The Burnside Blog
What It's Like To Be Homeless in PDX
I’ve heard journalists talk about spending a night on the streets as a way to empathize with the 1,500 or so Portlanders who do so every night, but talk is just talk. No one I know has actually had the the guts to do it, until a few weeks ago when Matt Davis of the Portland Mercury decided he’d be the first.
On February 10th, known in Portland as statistically the coldest and wettest day of the year, Davis joined a his friend Nolen, a homeless man, on the streets. Not only did he discover the obvious: that a flattened cardboard box hardly lessens the impact of cold, hard concrete, Davis found the amenities that are supposed to be in accordance with the mayor’s recent sit-lie ordinance not at all up to snuff. Restrooms were closed and showers were unavailable. Read the article here.
This article is quite relevant.
Old Town neighbors, developers and the city are currently debating Erik Sten’s proposed Homeless Taj Mahal, which would be a full-block daytime access center that would not only provide showers and restrooms, it could provide the types of amenities that would help homeless people reconnect with society and get off the streets permanently. Portland’s homeless population has declined in recent years, but it’s still a problem that seems inordinate to the size of our city. That, at least, is how a couple of friends who came to visit Portland from Berlin last summer saw it. Portland, they said, changed their preconception of the USA as car-crazed and largely unprogressive place. At the same time, they were shocked at the amount of people on our streets.
Until we have the amenities to help the homeless population, that’s not going to change. In the meantime, how can we call ourselves progressive?
By Mike Thelin on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 11:06AM PST
That’s a very good point Eileen. Berlin weather does suck.
By eileen on Friday, February 22, 2008 at 09:35AM PST
Mike,
...not to undercut the importance of your comments… but, Berlin’s weather sucks bad. Homeless in Berlin means certain loss of limb and likely death. I suspect Portland’s mild climate plays enabler to other risks.
This passage seems especially jarring.
“Meanwhile Adam Ray Kuntz, 23; Samantha Bowen, 22; and Amber Anderson, who was born in 1980 but has since died, have all been convicted and fined $347—the maximum fine allowed—for sitting in the same spot.”
Are we addressing the problem in a meaningful way?
Go to the Mercury’s article for more. http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=644061&category=22101