This Week in the Mercury

A Bit of a Drag

Books

A Bit of a Drag

Sexual Variations in John Irving's In One Person


Surfin' PDX

Music

Surfin' PDX

Guantanamo Baywatch Are a Day at the Beach



  |  

Friday, July 17, 2009

News So What Replaces the Sit-Lie?

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 4:03 PM

After years of opposition and legal protest, the sit/lie ordinance finally died last month, when Chief Rosie Sizer suspended enforcement of the law a few days after a Multnomah County Circuit Court judge declared the shuffle-along policy unconstitutional.

As The Oregonian put it, "quashing the city's sidewalk obstruction ordinance has thrown Portland's delicate balance of dealing with homeless people on downtown streets into disarray." So will the city resurrect the "delicate balance" of forcibly moving along people who are both sleeping and homeless or will it take a whole new approach to the city's destitute?

Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish are holding two discussion sessions this coming week titled, diplomatically, "Sharing Spaces." The discussion agenda is to get public input on what the Street Access for Everyone (SAFE) committee should be doing now that its primary enforcement mechanism got canned. From the city:


Possible discussion ideas:
- What are SAFE Recommendations - Areas of agreement, areas of disagreement?
- How are services coordinated/who does what in the City?
- What services are needed/missing/need enhancements?
- Who needs to be at the table?
- What issues are outstanding?

There will be two community meetings with identical content on:
>>Saturday, July 18 from 10a.m. to 12p.m at Kaiser Town Hall
3704 N. Interstate, Portland.

>>Tuesday, July 21 from 7p.m to 9p.m. at First Unitarian Church
1011 SW 12th Ave, Portland.

 

Comments (5) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
A better question would be one asking how the polices of Portland contribute to the high(est) rates of unemployment and homelessness. Another good one would be to ask if people are specifically coming to Portland knowing full well that they can lay around and get everything for free. Asking how people can be even better accommodated in their laziness is not a tough question.
Posted by Logan 5 on July 17, 2009 at 4:18 PM · Report
2
Hey now Logan 5 - let's not forget the State of Oregon's fine work to help make all the economically dependent slaves to the state.
Posted by D on July 17, 2009 at 4:23 PM · Report
3
I am at the edge of my seat waiting to hear all those with homes ...Give their pompous opinions, and show their true spirit *which is an oxymoron beings that their callous attitudes revel they actually "have no spirit" (or heart.) Most will be overtly passionate, angry and mean. The "hate" will pour from their words like holy water.
The disinformation and the stereotype propaganda will flow like a fabricated WMD faux news story.
Posted by joeanybody on July 17, 2009 at 5:18 PM · Report
4
joeanybody - You post is largely incoherent, but what I can draw from it is that you want public policy to have 'heart and spirit.'
Government and laws cannot do that. Only humans can do that.
All we ask for is fiscal responsibility, opportunities and solutions that enable and encourage people to help.
Not fake compassion written into law that ends up making problems worse.

Posted by D on July 17, 2009 at 5:31 PM · Report
5
Logan, we had this conversation last year. Street Roots did a great article about the percentage of people that their last housed address is in the city or metro area where they are homeless. if I recall correctly, it was somewhere around 80%.
The answer to homelessness is not leaches (sit/lie laws), or a band aid ( a shelter bed), the answer is long term. lets have more affordable housing, more jobs, health care...
Our city council, in 1985 said that the downtown core of Portland needed about 5200 low income housing units, something that we are about 2000 short of right now. (Northwest Pilot Project's Downtown Affordable Housing Inventory). I know many people who are homeless who have a job, but just cant afford housing, health care and a day to day life.
last year I did a bit of research, (as I recall the numbers)
it was about 1000 dollars just to stay the night in a the hospital, not counting tests or the like... This when people who are homeless have no other way to deal with a medical problem besides going to the ER.
it was 6-700 dollars to stay the night with Portland's police... and we have laws that can imprison people for the crime of sleeping on public property...
a mat on the floor is something like 45 dollars... it has been proven that people get tickets for camping far less when they have access to housing... and that they use the ER far less if they have access to housing and health care, the answers seem obvious...
how about we save us all some money and start building housing. I don't know how much longer I can afford to help pay for bad ideas like sit/lie from the PBA and their ilk.
thanks
Patrick
Posted by Patrick Nolen on July 19, 2009 at 1:43 PM · Report

Add a comment

Our Friends

Our Enemies

/images/adoftheweek.gif

ad of the day

The Handyman Pro - Your Honey-Do Specialist
Don’t let our name fool you. The Handyman Pro, LLC is a repair and remodel service provider with over 25-years experience. We cover all aspects of construction and repairs for residential and commercial clients.go


post an ad

All contents © Index Newspapers, LLC

115 SW Ash St. Suite 600
Portland, OR 97204

Contact Info | Privacy Policy | Production Guidelines | Terms of Use