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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 2014)
4 street roots Féb. 28, 2014 P H O T O B Y A D R IE N NE B A R N E T T “Pastor” M ike Davis talks with people in E ast Portland where he has made it a seconds career to extend outreach a n d assistance to people experiencing homelessness. D AV IS, fro m page 1 Oregon Department of Transportation and Multhomah County, have made his job harder than usual While these new ' ' strategies aim to help reduce the visible im p a c t of ,h o m e le s sn e s s in th e com m unity. Uavis and otfters rind the agencies' initiatives missing the target and instead impeding the real solutions to the multi faceted problem. While routine camp clean-ups by authorities are commonplace to most homeless populations, Oregon Department of Transportation’s sweep this past October shook up the Southeast homeless community more than usual. Evicting around 30 people from a sizeable camp between Johnson Creek and 1-205 (and taking the majority of their tents and tarps), ODOT officials said the camp’s occupants had been contributing to serious ? environmental degradation along the creek. “People had been using the creek as a toilet and washing area, and had created dams harmful to the stream’s integrity,” says ODOT spokesperson Don Hamilton. “The state has put a lot of money m it to help restore the salmon habitat there, and it has continued to get worse. ,We had to do something.” While its intentionsmay have been well founded, the sweep scattered the camp residents across the surrounding area, some without the gear they left behind. One of the residents of the camp died four days after the October sweep, and his friends claim he suffered a severe emotional impact from the loss of his camping gear days before. Now, those displaced from the camp remain unadjusted and upset by the jolting move. Many of these campers spend cold mornings at the Clackamas Service Center, a house converted to a community center on 82nd Avenue, walking distance from the Springwater Corridor. The center provides warm food, clothes and biweekly medical , aide from an Outside In clinic van, and reinains the only hub in miles offering homeless aid to the growing displaced community. Davis usually starts his days at the center, checking in with folks and learning about j new changes in camp setups and pending legal issues. While not at the Johnson Creek Camp during the major sweep, Davis has alternatives. It just keeps pushing these camps elsewhere.” One of these cleared areas used to be Davis’ own living site before he moved into a home. Walking through the now-empty grounds, he recalls a time When interacting been involved m 'the légal répercussions ’ with visiting authorities was far less downtown with the business alliance, there’s something wrong.” In October, while ODOT was Clearing thè Johnson Creek camp, a large' media spotlight remained on the potential move of downtown’s Right 2 Dream Too camp, keeping the ODOT sweep largely out of the public eye. Cornett blames this solely on the locale — there are fewer business and neighbors affected by the East Portland campers — so fewer people want to hear . about-it. “You can’t ignore what’s happening along the Springwater trail,” Cornett says. “The more people you bump from downtown/the more people end up in Southeast.” ; The main problem, Cornett says, is that no one is talking about solutions. , “Sure, you can keep waking up people so „ there’s no conflict with business owners downtown, but then what? Someone has" to be a voice at the state level talking about reducing poverty to make a real change,” he says. Davis echoes Cornett’s concerns, adding that the majority of Portland’s great homeless resources are downtown — more than an hour’s bus ride from the Springwater camp areas. “Most people can’t find a way to get downtown for a doctor’s appointment or employment help,” Dayis says. “And there’s the risk that if they do leave, their home will be destroyed.” A few camps are taking matters into their own hands, revving up efforts to remain largely unaffected by tire authorities’ ramped-up interactions and neighbor’s complaints. Their secret? Camouflage. “Lumpy” has been living in the Johnson Creek neighborhood all of his-life. And he, has no intention on leaving anytime soon. His current camp, buried deepinto an unassuming forested area, is now home to eleven/including a woman six months down next to Hilary, a former occupant of “I wouldn’t say tfreir presence has - and waste system and a pair of canine the Johnson Creek camp, to catch up. increased, but