Portland Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty criticized the Oregon Department of Transportation for spending nearly $1 million to place boulders on its property to deter homeless campers.
In a video posted to her YouTube channel Wednesday, Hardesty is seen standing in front of a pile of the pale beige boulders near the Interstate 405-U.S. 26 interchange in Southwest Portland. She said the boulders were a nuisance in their own right and a waste of “precious” taxpayer funds.
Hardesty, a first-term commissioner and longtime activist, suggested the Department of Transportation spend those funds on shelter for the homeless instead: “ODOT, how about providing some tents? How about some tiny houses?”
The boulders and other physical barriers that prevent or deter encampments have lately become a focal point in the debate over government response to homelessness. Some see the barriers as a hostile and ineffective method to control illegal campsites. Others take a not-in-my-backyard approach to homelessness regardless of the means and cost. Traffic officials say camping beside freeways and highways is unsafe for campers and drivers.
For ODOT, the boulders discourage campers but at an expense to taxpayers. The agency has spent more than $800,000 this year placing boulders at five sites in an effort an agency spokesman called “aggressive landscaping.”
Boulders are a last resort solution meant to keep people from unsafe areas near freeways, the agency said. Officials tried planting rosebushes at the site near the I-405 interchange first, but campers tore them out.
In her video, Hardesty said the boulders were not an acceptable strategy. People camped on the strip of land near the freeway because they had no place else to go, she said. The rocks only forced the campers into neighborhoods, which drew loud complaints from residents.
“Is this a good use of your transportation dollars?” Hardesty said. “I am outraged that we are using public money to displace people that we cannot provide housing for.”
-- Gordon R. Friedman