3
Street roots
Sept 30,2011
Parks bureau to create new rangers to patrol public parks
BY JAKE THOMAS
“They are taking away people’s
freedoms,” said Handelman of PPI officers’
power to issue exclusions to park users.
“And that’s a lot of power.”
Last year, park rangers issued 278
exclusionsand 571 warnings, according to
Ross. Portland Patrol Inc., which current
provide security for the parks, issued 984
exclusions in the downtown parks last year,
along with 64 warnings. Exclusions prohibit
people from returning to a park for between
30 to 120 days or more, and often involve
people who are homeless.
If someone wants to contest their
exclusion they can take it up with the city’s
Code Hearings Office, the rangers’
Supervisor and the parks commissioned,
according to Ross. They can also complain
to the city ombudsman.
Ross stressed that parks bureau wants
the park rangers to have a positive presence
in downtown. Each ranger will be certified
by the Oregon Department of Public Safety
and Standards and will treat people who are
homeless just like any other park patron,
according to Ross. He also said that park
rangers will have training from nonprofit
organization JOIN owhow to interact with
homeless populations.
“PP&R Rangers have also assisted the
Portland Housing Bureau and homeless
advocates on the street count each year,”
Ross said, referenCihg the annual event that
seeks to get a picture of the amount of
homeless people in Portland. “When
encountering homeless people; rangers will
often make and facilitate referrals to area
homeless providers.... Staff has met with
the Portland Housing Bureau to discuss
more intensive training for the rangers
when they are hired. PP&R staff has already
been working with JOIN and other social
services agencies, so this is an issue for
which Portland Parks and Recreation staff
are prepared and educated.”
However, Handelman said there should
be even more accountability for the park
rangers calling for an independent citizen
board to provide oversight
“You need more than one bureaucrat
making decisions,” said Handelman. “The
parks bureau has an interest in defending
their employees.” ,
:
C O N TR IB UTIN G WRITER
ortland Parks and Recreation’s
contract for downtown security
services is coming up for renewal.
And with the season’s change is in the air.
Currently, a subsidiary of the Portland
Business Alliance holds the $530,000
contract with the parks bureau for
downtown security services. The PBA then
contracts through the private security firm ,
Portland Patrol Inc., or PPI, for actual
patrols.
Under this arrangement, 38 armed and
22 unarmed PPI guards patrol Portland’s
Business Improvement District, 213 square
blocks of downtown. Guards in the district
operate between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11
p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on
weekends in the district. PPI guards also
patrol 12 parks in the downtown as well as
the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade as part of
the current contract with the parks bureau.
The arrangement has drawn controversy
from police oversight advocates. The
security firm’s officers dress like police
officers and have some enforcement powers,
including the ability to issue park warning
and exclusions. But they aren’t held
accountable through the city the same way
as a police officer of any city employee.
Instead, they answer to a private ènüty not
subjected to thé same laws of transparency
as government Thé arrangement has been
criticized for placing so much authority in
private hands with so little public oversight
But that could change, at least to a
degree. The parks bureau wants to create
three new full-time park ranger positions, à
$200,000 per year endeavor. If the positions
are approved by City Council, the new park
rangers would provide daytime security in
the downtown parks while also performing
other duties .- - -
According to Jim Blackwood, policy
director for City Parks Commissioner Nick
Fish, the new rangers are being created to
provide a “more holistic” approach to park
services. He said that in addition to security
services, the rangers will be there to answer
questions that park visitors might havé
about local ecology and history, give
directions, and explain park rules. They’ll
also be on the lookout for maintenance
issues, said Blackwood.
P
P H O T Q C O U R T E S Y O F .W IK IC O M M O N S
Waterfront Park is am ong num erous downtown parks that, will see a new face o f enforcement
with the creation o f three new park ranger positions w ithin the city. The daytime patrols will
replace those currently done by a private security firm .
“It gives us an opportunity to have an
integration with other services,” Blackwood
said of the new positions. “People have a
different perception of rangers.”
Blackwood said that the new arrangement
isn’t a responseto any shortcomings with
PPI.
According to PortlandBusiness Alliance
spokesperson Megan Doern, the Alliance
will seek to renew the contract and didn’t
comment xm some of the services it
currently provides that will be taken over by
the city.
As proposed, the park rangers will be
active between 7 a.m. through 6 p.m; and
will focus on 16 parks in downtown Portland
andrheinnereaststdeTaccoitimgtoFF& R
Spokesperson; Mark Ross. The parks
department already has one full-time park
ranger in Forest Park, as well as seasonal
rangers that are hired mostly in the
summer, Ross said.
Private officers will continue to patrol the
downtown parks from 6 p.m. to midnight,
and additional patrols will be contracted
through a service provider between 4 p.m.
and midnight during the summer months.
The city isn now in the process of soliciting
proposals for the private patrol services.
Commissioner Fish said there has been a
lot of confusion surrounding the proposal,
which he said he hopes to clear up with a
series of meetings with stakeholders,
including neighborhood, advocates and
business representatives. The time table for
the transition will be a function of those
ongoing discussions,” Fish said.
“The bureau looked at the limited dollars
they had for park security and they have
long felt they needed more full time rangers,
and the shift had a lot of merits for many
reasons,” Fish said, adding that the basic
concerns are costs, control and security.
“We think we will get more coverage and
better security within our downtown parks if
we move to more full-time rangers,” Fish
said.
Dan Handelman, spokesperson for
Portland Copwatch, said this is arrangement
is a step in the right direction, but is still
imperfect. Like other advocates, including
Street Roofs, he’s taken issue with a private
entity having So much authority and the lack
of public oversight.
I O Y e a r s in A f g h a n i s t a n :
II
1 PM RALLY
at Shemanski Park
(South Park Blocks at Salmon)
1 :3O P M M A R C H
2 :3O P M F O R U M
at First Unitarian Church
(SW 12th and Main)
Saturday
OCTOBER1
1 £
2011
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