Portland police detained one person after they allegedly lit an RV on fire while crews were trying to tow it away. It was part of a homeless vehicle camp cleanup the Portland Bureau of Transportation conducted Friday.
PBOT tells us they marked the campers and RVs to be removed earlier this week, giving the required 72 hours of notice. They say they removed 10 vehicles in all, including two RVs that were being lived in. PBOT says they offered those people a free taxi ride to a shelter, but they didn't take them up on it. Then as the cleanup progressed, one of them lit the RV on fire.
PBOT says this was part of Mayor Ted Wheeler's recent executive order which brings PBOT's parking enforcement under the Streets Services Coordination Center as part of the city's homeless response.
Police were seen shouting and arguing with some of the people who were living there. But some people reacted very differently to seeing the camp being cleared out.
“I’m having a party, I feel great!" said Sandra Lundy.
She and her neighbors watched with joy as crews worked to remove the vehicles. They live at the Tall Firs Mobile home and RV park, which is right next to the homeless and abandoned vehicles.
Lundy says they've been there for three years now. And she claims the people there have made it hard for her to feel safe leaving her own trailer.
“We’ve had guns pulled out, we’ve had machetes pulled out, I’m scared to get out of my house, I’m scared to leave my house when I have to. ... I’ve had pop cans thrown at my trailer; I’ve had rocks thrown at my trailer. Now is that a way to live?” she said.
Lundy says she's happy the campers and RVs are gone, but she's not happy to see tents there still and lots of trash left behind. When we reached out to the city about this, they said PBOT is only responsible for moving the vehicles, but it's the Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program that's responsible for removal of tents and trash.
HUCIRP listed the site for removal Thursday, which means they could remove it as early as next week.