Neighbors prepare for council hearing on defunding sweeps
About 200 attend emergency neighborhood meeting; no one speaks in favor of defunding
About 200 people attended an emergency meeting of the Northwest District Association held the night before Portland City Council is to consider defunding sweeps of homeless camps across the city.
NWDA President Todd Zarnitz called the council amendment introduced by Councilor Angelita Morillo and supported by District 4 Council Mitch Green an effort to “kneecap a program to keep our neighborhood safe and get people off the street.”
Referring to Green, the only District 4 councilor not in attendance, Zarnitz asked, “Why is one of our own even part of this?”
The other two District 4 councilors made no excuses for their colleague.
Councilor Eric Zimmerman questioned the calculation behind introducing an amendment on a Friday afternoon, only one business day before a council hearing and vote Wednesday.
“When you drop something like that, it’s because you don’t want discussion,” Zimmerman said.
He does not intend to amend the proposal.
“I don’t believe in fixing it when it starts as a pile of crap,” he said.
Councilor Oliva Clark called it “bad faith” and a reflection of the “growing toxicity on council.”
“To me, it was shocking,” she said.
Of the 25 or so citizens who spoke, none had a good word for the proposal.
Bruce Stephenson, a professor on urban planning and author of a book on the history of the Pearl District, suggested that the predictable chaos due to suspension of homeless shelter “impact reduction” services would be “asking for a fascist president to send in troops again. It’s crazy.”
Zimmerman predicted that the defunding proposal will fall short, though the vote would be close.
He emphasized that budget deliberations for the fiscal year were completed months ago, but the “Peacock caucus” of six council members chose to take advantage of a budget review period intended for technical corrections, not major policy shifts.
The Nov. 12 council session begins at 9:30 a.m., but best estimates are that the defunding proposal may not be considered until about noon. Three hours have been reserved for public testimony. About 100 people have signed up to testify, and Zimmerman suggested that the session may go into the evening.
