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Dear friends,
I'm proud of the lifesaving interventions made by our outreach workers and law enforcement officers beginning November 1st. We're leading with compassion and lifesaving shelter, and focusing on the safety, sanitation, and accessibility of our public spaces.
These successes in improving the safety and livability of our community for our housed and unhoused have sparked a reaction in City Council. Some Councilors are now attempting to defund the City of Portland’s Impact Reduction Program by millions of dollars. This program removed 12,400,000 pounds of hazardous garbage from Portland streets and public spaces last fiscal year alone, representing one of the most visible and important ways we care for our neighborhoods.
Here’s how the program works: community members report problem campsites and derelict RVs that are assessed and scored according to criteria such as visible drug paraphernalia, proximity to schools and playgrounds, hazards to people experiencing disabilities, violence, criminal activity, and other livability metrics. Sites are prioritized for cleanup according to their final assessment score.
I want to be clear about what this means. Defunding our citywide Impact Reduction Program mid-year would likely result in service reductions of up to 75% for the remainder of the fiscal year. This would be devastating for every neighborhood as upwards of 4,000,000 lbs. of biohazard materials could be left uncollected. Perhaps most painful of all, we would be forced to lay off up to 100 workers, including those in successful workforce development programs that prioritize hiring workers with lived experience of homelessness or prior incarceration.
That’s not all. The amendment also takes away funds from domestic violence victims, more than a million dollars from our parks, $873,368 from the Portland Police Bureau, $251,363 from the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, $428,950 from the Portland Fire Bureau, and millions from our critical economic development efforts.
You have a voice in what happens this Wednesday. Contact your city council representatives, sign up to testify, and tell your friends and neighbors to do the same.
Portland’s progress is real, but it is also fragile. Let’s work together for compassionate solutions that will bring about our renaissance, not perpetuate more hardship in our neighborhoods.
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