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Yesterday 7 people were arrested when the Portland Police came to post 72 hour "Illegal Campsite" notices and alert us that our homeless encampment at City Hall was not within lawful compliance. We have been camping on the sidewalks for 15 days to protest the unconstitutionality of the sit/lie ordinance and to demand the repeal of the anti-camping law that makes being without a home a crime. Long term solutions to the affordable housing/greed crisis in downtown Portland however is the primary goal that has brought everyone who is down at City Hall together. So far, many creative ideas have been offered and discussed over the past weeks, and over the course of time the number of protesters has grown from 15 at the beginning into the upwards of 100. Although yesterdays police presence seemed to disperse protesters, the peak head count last night was 84. "We aren't leaving until they give us what we want" is our general consensus, although the diversity of our growing crowd has brought many new angles as to how we would accomplish such. Mayor Potter has basically refused dialog, and continues to be narrowly focused on the federal mandated "Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness," as well as on opening temporary shelter beds which do nothing over the long-term. Last night our entire camp met to discuss issues and decide what's next. Letter asking Mayor Potter for Dialog
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