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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFinally! Out come the torches and pitchforks!
A group of fired-up activists in Portland, Ore., who were tired of seeing homeless people being mistreated staged the kind of protest that will be difficult for the mayor to ignore.
An estimated 4,000 people sleep on the streets of Portland, Ore., on any given night and, since last summer, life has become increasingly difficult for them.
So, a group of protesters descended upon Portland City Hall on Tuesday night carrying pitchforks and torches to "shame the mayor into action," organizer Jessie Sponberg told The Oregonian.
more...... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/14/portland-homelessness-illegal_n_4790205.html
http://twitter.com/ozone2016/status/433518454889402368/photo/1
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PumpkinAle
(1,210 posts)"This is not about homelessness," the mayor told the paper about the anti-camping law. "It's about lawlessness."
What bull, more NIMBY tied up with the "law" but failing to address why people are homeless and addressing their needs.
More and more states are trying to do this - it is disgusting, inhumane and very wrong.
AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)Homelessness becomes lawlessness, you dumbass mayor.
goldent
(1,582 posts)
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)
grasswire
(50,130 posts)Not on the local TV news. Not in the newspaper.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)didn't show.
You have to give them a reason they can't ignore your story. Else lots of stuff to do with social change just gets buried. I think it is because the content is controlled by so few sources.
People really think that by hauling 80,000 people to fight for their rights in a North Carolina it will overcome this:
How few sources are there, really?
xfundy
(5,105 posts)First local papers began running mostly stories written far away, now this. It's more than just reading a news release; it's zombie level.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)It's important to drive home how sick and creepy and downright malignant what we are facing really is. This is nothing less than a corporate takeover of our country, and the media consolidation reflects it as eerily as a Twilight Zone episode.
And now we face the Comcast merger and this administration's refusal to defend net neutrality. We lose the free and open internet, and we will have virtually no hope of taking our country back from these corporate vultures who so deliberately and casually dispose of human beings.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)grasswire
(50,130 posts)It's the web site.
I don't believe this was covered in the print. I didn't see it.
loudsue
(14,087 posts)
I don't think they actually slept through it. I think their masters are calling the shots about what Americans should be allowed to know.
dlwickham
(3,316 posts)loudsue
(14,087 posts)but I didn't know Salon did. You sure didn't see much else about it, though.
rustydog
(9,186 posts)and some people seem to be offended by their "laziness", their unkempt dress and odor...just codify their existence and run them out of sight, out of town! There, problem solved!!!!
Hey Christians: As you treat the least amongst you, you treat me.
ReRe
(12,164 posts)Jesus said: "In as much as ye have done unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." If the city can't find it in them to care for those homeless people, then the churches that call themselves "Christian" should come together, pool their resources and house, feed and clothe them.
And if the churches can't do it, then the non-profit orgs should do it. Period. 
xfundy
(5,105 posts)"The churches will take care of it." What horseshit.
ReRe
(12,164 posts).... For sure the city needs to take care of them! But if I lived there, I would work my fingers to the bone to be sure no homeless persons were out in the elements in the cold. I'm just thinking of what Jesus would do. But on Monday and every other day of the week and year, I would be at City Hall's door raising hell about it.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)A city is not a wilderness. Our citizens are not wild animals that should forage for food or make dens under bridges and in corners to sleep or protect themselves from the elements. They are not bears that shit in the woods.
They are treated this way as a result of defunding the social safety net for decades until the infrastructure that once existed has been sold off to the private sector and the citizens are being ignored. They are standing like the paupers in Dickens time looking in the windows at those who are entitled by wealth while they are in the cold.
Not saying these peeps are the easiest to deal with, that the failure rate of integrating them into society won't be high. The issue in not a culture of homelessness but no housing. All the charity feeding lines and shelters are a feel-good, piecemeal solution that only scratches at the outside of the boot to relieve the itch inside it. The root is housing.
The failureo of private charity and the churches to relieve long term problems is the reason for the huge programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Housing should and can be given unconditionally as we have done here some years ago, as has been done in UT and AZ now. Give a person a roof over their head, and no more feeding lines, no more of the problems of street living. Street living should not be protected as if is a picnic or a camping trip. It's not. It's failure.
