City Finally Removes Fences from Chapman and Lownsdale Squares

This is a press release from the PR committee.

Occupy Portland refutes the city’s damage claims and celebrates the parks’ return to the public.

PORTLAND, OR- After months of having Chapman and Lownsdale squares closed off to the public, the city of Portland has finally decided to remove the surrounding fences. The parks have been fenced off to the public for more than two months, since Novemnber 13, after the forced eviction of Occupy Portland protesters by the Portland Police Bureau, which resulted in several injuries including that of the still-recovering Justin James Bridges. The two parks have a long history of being used for political protest and citizens were disappointed that fences rendered them inaccessible for more than two months this winter.

The dire predictions of Commissioner Fish’s office of “ground contamination” never bore true nor has the claim of $85k of damage been truthful either. Dan Forner, retired Parks and Recreation employee and member of Laborer’s Local 483 released a statement on Dec 21st stating that $28,000 of bathroom repairs were needed prior to June 2011 and many other repairs were part of the backlog of maintenance needed. The disparity of the repair list Fish’s office published and the actual costs of items are still being determined, but after initial investigation of backlog of repairs provided by request by the parks and rec department that the costs of repairs were wildly inflated. For example to assess and repair a single bollard and chain prior to the Occupation the total cost was $153.96*. The repair list from Fish states that repairing 5 bollards and one chain will cost $4,000**.

“Replacing two benches and repairing seven others will cost $16,500? Are the benches made of platinum?” said Kip Silverman, Occupy Portland volunteer “The majority of the repairs needed were already in the city backlog prior to the Occupation. The city inflated costs of the repairs without explanation and attributed them to damage caused by Occupy Portland without merit. The city used the occupation in a false narrative about damages to the parks to discredit the movement and hide the fact that city continues to tighten its public services budget due to poor management and planning and also its irresponsible banking practices- the very thing Occupiers are protesting against.”

Occupy Portland continues to organize from its indoor community space on SE 12th and Oak St. A place to meet, organize, discuss and learn. However, open public spaces are seen as crucial to fostering dialogue about improving our society’s failings and Occupy Portland intends to make use of such spaces to strengthen the movement and push for collective solutions.

“We are thrilled to see the public parks re-opened to The Public. Chapman and Lownsdale Squares -and Terry Schrunk plaza as well- are in the heart of Portland’s Justice and Economic center. They play a critical role in the history of this city. We will celebrate their return.” said Kip.
* Portland Parks and Rec Work Order 156063 Issued 9/14/2011
**http://www.katu.com/news/local/Lownsdale-Chapman-repairs-to-cost-estimated-85850-134771708.html

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This entry was posted on February 3, 2012 at 1:17 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.