October 17, 2008
The question inevitably went something like this. Where do I go?
The answer was often Sisters Of The Road, the small café at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Davis Street, where people could get a hot meal and use a restroom. More recently, people have been able to collect their mail, organize around important issues, get needed hygiene materials, blankets and other survival items that living without a home demand.
That’s where they could go when they were told they could not rest on the sidewalk, under the bridges, in downtown doorways, and so many other sites of urban refuge.
The directions were given by police and security guards under city orders to remove people in unwanted places, through laws such as the sidewalk obstruction ordinance, more commonly known as sit-lie for it’s ban on sitting or lying on sidewalks during daylight hours. They come in the form of park exclusions and anti-camping laws, which prohibit people from being in public parks if they are sleeping there. The directions are on the instruction sheet given to city policy enforcers who encounter people experiencing homelessness every day.
Go to Sisters, they said. And to Sisters they went. And now Sisters is being villianized for welcoming people with the generosity and services this city has come to expect from an organization built on nonviolence and a proven record of creating a safe environment for people in crisis. But on the flip side, we’re seeing that crisis compounded, concentrated on the sidewalk, in public, outside, in the very place they were told to go.
It’s causing a backlash in the Old Town/Chinatown community where Sisters has been a cornerstone for nearly three decades. Old Town is changing – the entire city is changing, with an emphasis on generating new business and creating an atmosphere of prosperity.
Worthy goals, but the energy to push forward this image is wasted if it is leveraged on tactics that seek to shuffle systemic problems out of sight. Be it mental health care, housing, addiction services, or veteran aid, there are many numbers people can call, organizations that have services, and programs to enroll in. But there are just as many waiting lists, endless lines and government hoops in the way to actually reaching the goal. In between, there is time and space, which Sisters provided, as does Street Roots, Blanchet House, Transition Project Inc., Portland Rescue Mission, The Downtown Chapel, and others who make it their business to welcome people. For decades these organizations have been points of pride in the community for their service to the common good. But the community around them is changing, even as the need remains the same, if not becoming more urgent given our economic crisis. In the arena of business interests and social service, we’re seeing heads butt between those with so much to lose because of the situation on our streets, and those who have lost it all already.
This city has been quite specific and aggressive in creating opportunities for businesses and developers, and equally weak-kneed when it comes to establishing facilities for low-income and homeless needs and affordable housing. Until we seek and achieve a balance, we are playing a fool’s game of pointing fingers at people on the streets, and we will forever be asking the question: Where do we go?
By Street Roots editorial team (Joanne Zuhl, Israel Bayer, Art Garcia, Ruth Kovacs)