noted. 06/08/2012

• Unions to city: Stop Right 2 Dream Too fines

  tags: r2d2 homeless pdx unions

  • AFSCME Local 88, which includes many Multnomah County workers, and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 28 also joined the solidarity pledge and donated funds to Right 2 Dream Too.

• Hall Monitor | Hall Monitor | Portland Mercury

  tags: r2d2 landlord homeless pdx

  • R2D2 has managed to keep up by raising cash from sympathetic Portlanders and diverting money that otherwise would help pay the group's food and utility bills. The fine money has been placed in an escrow account while they try to persuade the city to waive the penalties. But as the fines increase, that's been more and more difficult for the group to manage.

      

    "They're a little bit behind," Wright says, "But they're trying to find more money."

      

    And what will Wright do if they can't keep up—or if the city takes steps to seize his land?

      

    "We'll have to pay the fines," he says. "It's a nice piece of property, and I'm not going to give it away. And they'd have to go back to living under the bridges, in doorways, and getting kicked by police."

      

    That possibility—that Wright, and not Portland cops, would clear the site—has loomed quietly over the entire arrangement. It's not something anyone likes to talk about.

      

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.