A lawsuit has been filed by physically disabled residents of Portland, Oregon charging the city of breaking the Americans with Disabilities Act by neglecting to remove homeless camps on public sidewalks.
According to the federal class-action complaint, Portland has failed to maintain sidewalk accessibility for those with mobility difficulties by permitting encampments to get out of control.
The 55-page complaint criticises municipal authorities for failing to address walkways that are “restricted by tent encampments and accompanying trash,” making them “inaccessible, unsafe, and unclean.”
The complaint claims that the city has failed and is still failing to keep its sidewalks free of trash and tent encampments, which is important to ensure that persons with mobility limitations may easily utilise those pathways.
Tiana Tozer, the main complainant in the case, is a two-time Paralympic medalist and a former humanitarian relief worker. She is 54 years old.
Tozer, who was hit by a drunk driver at the age of 20, now has a lifelong impairment that makes it difficult for her to walk.
She later won bronze and silver in the Paralympic Games in 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, which mandates that public facilities be accessible and is the same statute under which the latest case was filed, was pushed for by Tozer as a congressional intern in the early 1990s.
In the Lloyd District and Downtown Portland, Tozer allegedly “often finds herself needing to adjust her routes to get through tent encampments,” according to the lawsuit.
“Ms. Tozer has sometimes had to move in the roadway since the sidewalks are entirely obstructed by tent encampments,” the article continues.
The nine more listed plaintiffs in the lawsuit also suffer from a range of impairments, including ailments that mandate the use of a wheelchair or electric scooter or eyesight problems that require the use of a cane.
The complaint claims that people with mobility limitations have been severely harmed by the city’s unwillingness to stop and properly restrict the spread of tent encampments.
An inquiry for comment from DailyMail.com on Thursday night did not immediately get a response from Ted Wheeler, the mayor of Portland.
The complaint includes images of Portland sidewalks that are entirely blocked by tents and other debris, and it makes note that although some of them have been cleaned, others erupt in their place soon.
Portland’s unsheltered population has skyrocketed in recent years, beginning with the decline during the COVID-19 pandemic’s beginning.
5,228 persons in Multnomah County were homeless as of January, 3,057 of them were discovered sleeping on the streets.
Wheeler has tried to tighten regulations in locations where camping on the street is permitted in response to the issue’s rising outcry.
Wheeler issued an emergency order banning encampments close to risky highways and the city-approved small house communities that had been built to address the problem.
The injunction was extended last month to prohibit sidewalk tents along important roads that go to the city’s schools.
However, a large number of Portlanders claim that nothing has changed and that encampments always swiftly reappear following a sweep to remove them.
Bruce and Rebecca “Becky” Philip, who live in Portland, told DailyMail.com late last month that they’re “done with Portland” because of the growing number of homeless camps that have trickled out from the city centre and into the suburbs.
Bruce Philip said, “I’ve been here 65 years, but I’m done.” I have had enough with Portland.
He said that the homeless epidemic has destroyed not just a few areas, but the all of Portland. “What’s there to say, they walk in, take over the neighbourhood, do their drugs, play their loud music, and create a mess,” he said.
The pair said that they had not altered their minds about relocating and that the sweeps of the homeless camps had failed to find a solution.
Bruce Philip stated, “The city comes in, cleans it up, and then they come back.” I’m done, it’s a terrible circle.
Home sales in the neighbourhood are falling through, according to local realtor George Patterson, who said to DailyMail.com that the homeless encampments encroaching on homeowners’ front lawns is a problem that comes up with his customers “every day.”
In one instance, an early bid was made on a three-bedroom house with a price tag of about $700,000 that was adjacent to Multnomah Village, a recognised homeless camp.
We made an early bid on a house, but it fell through because of some issues with the Multnomah village site, according to Patterson.
I can state with certainty that homeless camps have an impact on property prices.