Housing - whatever kind it is, a highrise apartment as we've done in WA, HUD, or any other that only government has the pockets and stability to provide, is the answer. For years we've been fed the Raygun pablum that the private sector can handle all of this and that's the moral way to do it.
In a country with the level of wealth this one has, no matter where thay wealth is being kept, this is so far past being incompetence that is not really incompetence. It's been planned, mostly at the local level where developers and other vultures are ready to scoop up resources for their own benefit. Then come the troglodytes they elect to office to make this Victorian era misery national policy.
And as meaningful to the historical record of this kind of protest, this was not at all well organized. Yes, they made a video that looks like a party but did it change the greater forces that require being at planning meetings or zoning boards, or community outreach funded by the city?
I just don't know; I am just adding to your comment that I agree with you,elaborating on the concept that the private sector is not going to do any thing but prolong the agony.
JMHO.
Left Coast2020
(2,397 posts)35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
This was from King James Version.
ReRe
(12,164 posts)As I remember the parable (I don't attend church anymore), this is the introduction to the verse that I quoted above, right? It's one of the easiest to understand parables in the New Testament. It's like he knew they wouldn't understand, so he gave the analogy first, instead of AFTER the oft recited "In as much" passage that I gave above.
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)ReRe
(12,164 posts)... than it was 2000 years ago. 
juajen
(8,515 posts)taxpayers' money to lazy homeless people.
I informed him gently that I have a son who worked since he was eight years old. His father taught him to mow lawns, and take care of flowers and shrubs, and they (oh, I forgot, my son had a twin, so they worked at mowing lawns, raking leaves, cleaning flower beds from the age of 8 until they were 15, at which time they lied about their age and started working at McDonalds, where they stayed until they finished high school and went off to see the world. They roofed houses in hot as hell Texas, they moved to Florida and learned how to be carpenters and welder/fabricators. They oftentimes worked between 60 and 70 hours a week, until the bottom fell out and they both were injured on the job, which coincided with lawoffs all over the place in Florida and elsewhere. They could find work nowhere.
I asked my friend if he thought we should do like the nazis, and just put all the homeless in front of a very big ditch, turn on the guns, and then push them in the ditch. They are still homeless because no one will hire them. They are staring at the age of 50 and will not accept, nor can I offer them a home. I don't have the facilities to take care of them. They are now being helped somewhat and are surviving, but will never work again. I write this because I want to make a point. When I made this situation real to my friend, he changed his mind about the homeless. He asked what he could do and I told him to look at the homeless and the jobless in a different way, and to help someone where he lives.
One at a time, people will change their attitude if the sorrow and dispair are made real to them. I try to change the hearts of people, not their mind, which is oftimes blocked. Fortunately, most of their hearts are intact, and in need of use.
I am so glad that states are realizing that it is cheaper to help, house, and try to find jobs for the homeless and bring them back to their country; states like California and Utah. If anyone knows any other states that are actually addressing this problem, please post it.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)Good for you ...
I left Ca a year ago, but while I was there I was shocked at the number of homeless people there were there. I was often approached by people who needed a meal, or just maybe to talk to someone and asked them if there was any help for them until they got back on their feet. Many are Veterans, I know 'support the troops'. One man asked me one day if I could help him pay for his prescription medication. He had his prescription and wanted to show it to me so I would know he was telling the truth. I didn't look at it as it really didn't matter to me if he was or not. He was homeless and didn't look well, so if what I gave him helped him to buy a meal, it was his money at that point.
It was overwhelming, you wanted to help, but there were so many people. I am glad to hear that they may now be addressing the issue, but at the time I left I had read that people were complaining about them being outside of Supermarkets, (which is where I mostly saw them).
bkanderson76
(266 posts)oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)Thank you for taking action. We have no activist leaders anymore. 'We the People' have to step up. I am missing one element of the story. Why pitchforks and torches? Hope they brought blankets and sandwiches, also.
Blus4u
(608 posts)The French Revolution when the guillotines rolled out they were fed royals who were rounded up by the less fortunate wielding pitchforks and torches.
Peace (unless it involves pitchforks and torches)
calimary
(88,863 posts)Glad you're here. I wonder if we'll ever get to that point here. SO damn much apathy! People are really programmed here - to think that government isn't the answer (when, in cases like this, it IS - and sometimes it's the ONLY answer!) and also that they really don't have a voice and if they do it doesn't matter or make any difference.
