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Friday, January 20, 2012

News / City Hall "Epic City Hall Slumber Party" Planned to Protest Camping Ban

Posted by Denis C. Theriault on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 12:59 PM

Sisters of the Roads MLK Day march heads past Right 2 Dream Too.
  • Sarah Mirk
  • Sisters of the Road's MLK Day march heads past Right 2 Dream Too.
As reported in this week's news section, city pressure on Right 2 Dream Too—the homeless "rest area" at NW 4th and Burnside—is intensifying. The group's first $641 fine is due February 1, and organizers say they'll try to look into making the site a "legal" campground while also holding out hope for a political savior to emerge in city hall.

Supporters were already planning a big rally that morning at city hall, which happens to fall on a day when city council is in session. Now comes word of what's being billed as an "epic" city hall slumber party, starting the night before, January 31, and stretching into the hours before the council meeting. The protest comes amid an ongoing 24-hour city hall vigil aimed at overturning Portland's camping ban.

From the Facebook page for the protest:

We will be sleeping on the sidewalk in support of the basic human right to sleep, and in protest of the cities "camping ban," which makes it illegal to create any sort of shelter (including a sleeping bag...).

There are Portlanders (including families) who break the law every single night, and risk random arrest and loss of possessions, just simply by sleeping. My goal is to make a chain of people that wraps around City Hall ensuring that members of City Council will have to literally walk over a body to get to work. Of course they will figure out a way to not have to do that, but it is still our goal!!!

We picked the 31st so that we would be in front of City Hall on the morning of February 1st when the city begins to fine Right 2 Dream Too, a self sustaining rest area on West Burnside.

I've got a message into Mayor Sam Adams' office on how they might handle the protest, and I'll update when I hear back.

 

Comments (2) RSS

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1
Umm.. even the Occupy people will admit.. to people they know anyways.. that the City Hall vigil has been completely usurped by homeless people using the place to get money from people thinking they are giving to a good cause then getting drunk and passing out in front of City Hall. Very few Occupy people really support the vigil any more, "travesty", "unfortunate" and "stolen from us" are the terms I hear the most.

Frankly, I think that Occupy needs to stay away from R2D2. R2D2 has done everything right that Occupy couldn't get any sort of handle on. Occupy camp became a public nuisance, a mess of drunks, drugs, and other related matters while R2D2 ran a clean friendly place that won the support of neighbors. The less Occupy has to do with R2D2, the better.
Posted by Unweuffduh on January 20, 2012 at 4:54 PM · Report
2
Nice press release.
Posted by Chuck Garabedian on January 22, 2012 at 12:26 AM · Report

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