Commissioner Amanda Fritz—a longtime friend to the homeless rest area Right 2 Dream Too and a booster for expanding parks ranger service—has found a way to bring the two together.

In a discussion last week over the lack of attention Portland's small band of rangers gives the city's east side, Fritz casually let it drop that Portland Parks and Recreation is "going to be having a contract with Right 2 Dream Too to further improve our training."

Staffers say the word "contract" might be a bit premature—there's only one training session in the works so far, and no money changing hands. But the arrangement could go further than that, and may produce important results at a time when parks rangers are logging hundreds more contacts with homeless portlanders every year.

Fritz hasn't been available to discuss the arrangement, but Right 2 Dream Vice Chair Brad Gibson confirms the commissioner recently requested his group's input. Gibson says he's forming a committee to draw up suggestions in advance of an April 1 "academy" for parks rangers.

"A lot of their protocols are not written down," Gibson tells the Mercury. "I think they're getting a little foggy on who's following what, and what the protocol is to actually engage the homeless."

Portland's parks are already more open to the homeless than they have been in the past. In a memo issued in August, Parks Director Mike Abbaté announced people were permitted to sleep on parks land until 8 a.m.—a step taken at the urging of Fritz. The wake time has since been changed to 7 a.m. (also at Fritz's direction) but remains policy, according to spokesperson Mark Ross.

The guideline formally allows people to sleep, for example, beneath the bridges of Waterfront Park in the evening. And the rangers service is already often seen by advocates as having a lighter touch than police or contracted security guards.

Still, Gibson says he hears stories of homeless people being unfairly singled out by parks authorities, and hopes to change that attitude.

"Some [rangers] treat the situation with kid gloves, some harass," he says. "These are citizens who are using the park. In our view, it shouldn't be deemed any other way."