PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Terry Eggebrecht had hopes to open a Saturday market in the Lents neighborhood of Southeast Portland with art and more. She was prepared to pay the City of Portland for the pricey permit and insurance — but she said a months-old camp on her block continues to grow.
“The city would approve the site, but then if there’s a campsite there — there’s nothing the city could do to guarantee that spot,” Eggebrecht told KOIN 6 News.
She said the city told her event permits can’t be used to move encampments or to deter them.
“I understand that,” she said. “But if you’re paying for the permit and legitmately using the spot to improve the neighborhood, then I felt like there was something missing on their side to do their part.”
It’s another example of the consistent conflicts found in Portland: livability issues for residents and the inability to get the chronically homeless housed.
‘Good question. Nowhere else to go’
One camper who spoke with KOIN 6 News, who preferred to keep his face off camera, said he’s been homeless in Portland for 8 years. He’s been camping on Eggebrecht’s block for a couple weeks.
Asked what brought him to this spot, he thought for a few seconds. “Good question. Nowhere else to go.”
He described how rough it is living on the streets and then said, “I can tell you this: If you think we’re just out here just being lazy, smoking weed, smoking dope and we don’t have any ambition or desire to improve ourselves, you’re sadly mistaken.”
The camper said Eggebrecht recently offered him a list of homeless resources, which made him feel good.
“They genuinely care,” he said.
When he learned the neighbors hoped to have a Saturday market in the spot where he and others are currently living, he was open to doing what he could.
“I’d love for them to have what they want,” he told KOIN 6 News, “and I don’t have any problem facilitating it by going somewhere else.”
He also said he’s interested in going to a shelter, but “I just haven’t taken the steps toward that end.”
When he was asked what was the barrier keeping him from going to a shelter, he was honest. “Myself. Letting myself get distracted by everything.”
As he tries to overcome his demons, Eggebrecht said she is hoping to tour shelters herself and help get broken lives to better places.
“I don’t want to move people if they’re not moving to a better spot,” she said.
KOIN 6 News reached out to the Portland Bureau of Transportation about event permitting and this situation, but officials did not respond by our story deadline.
