Street roots
Jan. 20, 2012
Park restrooms in the crosshairs of city’s budget woes
BY JOANNE ZUHL
S T A F F W R IT E R
mong the items caught in the
squeeze of City Hall’s budget crunch
are nearly 200 public restrooms in
Portland parks that could be shuttered this
summer during peak season.
Portland Parks and Recreation’s Budget
Advisory Committee says the city could save
$771,910 by closing most of the city’s public
park restrooms and replacing them with half
as many portable toilets. In all, 189 toilets
would be closed.
Not all toilets are included in the
proposal. Those toilets not affected would
be those at Hoyt Arboretum and Lower
Macleay Park, as well as all restrooms that
are already closed or maintained by
contracted services, including most of those
in the downtown area and Pioneer
Courthouse Square.
This is one of
numerous cuts
c a i / t w a s h y o u r la c e
proposed for the
w it h h a n d s a a itiie r « "
Parks and Recreation
CAROL MCCREARY Bureau to reach the 4
PHLUSH
to 8 percent spending
reductions Mayor Sam
Adams has asked of
all city departments, Other cuts include
reducing daily trash removal from the parks
and discontinuing the elm program to fight
Dutch elm disease.
The proposals come from the bureau’s
Budget Advisory Committee. The final
recommendations from all city bureaus will
be submitted to the mayor’s office at the
end of the month.
Not only will there be half has many
toilets at these parks, but cleaning and
other services for the portable units will be
performed only three times a week, if the
cuts go through as proposed. The savings
include cutting 10 full-time positions.
“All cards are on the table in terms of
A
considerations,” said Mark Ross, media
relations coordinator with PPR. “This is the
fourth straight year in budget cuts. I think
people will notice a tangible change in the
services we deliver.”
Ross said the department has trimmed
$2.7 million from its budget over the past
three years, including 24 percent cuts to
administration. The 4 to 8 percent in cuts
proposed this year represents between $1.7
million and $3.5 million. The park restroom
cuts were part of all reduction package
proposals.
The proposed closures are not sitting well
with the city’s leading restrooms advocacy
group, PHLUSH, who say the bathrooms
serve many hygiene needs, specifically for
the homeless.
“You can’t close restrooms where they’re
already serving a population that needs
water,” said Carol McCreary with PHLUSH.
“You can’t wash your face with hand
sanitizer.”
“There are homeless people who live
throughout the city, families who live
throughout the city, these are the quiet
communities who we don’t hear from a lot,”
McCreary said. “These are the ones who
are disenfranchised by this.”
In it’s proposal, the Budget Advisory
Committee noted that fewer restrooms are
going to place greater stress on those
portable toilets available, and the watered-
down cleaning and maintenance schedule
will also reduce the quality and cleanliness
of the service.
Just over a year ago, the city, under the
direction of Commissioner Randy Leonard,
launched the Portland Loo project and
began installing public toilets around town.
Those are under the management of the
water bureau and do not fall under the PPR
cuts. The downtown service contract was
awarded to Portland Habilitation Center
Northwest.
Portable toilets like this are one money-saving proposal for Portland
Parks and Recreation, which, like all city departments, is compiling
proposals to cut between 4 and 8 percent o f its budget.
All budget proposals head to the Mayor’s
office at the end of the month, and the
budget process will continue through May.
Ross said that one silver lining in this
proposal is that if and when the economy
improves, the bathrooms will still be there
and can be reopened.
“It’s not like we’re tearing apart
programs,” Ross said.
Right 2 Dream Too plans direct appeal to City Council
BY JOANNE ZUHL
S T A F F W R IT E R
enied a waiver for city code
violations, the members of Right 2
Dream Too are planning to take their
case to City Council on Feb. 1, the date the
first monthly fine of $641 comes due.
For more than three months, Right 2
Dream Too has operated a rest area for the
homeless at the corner of Northeast
Burnside and Fourth Avenue, an operation
the city says is in violation of city code.
In December, the group sent an
administrative review request to the city to
waive the fines and allow the camp to
continue. The Jan. 16 deadline to file a
formal appeal, which comes with a $1,215
appeals fee, passed without action.
Ibrahim Mubarak, one of the organizers
of Right 2 Dream Too, said putting fees and
charges on a group of homeless people is
typical America.
“We’re sleeping on a gravel lot, in tents,
and they’re trying to extract that much
money from us?” Mubarak said.
Art Rios with the Right 2 Survive, the
nonprofit organization that launched Right 2
Dream Too, says R2DToo is planning to take
its case to the Feb. 1 City Council meeting,
employing direct action, holding a press
conference, and appealing to the
commissioners for relief. The Bureau of
Development Services (BDS) is under the
direction of Commissioner Dan Saltzman.
“Even if we don’t get a chance to talk
we’re still going to be there,” Rios said.
The group has a one-year lease on the
property, which before “developed” as a
homeless rest area, was an empty gravel lot.
Mubarak said they want to rally supporters
D
P H O T O B Y IS R A E L B A Y E R
Ibrahim Mubarak, with Right 2 Dream Too, being interviewed at the organization’s homeless
rest area at the corner o f Northwest Fourth Avenue and Burnside.
to appeal to the BDS, the bureau’s
supervising commissioner Dan Saltzman,
and Housing Commissioner Nick Fish. The
city recently started a pilot project waiving
enforcement against car camping on
designated parking lots, and Mubarak wants
the city to do the same for Right 2 Dream
Too.
“We’re going to try to get them to waive
the fines and try to have this be a better
place where people can come and stay,”
Mubarak said. “Because we don’t have that
type of money.”
Right 2 Dream Too began leasing the
vacant lot at the entrance to Chinatown in
October, and has established a peaceful
camp, or rest area, that accommodates
about 70 people experiencing homelessness.
The organization is in the process of
becoming a nonprofit, and operates with a
board of directors and management rules.
The group constructed a fence made of used
doors along the Burnside border.
For all intents and purposes, the city says
the organization is operating a recreational
campground and is in violation of city code
for not having the required permits. The
organization is also in violation for the
fence, which exceeds 6 feet in height. The
fines will be assessed monthly for as long as
the site is in violation of city code.
In his response letter to Right 2 Dream
Too, Mike Liefeld, section manager with the
BDS, said permits are possible and
suggested the city was willing to work with
the group if it wants to either bring the
operation into compliance or pursue
channels into housing for people using the
site.
“It is possible to pursue legalizing the
operation by obtaining the required permits
for this type of development,” Liefeld writes.
“If you are able to obtain issued permits for
the Recreational Park-Campground
development and receive final inspection
approvals by April 10, (which is six months
from the date the Bureau originally
contacted Right 2 Dream Too
representatives regarding the campground),
the Bureau will consider reducing the
amount of the monthly code enforcement
fee assessments. I would also encourage you
to contact the Portland Housing Bureau to
further explore other housing options and
alternatives that relate to issues raised in
your Dec. 20, 2011 appeal letter.”
Mubarak said relocating the camp isn’t on
the table at this time.
“It’s going to be raining soon, and moving
people in the rain and the cold — it’s the
wrong time. Unless they have some place
for us to go.”