Neighbors for Healthy Communities

03/09/2024

From the St. Johns Neighborhood Association:

Greetings!

Let’s talk BottleDrop. As you may have seen on our social media, the Board voted at its last meeting (held on Feb. 28) to officially oppose a BottleDrop facility at the old Dollar Tree on Lombard St.

That is different than the full Neighborhood Association opposing the development. That can only happen at a general meeting and is a topic we’ll be sure to discuss.

We are finalizing a draft of a potential letter of opposition that will be reviewed at our general meeting on Monday, 3/11. We will share that draft with you via email on Sunday evening so there are at least 24 hours for people to review.

Monday’s meeting will be unique as we will have two physical locations and a virtual option. The main meeting will be held in the James John Elementary School auditorium starting at 7 p.m. We will have a satellite location at El Antojo Botanero on Fessenden Street, as well as our traditional Zoom meeting with live translated captions.

The details are still being confirmed, but multiple city and state elected officials have expressed interest in attending the event to listen to our thoughts and discussion. We will also update you on that front with our email Sunday evening.

We look forward to seeing everyone and to a friendly and productive conversation.

Meeting zoom link:

03/09/2024

03/01/2024

Stop the BottleDrop!

02/28/2024

OBRC has shown time and time again that they either can’t or won’t manage their centers so they are not detrimental to surrounding areas and businesses where they are located.

Their landlord in Delta Park has been trying to evict them for years- so their new strategy is to purchase property to avoid having to answer to a landlord.

St. Johns already has lots of places that accept cans and bottles. BottleDrop is not welcome here.

Neighbors gathered on Tuesday to stand in solidarity against the potential plan, saying they are afraid of the potential for increased drug use and crime in the area based on activities at other BottleDrop locations around town.

02/24/2024

Copied from someone else’s post the St. Johns Portland, OR Facebook group.

Stop the Bottle Drop

The earlier post by Scott Gibson speculating on Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative’s OBRC plans for the old Dollar Tree store at 7740 N Lombard was correct. OBRC has started the land use approval process to turn this store into a full service bottle drop. https://www.portlandmaps.com/detail/permit/2024-011428-000-00-PR/5012239_did/?p=R156052

I view this as an existential threat to the safety of our neighborhood. Every other Portland Bottle Drop has become a huge magnet for camping, drugs, and crime. Many of you are familiar with the Delta Park Bottle Drop, and some have speculated that the Dollar Tree location is meant to replace it. That seems likely, considering that the landlord has sued OBRC over all of the crime and trash that the Bottle Drop as attracted:

https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2022/10/portland-developer-files-300k-suit-against-bottledrop-claiming-recycler-drew-trash-crime-to-delta-park.html

Delta Park isn’t an outlier. The other OBRC full-service Bottle Drops in Portland, and in other cities, have had huge impacts on neighborhood livability. The Hazelwood location has created a huge increase in noise, camping, drug use, trash, and crime:

https://www.koin.com/news/portland/its-not-safe-ne-portland-neighbors-fed-up-with-homeless-blame-bottledrop-center/

Willamette Week (usually noted for their progressive editorial positions) recently published a feature on efforts to repeal the Bottle Bill due in part to the deplorable conditions surrounding bottle return centers:

https://www.wweek.com/news/2024/02/07/fentanyl-threatens-oregons-cherished-bottle-bill/

The time to act on this is now. If we allow Bottle Drop to open, it will be nearly impossible to remove, and we know that we can’t count on the City for any help addressing crime or neighborhood impacts. I’m a lawyer, and I’m planning on filing suit on behalf of myself and anyone else who would like to join the suit as a plaintiff. I’d also like to help organize efforts to rally our elected officials and candidates for office. However, I can’t do this alone. Please email me at [email protected] if you’d like to lend your support.

As lawmakers prepare this month to consider a major expansion, some people question whether the Bottle Bill has drifted off course.

10/29/2023

Kenton Women's Village

St. Johns Village

Peninsula Crossing Trail (chosen after the City spent YEARS taking no action to stop the massive illegal campsite there- even after extreme violence was occurring)

Bybee Lakes Hope Center (formerly Wapato jail- rejected as a site because it was studied and found to cost at least double per bed of what other sites cost- PROMPTLY RAN OUT OF MONEY RECENTLY and went begging to the county for taxpayer money, which was given. Apparently the rich real estate developers who hand-picked and funded this site ran out of money to support it once it was running?)

Newly announced sanctioned RV site on N. Portland Blvd.

What do these sites have in common? When city officials think about where they want homeless people to go, they always think North Portland and St. Johns.

At various points as each of these projects were developed, people advocated for them because they thought if they came together around models they could support, the City would look elsewhere for the more experimental unproven models. They were wrong. Many lies and half truths were told to get support for each of these projects, such as the fact that they were for veterans or that background checks would be completed for residents.

This is not the end: the city will continue to load up St. Johns and North Portland with as many of these sites as they possibly can, even though this area has almost nothing in the way of treatment or services that can actually lift people out of homelessness, and transit access to those services is extremely poor. Has camping in this area actually been reduced as a result of the outsize number of these facilities?

Here's a challenge to name one other neighborhood outside of St. Johns that has had more than one of these sites opened in the last few years.

06/07/2022

Reminder: Do Good Multnomah is the same nonprofit running the St. Johns village.

An investigation says the agency moved too slowly and should have kept a closer eye on the groups with which they contracted to run the apartments.