Street roots., December 23, 2011, Image 1

A rendering o f what R ight 2 Dream
Too could look like created by a local architecture firm . Below, a n overhead shot o f the camp.
Rights 2 Dream Too^~suc~Ges&fliesinthe face o f skeptics —andcitypolicy
BY JOANNE ZUHL
STAFF W R IT E R
t was supposed to be about the city’s pew plan
to allbw limited car camping for people
experiencing homelessness. But testimony at
Wednesday’s City Council meeting became an
extended appeal for another camping option, one
that’s been, almost unanimously, highly successful
for nearly three months. ¡-.
During more than an horn- of testimony, a series
of people — many homeless — testified in defense
of Right 2 Dream Too, a structured camp at the
corner of Fourth Avenue and Burnside that is
home to about 70 people experiencing
homelessness.
The group has a year lease for the property,
tacit support from leaders in the neighborhood and
no problems with law enforcement. It has a board
of directors, regular meetings and is pursuing its
own nonprofit status. It has feceived financial
support from thè community and has its own
portable toilet.
It is also under the city’s screws for code
violations.
On Dec. .20, Right 2 Dream Too filed a request
with the city to waive penalties against its camp
while it works to address code violations issued by
the Bureau of Development Services (BDS).
The group was cited in November for
establishing an unpermitted recreational park-
campground and for having a fence greater than six
feet in height, also without a permit.
The document is as much a statement on the
I
condition of homelessness in Portland today as it is
an argument against the pending penalties, which
could amount to nearly $600 a month,
“We’re trying to cooperate to the extent that we
can,” says Michael Moore, one of the site’s
organizers. “The director of planning has the
ability to (waive penalties) in special circumstances
and we’re making the case that these
Circumstances warrant these considerations.”
In its appeal, the group says it believes the code
being applied is overbroad, and that their site isn’t
a “recreational” camp at all, but a facility for
sheltering people who are homeless. The group
says it is willing to work with the city to begin the
permitting process on bringing the fence under
code or finding a variance.
Unlike other tent cities of years past, Right 2
Dream Too has signed a one-year lease with the
owners of the property. In addition to donations, it
received support from it’s parent group, Right 2
Survive, which recently received a $6,000 grant for
general operations from McKenzie River
Gathering.
“The extent and severity of the economic crisis
that has led to a severe shortage of affordable
housing and shelter space warrants consideration
for a hardship waiver while we undertake this
process,” the group wrote it its appeal to the city.
“We have achieved more than many of us expected
in terms of the impact we are having on the lives
of Portland’s most disadvantaged and
disenfranchised residents, those whom BDS’s . .
mission to “Maintain safe and livable
I
neighborhoods” is failing. We ask that the bureau
work with us to help extend this mission to all of
Portland’s residents.”
Ross Caron, public information officer with the
Bureau of Development Services, said the group
missed the deadline to file its request for the
waiver, and the property owners will be fined $614
as of Jan. 1 for noncompliance. After three months,
that figure doubles. Caron said he could not
speculate on what the department’s response will
be to the organization’s appeal, which can then
follow with another series in the appeal process.
Photos by
Israel
Bayer
See DREAM, page 3
Inside
ei I —
1
a H a p m
Jefferson Smith
Eastside’s
legislator hits the
citywide circuit in
bid for mayor
Page 4
___
Leska Emerald
Adams
Notable and
quotable
The fin a l edition in
our series on people
with Asperger’s
Syndrome
Our year-end wrapup
o f comments from the
best Street Roots
interviews
Page 7
Page 12