went around the room.
Then I said, “There’s something wrong with
that.” Some people were nodding their
heads in agreement with me.
So, on June 10 people are going to be
pitching up their tents for the Rose Parade.
Right to Survive, Street Roots and I are
N ickelsvilleju stb efo re they w ere going to
o u t later th e city; is not going to do anything.
asking friends and allies to pitch a te n t in
leave. Instead of going to City Hall, they
were going to a new site to set up camp.
On Saturday, May 14, Eliese and I, along
with Ibrahim Mubarak,, the cofounder of
Dignity Village, and Right to Survive, set off
for Seattle. I wanted to show them
Nickelsville, Tent City 3 and Tent City 4.
First we had to start with the power lunch.
Here in Portland, we have Dignity Village,
which started out like a tent city. Now
they’re an ecovillage.
I always think about the hardship the
homeless have to go through to get a safe,
secure place.
I recently went to the Coordinating
Committee to End Homelessness here in
protest. This isn’t fair to let non-homeless
pitch tents and the homeless not to pitch
tents. If you can’t make the parade route,
we’re asking to pitch a tent in your
backyard. In both cases we’re asking people
to take pictures and send them to us at:
r2spdx@gmail.com.
R
Leo Rhodes is a street
activist a n d homeless
advocate. H e is also a
vendor with Street Roots
a n d a regular conributer to
the newspaper.
Leo will be reading
one of his poems
at the grand
opening of the Bud
Clark Commons,
10 a.m.-noon,
Thursday June 2.
Portland and asked why they let the non-
homeless pitch up their tents for the Rose
Parade and cook out on the streets, but they
don’t let homeless people pitch up their
tents to survive? Somebody said that the
P H O T O BY
ELIESE BAKER
The author, right,
talking with
Nickelodeons at the
site o f Nickelsville’s
latest location.
THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY'S ROLE IN EXTENDING
B U IL D G R E E N 41 1.C 0M
TO END HOMELESSNESS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY
Washington County, the economic hub o f the metro area
at Recession but many o f our neighbors in need are contending with the impact
he recession including facing homelessness. Washington County is a microcosm
Ü u S X é X U doing very «eil, some eie M a g better and M e r e are
g r e e n h o t l in e @ p o r t la n d o r e g o n
oing into poverty and homelessness.
imes?"
Saturday, June 4, 2011 - 8:30 to Noon
Cedar Hills United Church of Christ, 11695 SW Park Way, Beaverton
Keynote Speaker: Greg Van
Oregon
Pelt, CEO, Providence Health & Services,
Committee on Homelessness of Washington County.
Program Sponsor: Interfaith
Chair of IFCH, 503-357-3282
Contact Person: Eric Canon,
i Believe:
ig o r owning a "home Of their own helps fam,ties succeeo
Office Cat Rooty sends wants to personally
thank all the great men and women who
came through on our paper towel drive! I t’s
a tremendous help and keeps our vendor’s
hands clean. Thank you!