Help lead the way to a weekly paper!
N
Gamp sweeps shouldn't
be inhumane
awsuits seldom provide the most compelling reads. But
the stories told in the recent filing by the Oregon Law
Center are personal and disturbing.
It tells the story of several Portland men and women
experiencing homelessness, who after losing everything lost
it again under government authority. The lawsuit was filed on
behalf of the men and women who lost their belongings in
what they claim was an illegally conducted sweep by the
Oregon Department of Transportation, which owns the
property. They are suing ODOT and Multnomah County for
failing to comply with the terms for notifying people when a
camp is being cleared out, and for storing non-garbage
property for the requisite time after the sweep.
It’s unfortunate this suit
■■m
had to come about, both
for the impact on the
Going weekly w ill give
plaintiffs and the fact that
vendors a stable income
this was supposedly
week in and week out —
settled years ago. In 2011,
something that w ill no
doubt change the lives of a lawsuit on similar
grounds was settled with
people who sell the
an agreement to post
newspaper for the better.
notices of camp sweeps at
™
■ |east |Q days before the
action, and that property would be stored for at least 30 days.
The camp in question was posted for the sweep on Sept. 30
and was cleared three days later.
But the story is much more personal than its logistics.
On the morning of Oct. 3, Tammi Carr woke up to find
trucks and a work crew outside of her tent. Police officers
told her she had 15 minutes to leave. She left, not knowing
that her belongings were being removed, only to return two
days later to find nothing but debris left behind, according to
the complaint. She had lost everything she owned, she says -
everything she had to clear out of a storage unit she used to
hold her belongings since becoming homeless last year.
L
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel@streetroots. org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
Send letters to the
editor to the Street
Roots office, 211
NW Davis St.,
Portland, OR 97209,
or e-mail to joanne®
streetroots.org
othing about publishing a newspaper
is easy. Being able to maintain a
timely and informative product that
engages and educates
the public is even
harder.
Street Roots works
tirelessly to bring
readers insights and
B y Israel Bayer
s‘ories that r®Present
the community we
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ serve — readers and
people experiencing
poverty alike.
We hope that readers who have not
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I’ve said it before, but it’s true. Street
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Give today by going to www.streetroots.
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Have an amazing holiday and we thank
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Walking Through My Many Shadows
by P h o en ix Key
T h a t niixbt sH e s le p t n e a T T b r i d g e in a b o r r o w e d s le e p in g
bag.
Brian Shipley woke up to the same situation, not knowing
about the sweep and told he had 15 minutes to pack up and
leave. After that time, work crews began bagging up and
tossing camping items into the dump trucks. Shipley says he
lost his tent, his sleeping bag, clothing, a duffel bag, shoes,
books, a bike and bike trailer, a Coleman lantern and more.
He slept that night in a field with a sleeping bag someone had
given him.
One man had left the camp on Sept. 30 for work building a
deck at the coast. He returned Oct. 4, the day after the
sweep, to find all of his belongings, including a large chest he
used to store his tools for his trade, gone. He was only able to
recover a few of his tools, and never saw the chest, among
other belongings, again.
Another women - who had just gotten into housing the
night before the sweep occurred — says she lost her birth
certificate, her marriage certificate, prescription medication,
a medical brace for her leg and foot, cookware, and much
more.
Regardless of the legal rights or justification for this camp
to be cleared, this suit should give everyone pause on how we
treat people pushed to the edge - literally and figuratively. In
the end, they’re suing to be treated like humans, rather than
an invasive species. Without a universal standard that
everyone understands, with support from social services and
resources from all government agencies involved, we’re
needlessly perpetuating this tragedy.
Walking through my many shadows
I hear the past creeping hollows
Calling out, calling out, calling me out
Am I to blame if I go insane?
Wild little running man
Take me as I am and I’ll do
The same my friend forever
We’re all actors and yet we’re also
The Audience
Laughing and crying together
Telling whole lies and half truths
For each other
Calling out, calling out, calling me out
As I walk through the valley
Of my second death, do I learn
The lessons of the first?
Taken by the fall, hit the wall
Can you see I’m calling you out
This time around?
Hear that sound, it’s you in
The mirror looking back at me
Painfully in love with life’s bereavement
Calling out, calling out, calling me out
I turned to leave, but couldn’t
Being pulled back to your stare
The only way out is to run through
The glass, shards of pain now
Show on my face
Am I now in the right place?
When I leave will there be a trace?
Of his loving grace
Calling out, calling out, calling me out
catalysts for individual and social change. -
Street Roots publishes every two weeks, launching
on Fridays, and is available exclusively through our
street vendors or by subscription. We are proud
members of the North American Street
Newspaper Association and the International
Network of Street Papers.
Street Roots
211 NW Davis St.
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax: 503-227-3117
streetroots.org
news.streetroots.org
Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunts
grace®streetroot$.org
Development Director Sarah Cloud
University of Oregon Intern Jasmine Rockow
Office Assistant Amber Bielman
Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan
Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Gaillot
Photographers Kristina Wright, Christopher
Onstott
Volunteers
Mary Pados, Jan Bayer, Ann Ereline, Vinnie Kinsella,
Ann-Derrick Gaillot, Joe Thick, Stacey Heath, Taurin
Skinner-Macginnis, Bethany Hague, Michelle Holbert
John Lisifka, Raven Canoles, Michelle Breslau, Paula
Cracas, Sharron Thompson, John Barker, Mary Locke
•nta i $ m »
w/4?
Street Rents Rose City Resource
Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a
comprehensive booklet of services for people
experiencing homelessness and poverty.
To inquire about getting guides, call 503-228-5657.
Resources are also available online at
www.rosecityresource.org.
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office