The following is the letter to city commissioners — addressed to Parks and Housing Bureau Commissioner Nick Fish — regarding proposed changes in the city's camping laws with regard to people on the streets:
December 18, 2009
The Honorable Nick Fish
City of Portland
1221 S.W. Fourth Avenue, Room 240
Portland OR 97204
Re: City Camping Ordinance
Dear Commissioner Fish:
It was a pleasure to see the Resource Access Center break ground recently. We appreciate all your efforts to make this important project a reality and are looking forward to when that facility is open and additional resources are available. In the meantime, we would like to express our concerns regarding the challenge to the city’s camping ordinance and potential settlement options.
Our organizations support the city’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness and the strategy to provide shelter and permanent housing for all those who need and seek it. At the same time, while we believe that the city can and should do more to address issues relating to homelessness, we do not believe the city is required to solve the issue of homelessness before it can enforce reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of the use of public spaces for the purpose of camping. We would like to see the city aggressively defend its authority in this regard, and we do not support a negotiated settlement that unnecessarily diminishes the city’s authority to manage its public spaces.
We do, however, recognize that the city must make a determination whether it would be better served by a negotiated settlement of the current challenge. If the city moves forward with a negotiated settlement, we believe there are a number of important factors that should be incorporated into any agreement to ensure its workability for all parties.
- Sidewalks. We do not believe that camping in any form should be allowed on sidewalks or property access or transportation facilities, whether in the central city or elsewhere. Sidewalks, property access and transportation facilities must be kept free at all hours for the purpose for which they were created, namely, transportation.
- Parks. No camping should be allowed in parks at any time. These public facilities are fragile public spaces that are heavily impacted by camping both in terms of their physical character and in terms of their function as areas for public use and recreation.
- Public Lands. No camping should be permitted on public lands that are not open to public use. Areas that are currently posted as no trespassing areas should not
be made available for camping now or in the future. In many cases the existing posting of these areas results from the negative impact on adjacent landowners and tenants of past camping activity. Adjacent landowners and tenants should not be subject to renewed impacts through the adoption of a settlement agreement.
- No Trespassing Designation. Any settlement should not reduce the city’s authority to designate additional public lands as no trespassing areas under any agreement, even if those areas have been used for camping in the past. The city must retain the authority to address problem areas through no trespassing designation at its sole discretion and without the need to renegotiate with the litigants.
- Dispersed Impact. Strict and enforceable limits of no more than four individuals per location should be required to mitigate camping impacts. Likewise, a second camp should not be allowed within sight or sound of another camp. Under no circumstances should a “tent city” be allowed. These rules must be self enforced by the campers. Public safety personnel should not be put in the position of trying to determine who arrived first, etc. The Alliance is intrigued by the option of allowing social service providers such as churches to allow camping on their land. We believe this option should be further explored as it holds the prospect of not only dispersing camping impacts but also the potential for toilet facilities to be made available to campers.
- Hours. Camping should be restricted to between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. exclusively so that commuters, shop owners and residents can make use of public facilities and so that the camps do not become de facto permanent facilities.
- Enforcement. Portland police must be free to actively enforce the rules in an agreement with the full support of the City Council and the District Attorney. The settlement should make it clear that the enforcement mechanisms, including prohibitions on camping on sidewalks and posted no trespassing areas will be actively implemented.
- Safety. We are aware of the concern expressed by law enforcement professionals and others who may be required to interact with the campsites regarding the safety issues associated with allowing camping in closed structures. Public and private law enforcement personnel and business employees approaching illegally situated, enclosed structures cannot observe the occupants from a safe position. The city should formulate any agreement to ensure that those required to interact with campsites can safely approach to ensure their security and the security of the camp’s occupants.
- Temporary. We see a negotiated settlement as a temporary option that should be reviewed on a regular basis, particularly as new facilities, such as the Resource Access Center, come on line. The agreement should have a firm end date and the city should begin gathering data to demonstrate when sufficient facilities are available to accommodate reasonable requests for housing by homeless individuals.
Thank you for your tireless efforts to find workable solutions for difficult issues relating to camping, low-income housing and homeless feeds. These are difficult issues, and your work to find pragmatic solutions is greatly appreciated. We know you appreciate our concern that the central city and central eastside not shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden in dealing with these difficult issues. We look forward to working with you to identify workable solutions.
Central Eastside Industrial Council
Downtown Public Safety Action Committee
Downtown Retail Council
Lloyd District Business Improvement District
New Avenues for Youth
Nob Hill Business Association
Old Town-Chinatown Business Association
Old Town-Chinatown Neighborhood Association
Portland Business Alliance
Portland Downtown Services, Inc./Clean & Safe
Travel Portland
University of Oregon
Venerable Properties
cc: Mayor Sam Adams
Commissioner Dan Saltzman
Commissioner Randy Leonard
Commissioner Amanda Fritz