Old Town residents 'furious' that outreach group is blocking roads, parking lots
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Businesses and residents in Old Town are growing frustrated with a local outreach group, claiming they block roadways and take over parking lots without permits.
Community Free Store PDX is a group that sets up in Old Town weekly to hand out things like clothes and snacks to homeless in the area. People in the neighborhood say the group blocks access to roads and sidewalks.
Jessie Burke is a chair on the Old Town Community Association, and she said she has been fielding complains about the group for months.
“People are furious,” she said. “That's how residents feel for places like the cultural institutions. People can't get in or out of parking areas. They can't get down streets that they need to get home. At one point, they took over across the Portland owned parking lot, and people couldn't get out of the parking lot.”
The Portland Police Bureau said that over the past several months they’ve responded to a number of concerns about the group.
In a statement, Brian Hughes with PPB said, “While we recognize and appreciate the intentions behind this outreach, PPB’s primary role has been to respond when their gatherings obstruct public rights of way, including sidewalks, roadways, and access to private property.”
Scott Kerman, executive director of non-profit Blanchet House, said they have not had too many problems with the Community Free Store group. But because there are so many people doing outreach in Old Town already, he said they might have more of an impact going somewhere else.
“Next time you might want to try to explore some areas in town where there's not already services located,” he said. “And you can help people who don't have easy access to Blanche's house or another service provider. And that's– we're just trying to be helpful.”
PPB said they are focused on protecting people’s rights to assemble and share resources, but they also need to protect the community’s rights to access roads and sidewalks. KOIN 6 reached out to Community Free Store but did not receive a response.