Because of course, both sides…. both siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiides!
SO MUCH bullshit to have to debunk these days!!! Just seems almost like a damn-near impossible job sometimes. But even so, we still have to do something about it. OR ELSE… IT will do something about US.
oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)Got it! 
Left Coast2020
(2,397 posts)I was told the entire state of Oregon is going through housing crisis--more than any other time in state history.
More homeless camps at any other time in Eugene.
Good on ya! Don't stop! keep it going and dont let up till the city or Multnomah County does something positive.
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)since my daughter moved there. It really is disconcerting for someone not used to seeing so many homeless everywhere.
One was on the bus with us... he was obviously mentally ill, and he did smell really bad, and his garbage bag he sat down leaked something out all over the floor.
I asked why so many. My daughter said she thought the temperate climate and tolerance of the citizens.
I wish there was some sort of happy middle that could be reached. Portland is a wonderful town.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)and spent half a night on the street.
The train was like six hours late and got there about midnight and then they kicked us out of the train station. I was about seven blocks from my hotel, but afraid to walk through downtown Portland in the middle of the night. Also, I didn't have a room at the hotel anyway, I was crashing on the floor of a classmate's room. So what was I supposed to do at the hotel?
I doubt if I, a non-guest, would be welcome to 'crash' in their lobby.
Of course, I had the money to get a room, but just did not want to spend it. Making $6,100 a year as a grad student meant that I would rather spend a night on the street than spend $100 (or more) on a hotel room.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)I wonder how you think homeless people should get around? Or the mentally ill?
I ride Portland's public transportation nearly every day. I am an older white woman. I find it humbling, and humanizing. All kinds of people, cheek to jowl. Every color, every age, every social status (well, probably no 1 percenters). Many lessons to be learned, if you watch and listen.
Portland IS a wonderful town. Made even more so by diversity and tolerance for all.
OKNancy
(41,832 posts)I never said they shouldn't ride the bus. In fact the one I wrote about... I smiled and tried to make small talk.
I think you just wanted to find something bad about what I wrote.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)We are talking about a conflict between citizens defending homeless human beings and a government viciously trashing their belongings and criminalizing their existence on the streets.
And you are seeking a "happy middle" between these two positions how, exactly?
"Happy middle" certainly sounds like you are at least partly endorsing the government's vicious behavior here.
Hestia
(3,818 posts)I'm wondering since NOLA ain't what it used to be, if people have migrated up there. I do not believe the "official" tally people who died during/after Katrina. There were way too many homeless for it to just be 1,200 people dead. It seem like there were that many people hanging out around Jackson Square.
As always, YMMV
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Simple and to the point. 
Jessy169
(602 posts)The "homeless" are everywhere. They are walking down the streets, sleeping in the parks and under bridges, rummaging the garbage bins, standing at the corners with "feed me" signs, leaving piles of trash and excrement wherever they go, they frequently smell horrific when they walk past with their glazed-over look. Get up close to one of the homeless and you realize that this person is homeless because in fact that person is mentally ill in most cases, and incapable of holding down a job or any role that requires a small portion of responsibility and dependability. They are America's outcasts, the unwanted, the ugly ducklings kicked out into the cold to scratch a living off of the waste piles or to more preferably, just die.
One problem that has been mentioned about homeless people is that the better you treat them, the more there will be. Homeless people in other states and other cities will flock to Portland once the word gets out that we treat them right.
The real issue is that our society, for whatever reason, either refuses or is incapable of providing adequate care for these outcasts.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)The instructions for their care come straight from the tradition of religions.
Jesus told his followers to treat strangers as our brothers. To care for them sacrificially, giving our own coat if we are asked for our shirt. To feed them, comfort them, wash their feet as a gesture of respect.
Try telling that to a conservative Christian today.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)And yes, there are a LOT of homeless folk here. And yes, it seems like a sizable portion of them have rather obvious mental health issues (or equally obvious substance abuse issues, which are effectively the same thing). That so many Americans with these afflictions are basically dumped on the street to fend for themselves is a national disgrace.
