Locals feel 'drastic' reduction in freeway cleanups
State no longer paying city of Portland to remove camps and garbage
The Oregon Department of Transportation wants the public to know that clean-ups under Interstate 405 and other ODOT property continue although it stopped paying the city of Portland to do that work on July 1.
ODOT says “litter, graffiti and camp clean-up will continue, but at a reduced level of service.”
The city of Portland concurs, though it characterizes the cutback as “a drastically reduced level.”
“We are seeing a HUGE uptick in camping and tent villages along 405 in the Pearl and Northwest,” wrote Pearl resident Linda Witt. “One sprawling tent village is on Northwest 16th between Lovejoy and Kearney, another is on Northwest 16th near Flanders.”
One Northwest neighbor said he diligently reported problems to ODOT in July as directed.
“Campers are still there,” wrote RJ. “No action other than a pre-typed response, which means ODOT can check off their box.”
I’ve reported the rapidly growing encampments under the I‑405—stretching from Lovejoy all the way through NW 22nd—by calling 311, as the PDX Reporter app continues to produce error messages (which I have also reported).
This situation is escalating quickly. The city has not been able to contain it, and it is already creating serious safety, sanitation, and livability concerns. With the imminent opening of two shelters and the planned relocation of 275 additional individuals into our neighborhood (with no wrap around service) failing to address these existing encampments now will only compound the problem.
We need immediate, visible action before the situation deteriorates further.
please don’t just complain do something —Write the Mayor and City Council an email NOW — I just sent mine…
I noticed that if I drop a pin on PDX reporter just a little bit away from the freeway in places like 16th it doesn’t block me from reporting. So I keep doing that in hopes (as unrealistic as they might be) it is giving the city data to the lack of cleanup. No question the encampments along the freeway are also increasing rapidly but when it comes to off the freeway and in the city there should be some financial flexibility on behalf of the city to get it cleaned up.
When this switch happened I suspected that it affected the areas under the 405 overpass as typically that is state transportation property. So now we have tents allowed to completely block the sidewalk, which is a violation of the ADA lawsuit against the city. At the very least the city needs to step up and fill in this gap…or they need to face the consequences of not abiding to the settlement.