Join us this Sunday, June 18th at 4pm for Greater Greater Portland, a production of Portland Radio Project, diving deep into the issues involving the Portland Metro Region. Listen live at 99.1 FM in the heart of Portland – or online anywhere at PRP.fm.
This episode is the second in our series on homelessness, and specifically pertains to the recent ordinance passed by Portland City Council regarding daytime camping. Effective July 7th, the ordinance bans camping in public places from 8 am to 8 pm and forbids camping near parks, docks, schools and construction zones. Repeat violators will face a $100 fine or 30 days in jail.
Xavier, Bradley, and Jenna unpack the specifics of this controversial ordinance, put forth the parts they agree with, and also the limitations and legal challenges it poses. In addition, they react to two different testimonies to City Council from opposing sides of the issue, why this type of civic motivation matters, and what should come next.
Before listening to this episode, we highly recommend you check out part one here.
Sources
Our Homelessness Crisis: Successes of Portland’s 10-year plan to end homelessness
Portland City Council Meeting PM Session 5/31/23
Researched, written and hosted by Xavier D. Stickler and Bradley Bondy
Produced, edited, and co-hosted by Jenna Deml
Thank you to Lynn Stanek for sponsoring this episode.
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As Jenna Deml notes, this is a band-aid solution. It seems like we’re committed to unending variations on policing (reactive) vs. fixing social safety nets and other root causes of homelessness (proactive).