Street roots., July 19, 2013, Page 7, Image 7

Street roots
July 19, 2013
A t left, (left to right) William Manlove, the attorney fo r the city o f
Portland, Ibrahim M ubarak (seated) and M ark Kramer, the attorney
fo r Right 2 Dream Too, address M ultnom ah County Circuit Court on
July 11. The two groups were in court arguing a case that could
decide the future o f Right 2 Dream Too (shown above), a homeless
encampment at the corner o f Northwest Fourth Avenue and
Burnside. M ubarak is the spokesman for the nonprofit organization,
which defends its camp as an emergency shelter fo r people
experiencing homelessness in Portland.
P H O T O BY S O P H IA K IN H N A R A T H
Right 2 Dream Too, city, await court's decision on challenge
BY JOANNE ZUHL
1,900 people sleeping outside after shelter
space was full. Right 2 Dream Too
hatever Right 2 Dream Too’s future
established its rest station in October 2011.
holds, its time on the corner of
By the city’s measure, the organization
Northwest Fourth Avenue and
(via the property owners Michael Wright
Burnside could be short-lived if a judge and
rules Daniel Cossettes) owes City Hall
in favor of the city to dismiss the homeless
$25,687 in fines for noncompliance with city
group’s case.
code. The campers say the permit and
On July 11, after listening to two hours of
compliance requirements are prohibitive for
legal arguments from the city and Right 2
such a fledgling nonprofit. (The organization
Dream Too, Judge Karin J. Immergut
had corrected one violation in lowering the
elected to take the matter under
height of its fence along Burnside from eight
advisement. She said she would return with
to six feet.)
a decision in two to three weeks.
Last year, Right 2 Dream Too,
The city says the operation, where an
represented by attorney Mark Kramer, sued
the city to suspend the fines that now
average of 60 homeless people sleep each
accumulate $1,500 each month. But it is a
night, is an unpermitted recreational
technical issue that could end the
campground, and in violation of city code.
nonprofit’s legal course forward.
Right 2 Dream Too maintains that its camp
In April, the city filed a complaint saying
is an emergency rest area, where people
Right 2 Dream Too hasn’t exhausted all of
experiencing homelessness can find shelter
its options to appeal the city’s decision on
and access other services.
the code violations before going to court.
The recent one-night shelter and street
Right 2 Dream Too responded saying it had
count in Multnomah County tallied nearly
S T A F F W R IT E R
W
been denied a reasonable opportunity to
appeal the fines or have the $1,200
administrative filing fee waived.
Immergut is considering whether to
accept the city’s motion to dismiss the
nonprofit’s suit. The homeless organization
claims that, given the attitude by the city
regarding homelessness in general, the lack
of process for waiving the fee, and the
expired timeline on the appeal process, it
has — for all intents and purposes — run its
course.
All of this is to say it will be another two
to three weeks before Immergut decides
this technical matter, but if it’s in the city’s
favor, it could be a death knell for Right 2
Dream Too’s legal argument. The
organization simply does not have the
money or time to pursue an appeal.
Meanwhile, with the Fourth and Burnside
property up for sale, Right 2 Dream Too
members have been looking into alternative
sites for its shelter operation. One site
under consideration is the Medford
Building, former home to Transition
Projects, which moved into the Bud Clark
Commons in 2011. The building has a large
shelter space with room for about 95
people.
Oregon state statute allows for two
transitional shelters in any Oregon
municipality. Right 2 Dream Too wants to be
designated the second such shelter in
Portland, after Dignity Village, which has
operated for more than a decade.
People staying at the Fourth and
Burnside area are required to follow a code
of conduct, including no alcohol or illegal
drugs on the premises, no violence or th re a t
o f violence, no weapons and no open flames,
among other guidelines. As a result, the rest
area has garnered almost no police
complaints outside of being a homeless
camp. The city, however, is feeling pressure
from the business and Chinese community
to remove or relocate the camp from its
highly visible location at the entrance of Old
Town Chinatown under the Chinatown Gate.
Event features documentary on homeless youth,
food drive fo r homeless youth program
The First Family of Breakfast
By John R. Brown
S T A F F R E P O R TS
Media Works NW is producing a Kickstarter event open
to the public at the Bobwhite Theater 6423 SE Foster
Rd. on Aug. 4 from 6 to 9 p.m. The event will be a grass
oots casual affair with live entertainment, prizes, and a preview
of the documentary “The Unlearned.”
Genora Trotter, the director and creator of the documentary
has first-hand knowledge of how devastating the effects of
“learned” helplessness can be on an individual by confronting
her own helplessness. She has produced a 60-minute
psychological documentary about a homeless youth and the
tough love of his mother who experienced the challenges of
falling through the gaps of societal conditioning and his learned
co-dependence on enabling behavior, which eventually lead to a
struggle for life. Living or dying rests solely on his determination
to unlearn the mindset of helplessness, low self-esteem and anti­
social behavior. His story of helplessness will reveal striking
comparisons to that of other helpless youth.
The intent of this documentary is a call to action for youth
organizations and individuals to actively engage in confronting
learned helplessness.
G Media Works NW is an advocate for aggressive media
campaigns, inter-company discussions, and social group dialogue
from youth programs, which will reflect a transparent concern
for homeless youth and aid in removing the negative stigmas
attached to youth helplessness. This documentary will be the
first in a series of documentaries involving learned helplessness.
The event is also a food drive for p:ear. Please bring
nonperishable food items. Piear is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to building positive relationships with homeless and
transitional youth through education, art and recreation to affirm
personal worth and create more meaningful and healthier lives.
Each year its programs serve almost 900 homeless and
transitional young people ages 15 to 24.
G
The first family of breakfast meets early Saturday morning
at an Episcopal church near a freeway entrance.
They come from all over the map,
but Chicagoland seems well represented.
They’re not all related by blood, or by marriage.
I don’t even think they’re all Episcopalians,
but clearly they share some family traits
that involve the arts of the kitchen.
The cooking and serving are restaurant quality,
and the scullery manager is the nicest guy in America.
And on top of all that, they offer the best coffee
available to the homeless.
And on Tuesdays, their cousins serve chili.
How cool is that?
Vendors are regular contributors to Street Roots
content, as columnists, poets and artists. Look
for your favorite vendor’s writings in each
edition o f the paper.