From Street Roots' blog:
August 1, 2008On Tuesday July 27, Street Roots interviewed 27 individuals experiencing homelessness and two canvassers on Portland street corners.
Fifteen of the 27 individuals had been given verbal or written warnings or citations for the sidewalk obstruction ordinance. Twelve of those interviewed say they have also been warned by some form of private security or building owners not to sit on the sidewalks. Almost everyone Street Roots talked to had been given a park exclusion notice in the last 30 days - many of which came from Portland Patrol Inc.
Street Roots will be spending two more days on the streets this weekend and next week interviewing individuals on the streets about their experience with the sidewalk obstruction ordinance. Interviews will be published in next weeks Street Roots coming out on August 8th.
The notes on the sit-lie (AKA sidewalk obstruction) law are shocking enough, and are further evidence that the city's talk on this law not targeting the homeless don't match the city's walk. But what really grabbed my attention was the parks exclusion bit: Almost everyone of the 27 Street Roots spoke to had received a parks exclusion notice in the last month? Geez.
