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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2015)
Street Roots • June 5-11,2015 E d it o r ia l Page 3 Write in if you would like to have, something that you’ve written published in our pages, or would like to get involved as a . member of our reporting staff, contact Managing Editor Joanne 2uhf at 503-228-5657Joanne@sireetroots.org. We ask that ail submissions include the author’s name and contact information, if available. A m akeshift camp o f nearly 60 people relocated under the Tilikum Crossing on Southeast Third Avenue and Harrison Streep a location the city has identified as a possible new site fo r R ight 2 Dream Too. Street Roots 211 NW Davis S t Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 www.sfreetroots.org www.news.streetroots.org Hours: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon:-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Sat. and 7:30-11 a.m. Sun. P H O T O B Y IS R AEL B A Y E R Sweeps cause more havoc for homeless and housed ow does one come even close to describing matter of time before law enforcement and the city the experience of human suffering? Is it the made its move. look in a person’s eyes after having For years Portland police have been letting people completely given up hope or the anger that boils up sleep and camp in what the police and advocates call someone's voice or actions? Is it the addiction that one low-impact areas — in certain parks;" under bridges, in succumbs to after experiencing multiple nervous industrial neighborhoods, etc. Many camps ebb and flow breakdowns and becoming homeless? Is it th e m entally in numbers depending on a range of-circumstances — ill w om an mumblingto herself, enforcement in a particular neighborhood pr area, c le a rly d is tra u g h t, a n d d re n c h e d to c o m p la in ts, safety, weather, e tc . In the.winter, camps th e b o n e , rocking back and forth tend to grow in numbers. In the summer, historically, under a bridge? with the arrival of tourists, the police ramp up As I walked away from talking to enforcement and people tend to thin out throughout the city. people this week that had been displaced from the latest round of The difference this year is two-fold. The cycling . By Israel Bayer community being vocal about homeless camps is one homeless sweeps, it’s a question I aspect. The other is the rapid growth in inner went over in my mind. Southeast Portland. More development, a growing and What could I write that hasn’t changing demographic of residents and a expanding been already written a thousand business community all led to an organized effort times? Would there be a way to describe the reality that against visibly homeless population in the would even make a difference, or deserved to see print? neighborhood. A neighborhood that tended to support As a writer, you try not to let those thoughts gain homeless efforts was now calling for the homeless to be ground. You ignore such thoughts and push on, much removed and throwing up roadblocks to locating Right 2 like trauma. One compartmentalizes things. Dream Too to their side of the river. The tràuma of actually experiencing homelessness, With Rose Festival and Fleet Week on the horizon, and the secondary trauma of people working with the city acted. The goal was to displace homeless camps people in poverty, is so illogical that it’s hard to and to deliver a message that this summer people were describe or put down in words. Having to balance high- not going to be allowed to congregate in inner level conversations and bureaucracies of how to Southeast Portland. Instead of doing what typically advocate for more housing resources for people coupled with the daily grind of people suffering had clearly 1 would amount to a week-long crackdown on homeless camps, the police and the city have said they will . gotten to me. - continue to keep the pressure on. More than a week ago the city of Portland, the Oregon Department of Transportation and others began .. So, the sweeps began. TV news stations and newspaper reporters swarmed. The police and the city a weékloiig sweep of people experiencing homelessness delivered sound bites to the media that people on the in Southeast Portland. From thè river to 12th Avenue, streets were not being displaced, but instead being from Burnside down to Powell, the city proclaimed th at offered social services and in some cases permanent it was no longer business as usual for people on the housing. When in fact, law enforcement Was displacing streets. people with nothing new to offer but the same waiting We all saw it coming, possibly everyone éxcept for lists. To make matters worse, folks on the streets claim, those surviving on the streets, people were receiving tickets and in some cases taken j For months, members of the cycling community had been complaining about homeless camps on bike paths . to jail. Compounding the chaos, people on the streets said throughout Southeast Portland. Safety was a major police pointed them to the proposed new site for Right concern. One cycling advocate I talked to. this winter 2 Dream Too — potentially poisoning the well. Now, told me his partner didn’t feel safe hiking down the instead of a well-organized camp under the established Springwater Corridor anymore. To add fuel to the fire,. leadership of Right 2 Dream Too, more than 60 people stolen bicycles had been found in some of the camps in now gathered under the Tilikum Crossing - defeated, Southeast at the same time bike advocates were calling for the Portland Police Bureau to create a stolen bicycle See DIRECTOR'S DESK, pag e 5 task force. Street Roots knew then that it was just a R DIBICTOB'S DESK Israel Bayer is the executive director.of Street Roots. You can reach him at - israel@streetroots.org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. Advertising Interested in advertising in Street R oo ts?, Contact Israel Bayer at israeltstreetroots.org Staff Executive Director Israel israel@streetroots.org Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org " " >.. Merkel cole@streetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Vendor Coordinator Cole Volunteer, grace@streetroots.org Development Director Sarah Cloud Development Assistant Ann-Derrick Gaillot Reporters Emily Green, Sue Zalokar, Christen McCurdy, Sarah Hansell, Sam Bouman, Jacques Von tunen, Jared Paben Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chairman Bruce Anderson Vice-Chairman Brad Taylor Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Amber Bielman Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, Darren Alexander, Eddie Barbosa, Rachel Langford Volunteers Jan Bayer, Rob Shyrock, Stacey Heath, John Barker, Sarah Hansell, Aaron Von Reyn, Chere Cobb, Audrey Cerchiara, Jade Maniscalco, Anjali Rathore, Eliese Baker, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kama la,Susan Gallagher, Tom Ray, Lee Ko, Dan Jones, Lisa Waldo/ James Yu, Sam Bouman, Cherie Vedal If you are interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or call Volunteer Coordinator Grace Badik for more information at 503-228-5657. ~
