Street roots., December 21, 2012, Page 3, Image 3

Street roots
3
Dec. 21, 2012
Homeless camp sues city as pressure builds for its removal
BY JOANNE ZUHL
problems arising at the site. It has actually
been a place guards and officers have
ight 2 Dream Too, the homeless way
referred people who are experiencing
station at Fourth and Burnside, is
homelessness.
digging in its heals against City Hall
Kramer said the process of the lawsuit
with a lawsuit claiming its legitimacy under could take several months, during which time
state law.
R2DToo will likely remain on site, despite
The suit was filed on Dec. 10 during a
efforts by one local developer to rev up the
R2DToo rally with supporters outside City
complaint process and have the camp
Hall.
removed to appease investors.
The lawsuit, which names the city,
Portland developer David Gold says the
Commissioner Dan Saltzman and Bureau of
R2DToo operation is jeopardizing the
Development Services Director Paul Scarlett,
financial stability of the long-awaited
disputes the city’s assessment of Right 2
renovation of the Grove Hotel.
Dreams Too’s camp and the validity of the
In a strongly worded letter
city’s fines. Saltzman’s office oversees the
to the Old Town Chinatown
Bureau of Development Services, which
Neighborhood Association last
ruled on Right 2 Dream Too’s status last
month, Gold urged the
year.
community to take advantage
“It is our hope that the lawsuit is a
of the complaint process to
motivator to get responsible people to sit
prompt the city to dissolve or
down and negotiate,” says Mark Kramer, the
relocate the camp.
attorney representing R2DToo. Kramer is
Gold is one of several
donating his work as a member of the
investors comprising Grove
National Lawyers Guild.
Hostel Property LLC, which
The city claims the nonprofit is operating a has been working to transform
“recreational park” campground on the lot,
the formerly decrepit Grove
and as such is subject to city ordinance
Hotel into a modern urban
requirements. Right 2 Dream Too, however,
hostel. The project has
says the site is not a campground at all, but
received earnest support from
rather a transitional housing accommodation
City Hall and millions of dollars
for people experiencing homelessness, as
through the Portland
allowed under state statute. Oregon law
Development Commission. But
allows for two such sites, the first being
Gold says that it needs the
Dignity Village in Northeast Portland.
financial boost of first-floor
Right 2 Dream Too has sheltered between
restaurants to pencil out, and
60 and 80 homeless people each night, and
those investors say companies
has been at Fourth Avenue and Burnside
won’t rent the space with Right 2 Dream Too
Street for more than a year.
across the street.
The lawsuit also seeks relief from the
“It is really a very simple concept,” Gold
$5,349 in fees, along with the interest and
said. “If we cannot rent the space across from
penalties that have mounted since the BDS
the camp, we cannot pay our loan payments.
began a sse ssin g th e m early th is year.
R e a l e s t a t e b r o k e r s h a v e a d v is e d u s th a t no
R2DToo is jo in ed by p ro p e rty ow ners
restaurateur will lease the space and invest
the necessary funds on improvements and
Michael Wright and Daniel Cossette and his
equipment with the illegal camp across the
family as the plaintiffs.
street.”
Kramer said he and his clients sat down
The Portland Business Alliance has also
twice with Saltzman and Commissioner Nick
called on Saltzman’s office to step up its
Fish, who oversees the city’s housing and
efforts to disband the camp.
homeless programs, to find a solution to the
City Hall, meanwhile, has a virtual gag
impasse.
order wrapped around it while the lawsuit
“It was cordial and friendly, but they were
proceeds. Commissioners Nick Fish and Dan
unbending and ultimately unresponsive,”
Saltzman, and the Bureau of Development
Kramer says. Kramer added that the
Services, have declined to comment on the
members of R2DToo have been looking for
issue of Right 2 Dream Too in light of the
another site, but they need the city’s help to
pending litigation.
negotiate something appropriate, and they
“We have been good neighbors and are
have not received any. “It’s like .assigning to
trying to be good stewards of the
David a Goliath task.”
neighborhood. We are working to give people
R2DToo, a nonprofit, marked its one-year
the opportunity to have shelter and to do for
existence on Oct. 10 by signing another year
themselves,” says Ibrahim Mubarak, a
lease with the property owners. For most of
R2DToo resident and one of its organizers.
the past year, the city’s Bureau of
“We are going to continue to do what we’ve
Development Services has levied fines, now
been doing.”
more than $1,200 a month, against the group
Gold said he was encouraged by Mayor
for violating city ordinances.
Sam Adams’ and Commissioner Saltzman’s
Despite the city’s sanctions, the rest area
offices to launch a complaint campaign in
has held a fairly low profile among police and
order to pressure the city into finding a long­
residents with very few complaints of any
term solution for Right 2 Dream Too.
“I am deeply concerned about the plight of
those without housing in Portland,” Gold told
Street Roots. “I don’t pretend to have the
answer on how to end homelessness, but I do
not think that illegal campgrounds are the
answer. Social service agencies, residents,
property owners and business owners have
historically worked together in the Old Town/
Chinatown neighborhood. The violation of
building codes, zoning laws, and design
review requirements at this site threatens
that fragile relationship and jeopardizes
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future projects that will require community
consensus.”
So what happens with the money the city
has already invested in the project if it does
n o t go through?
“If th e p ro jec t will n o t have sufficient funds
to m ake its loan p ay m en ts, it w ould be
irresp o n sib le to move forward,” Gold told
Street Roots. “The investors and PDC would
lose all the funds already invested, as well as
the thousands of hours a multitude of people
have invested over the past few years. But
more importantly, the neighborhood will lose
an incredible opportunity for a new,
innovative business that would improve a full
block of West Burnside and bring jobs,
customers and daytime street activation to
the neighborhood. The Grove represents a
larger vision for the neighborhood that will
be lost if it does not come to fruition.
“Homelessness is a community issue that
must be solved at the public policy level by
the city. The mayor and City Council need to
show the leadership to humanely and
equitably resolve the current situation.”
Beyond the fines and property liens, the
city could try to foreclose on the property in
order to push Right 2 Dream Too off the
land, Kramer says. “But that’s a long and
cumbersome process. They just can’t move in
with police and displace the tenants of a
private landowner,” Kramer says.
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Attorney M ark
K ram er with the
National Lawyers
Guild speaks at the
rally outside City
H all in support o f
R ig h t 2 Dream Too.
H e was announcing
the filin g o f a
lawsuit against the
city fo r its
assessment and
fines against the
homeless
encampment.
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