The Grotto has been a pleasantly peaceful spot in a very urban part
of Portland for a long time. Except for during the holiday season. Then
it gets very busy. Calling it a "working class" neighborhood is a bit misleading. There are certainly a lot of hard working people living in
that area. That general area has also been considered one of the rougher
parts of town for as far back as I can remember. 82nd street, that runs
through that area, has had more working girls working the street than
downtown for a long long time. It has always been like Alice's
restaurant. You can get whatever you want.

So now the Grotto has a problem, that sounds a lot like someone
who feeds pigeons complaining about being shit on.

"Frustrations grow at The Grotto as it deals with trash buildup,
vandalism, and theft"

"PORTLAND, Ore. — Not even Portland's iconic Grotto is protected from
the ripple effects of our homeless crisis.

The Catholic sanctuary in Northeast Portland says they've had enough,
and the city isn't doing much to protect them. But it appears things
will need to get much worse before anything changes.

The Grotto's Executive Director, Chris Blanchard, says he was torn about reaching out to KATU, worried it might seem insensitive.

"Just deciding to contact you and ask you to chat with us about this was
the most difficult decision I have made in the last five years," said Blanchard.
But Blanchard's frustration finally surpassed his patience.

"There's trash built up all along the street. There are hypodermic
needles that have been discarded, condoms that are discarded," said
Blanchard.

Blanchard tells us the friars who live at The Grotto and the people who
work there see it every day; vandalism, theft, restrooms jammed closed
for hours at a time.

He says there's shoplifting in the gift store, people are stealing power
and water, and they're defecating and urinating along The Grotto's fence
line.

On the morning we visited, the grounds crew was fixing the fence that
someone had cut through in the night. They say it happens about every
two weeks.

"Our challenge is to mix compassion for the people who are in need with compassion and concern about the countless numbers of people who want to
come here and find peace from a hectic outside world," said Blanchard. Blanchard says they've done everything by the book. They've reported
illegal camping to the appropriate agencies. They've written letters to
the mayor and every commissioner. He says only one responded,
Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty.

[Hardesty is our police commissioner. She was recently reelected to
a second term on the Portland city council, which is likely to change
form in the near future, after they figure out what that will be,]

A Portland Bureau of Transportation crew tagged vehicles, and there was
a clean-up, but just like in other parts of Portland, the tents and RVs returned, and so did the crime. And it doesn't just impact The Grotto.

"Adjacent to our property is government property," said Blanchard. "And
if you went there, you would be absolutely stunned at the conditions in
which people are living back in the woods, out of sight."

The Oregon Department of Transportation owns the property he's
describing, but the City of Portland is responsible for managing camps
there.

The area has been cleared and cleaned repeatedly in the last several
years. And now, thanks to concrete barriers, it's inaccessible to
neighbors like Lester Vanblericom and his caretaker, Joe Powell.

"Me and him can't get through there together without risking falling
down," said Powell. "That was our route. We'd go all the way back in and
then come back out, but they blocked it off."
As bad as it might seem to Powell and Blanchard and many other
neighbors, it's not bad enough for the City of Portland to take action.

KATU reached out to the Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program. A spokeswoman sent us this statement:

"Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction staff have performed a
total of six site assessments of the public property around The Grotto
in the past 10 days. However, none of those assessments resulted in a
high-risk score. This doesn't mean it isn't concerning, but it means
that it doesn't meet the criteria for being removed. As you know, we
have very strict criteria for when we post sites for removal. Our
scoring process was developed to ensure that we standardize the criteria
we use to assess camps. Our objective metrics help us ensure we are distributing scarce City resources throughout our community equitably
and responsibly.

Although this site is on our radar, there are currently 677 campsites throughout Portland city limits that have a higher risk assessment score
than this site."

It's not what Chris Blanchard wants to hear."
[snip]

TB

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)