PORTLAND — Portland’s decades-long homeless problem has been glaringly obvious since February when a new city “experiment” gave drifters and transients the freedom to spill onto public sidewalks and rights of way as they please — and some businesses and neighborhoods have decided they’ve had enough.
The so-called Safe & Livable Portland coalition slapped the city and Mayor Charlie Hales with a lawsuit on Wednesday, demanding an immediate stop to the six-month experiment the suit describes as an “abuse of power” and “authoritarian act” that’s leading to crime, public safety risks and overall inhumane conditions.
The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, stems from Hales’ temporary “safe sleep policy” allowing the homeless to camp and sleep in some public areas overnight.