Do the (literally) thousands of homeless in P-Town sometimes cause problems that go beyond horrible smells and litter? Absolutely. There is a minority among the homeless who tend towards criminal behavior (and I don't mean being "criminals" because of some "sweep the problem under the rug" anti-camping law, etc.). From petty theft and associated vandalism (breaking the windows out of cars to get at something inside being the most common) to aggressive panhandling that segues into assault, this minority is not just a danger to others, they badly compromise the sympathy and willingness to help out that the rest of the homeless desperately need. I've been in situations where aggressive panhandling had me very much ready to defend myself (I'm small and weak...a person aggressively asking for money and trying to get right up in my personal space puts me on edge).
But so many homeless people aren't like either group (mentally ill or criminally-inclined). They're people who've drawn the short straw, ordinary folk placed in a desperate situation. While recognizing the downside of the "magnet" phenomenon, I'm hoping my city takes some steps to help.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)Why not prepare simple hostels, with bathing facilities, soup kitchen, and social services available in the same space. Spending the night could require several hours of simple work.
These could be opened in various areas.
And then -- then -- the city could crack down on those who refuse to use the housing/sanitary facilities or who engage in criminal mischief or trespassing.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)But we spend trillions of dollars killing people in other countries. It IS expensive to destroy whole countries, like Iraq and to further destroy what was left of Afghanistan the last time we visited that nation and helped to destroy what was once a decent place to live for its citizens.
Decades of war with no end in sight, leaving wounded and emotionally traumatized veterans, many of the homeless ARE veterans, roaming the streets, committing suicide at the rate of 18 per day. Some of those homeless you are seeing, were the 'glorious warriors' we saw in photo ops with Bush et al and the subject of the phony, jingoistic 'support the troops' signs, and yellow ribbons, now dirty and tattered if there are any left. Yay for WAR!
I was in CA for two years, left a year ago, and I saw so many homeless people I was shocked. I didn't notice whether they 'smelled' or not to be honest. I was often approached by them asking for help and my heart went out to them.
They are a sign of the crumbling of this society. Of wrong priorities, of Predatory Capitalism, of a country obsessed with wars for profit and Wall St corruption.
Occupy Wall St is helping to build tiny houses with donations they receive, for the homeless. Other organizations are doing so also. If private citizens have the will to find the means to provide homes for the homeless, there is NO QUESTION that if this government just spent ONE FRACTION of what they spend on WMDs, on solving this problem, they could do it.
As Rep Grayson said about Republicans' solution to the sick poor, 'hurry up and die'. That is this Government's solution for the homeless, one third of which are veterans.
When Canada discovered they had a few homeless veterans on the streets they immediately set about finding them and providing homes for them.
Americans are so accustomed to being abused by their government they are at the stage of hopelessness and apathy, expecting nothing, feeling they deserve nothing, or on the other side, feeling OTHER PEOPLE deserve nothing.
But there are good people trying to help, and I am really glad to read this OP.
When OWS was occupying space in Portland, they were taking care of the homeless, but the mayor's Robo Cops brutally drove them out and left the homeless with nowhere to go, again.
Joe Shlabotnik
(5,604 posts)This kind of imagery is overdue.
Dj13Francis
(395 posts)Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)Charlie Hales is an impotent Vera Katz holdover.
Vashta Nerada
(3,922 posts)The homeless should never be mistreated and I'm glad the citizens did something.
randome
(34,845 posts)
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]
Pryderi
(6,772 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)When it forgets this, it's time for a stern reminder.
Systematic Chaos
(8,601 posts)I'm just a fat, disabled dude, but call me when it's time to hose the ichor and yuck off the streets!
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)
- The day we're listened to......
reACTIONary
(6,950 posts)The article states "An estimated 4,000 people sleep on the streets of Portland, Ore., on any given night..." and provides a link to the Portland Housing Bureau. The linked source states "On any given night, about 4,000 people sleep on the streets or in shelters across Portland.
There is a big difference between sleeping "on the streets" and sleeping "in shelters".
Portland and Multnomah Country have a 10 year plan to end homelessness in their jurisdiction. According to the plan's introduction "On one night in 2003, more than 450 people were unable to find space in emergency shelters. Among them were at least 175 children and their families." Since these were folks looking for shelter, there were probably more who didn't go looking. According to an article in the Oregonean about the current situation there are "an estimated 1,700 Portlanders who will sleep outside Thursday night".
The "10 year action plan", ironically, is ten years old. Not sure if the have an updated plan and new statistics - if not, they should.