they’ve become more and companions that serve as lookouts, thé “My husband and Tare by ourselves now,’ more unrelenting since ,1 was a part of these small campsite is anything but disorderly. says Hilary, sipping from a steaming mug of camps,” he says. “It’s frightening, to be * “That’s where I’m staying now,” Lumpy coffee at the communal breakfast table. honest.” says, pointing to what looks like an “Our community is By now, Davis says unremarkable growth of underbrush. To the split up, but it’s he knows which cops expert eye, it’s a smartly disguised tent. easier not: to be sincerely care about the Further up the small path, tan tarps with "Most people eau/t find a disturbed this way. community’s well-being wind shts drape the tree line, quietly way to get downtown for a We don’ t have much versus those rooting for camouflaging another cluster of tents. left and we don’t doctor's appointment or arrests. “I’m sure a few cops know we’re out ’ want to lose it again.” employment help. And £ “I’ve seen a cop car here,” he says, with a shrug. “But we. clean Hilary’s husband is up after ourselves aren’t in anyone’s way — there's the risk that if th e y ' drive down the bike one of the five path at night, pulling like the camps oh the corridor. This is do le a w i t h « home w ill be over at any sign of a members of the home, and we treat it like th a t” Johnson Creek camp destroyed." - - camp and arresting Davis’ last stop of the day is not on his to file a federal pa s to r m ik e d a vis each occupant,” he usual route — but a friend at the Clackamas lawsuit against says, shaking his head. Service Center suggested he swing by. ODOT, claiming the “This isn’t how it’s “ODOT’s been there,” he told Davis. state agency failed to follow its own policy supposed to work. How is this helping?” As Davis turns the corner in an East for removing and storing personal property The Portland Police Bureau recently Portland neighborhood to an open lot, he from camps for up to 30 days. publicized its efforts to address brings the car to a slow roll. “Sleeping bags, tarps, tents - they threw homelessness. Police Chief Mike Reese “Wow.” it all away that day,” says Hilary, still fuming says the new strategy, dubbed “Prosper # The area — once green with trees and from the memory. “They could care less Portland,” will help businesses and agencies long grasses — has clearly been recently about our stuff. But it’s all we had.” better coordinate their efforts to address hacked to the ground, exposing raw roots Davis says the lawsuit could take years to homelessness - within downtown Portland’s and stumps through the freshly trodden process, which could weaken the eventual small radius. ground. A few reminders of the camp once outcome. For now, he’s more concerned But according to. a 2013 survey conducted- 4 tucked behind thé lot’s greenery are left about the continuing efforts by ODOT, • by the Portland Housing Bureau and exposed in the mud: A boot, a flashlight, a county and city officials along the corridor. Multnomah County, 51 percent of all 2,869 , shredded tarp. - “See oyer here,” Davis says, pointing to a ' homeless people surveyed live in East This just happened. I swear I was just freshly sheared grassy clearing along the Portland, with the majority in Southeast. here last month, visiting these folks,” Davis Springwater Corridor, near the center. Downtown Portland is home to 28 percent says, eyes fixated on the desolate grounds. “This used to be full of native brush and This selective focus has riled up many As the increased spattering of snow g frees. But ODOT hired a company to clear it East Portland representatives, including begins to gather on his windshield, Davis’ out after they saw people camping here.” Lents Neighborhood Association Chairman hands tighten on the steering wheel. In the distance, an orange tree-trimming Jesse Cornett. In a heated letter to Reese, You know, when you’re out here, you truck is working its way along a stretch of in response to the Prosper Portland pitch, don t have a timeline. You don’t know when the path. Cornett criticized the plan as catering only you’re going to lose your only possessions. “This has become more common since to downtown businesses concerns. When you’re going to he woken up in the I’ve been coming out here,” says Dayis. Cornett, who works downtown, says that middle of the night by the cops. You don’t “They’re cutting down the trees to expose despite having compassionate officers in know when it’s going to end,” he says. campingayeas — but theydon’tprovide Portland, “when you have the chief working “Trust is hanging by a thread.”
