PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – As Portland’s crime and homelessness continues, business owners in Old Town recently held a press conference calling on the city to clean up the area, pointing to constant violence and vandalism. Now, an Old Town resident tells KOIN 6 News he has safety concerns for elderly in the area.
 
An Old Town resident reached out to KOIN 6 News after seeing our story last week with businesses in Old Town to say he’s concerned for the elderly people who live in his building, because it’s hard to get around the neighborhood as the sidewalks are polluted.

A KOIN 6 News crew saw some areas of the sidewalks had bricks missing and were blocked by tents.

Neighbor Clayton Van Dayle says he also worries about the people living in those tents. Van Dayle says many people who used to live in his building are leaving the area because they’re afraid to even go down the street.

“Then there’s tents on fire, and it’s like, these are humans in here. It’s not just debris, these are humans, humans who belong to each other,” Van Dayle said.

His friend, who wanted to remain anonymous for safety, says he thinks there’s a lack of leadership and chaos in Old Town and worries for Van Dayle’s safety.

“You can’t go down the street feeling safe so you become prisoner in your own home. How much are we forced to take before we see a change?” Van Dayle’s friend said.

Van Dayle says people harass and threaten him, and noted that he saw a shooting while he was on a walk earlier this month.

“We came around the corner and bullets in the air, I thought ‘oh God,’ and we were going back to the building, I was running from it but running into it. There was a man just shooting into the air, kept putting clips in, wound up being 16 shots in the air. Put his pistol away, and off he walked,” Van Dayle said.

They say the city needs to do something to clean up the area.
 
“I know it’s not appropriate to just let it drift and hope it will heal itself. It’s not. 28 months of this kind of nonsense. You can’t expect the citizens to surrender everything. We don’t have anyone saying this is going to end. We’ve got to take control,” Van Dayle said.

KOIN 6 News reached out to the Portland Bureau of Transportation who said they recognize there are accessibility issues, but say the Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program is responsible for determining which campsites are eligible to be cleaned up.

“We recognize that there are impacts to accessibility and do hear from constituents about this issue. The Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction program is responsible for determining which campsites are eligible to be cleaned up, based on the criteria they have been given by City Hall,” PBOT said in a statement to KOIN 6 News.

The city’s Office of Management and Finance told KOIN 6 News “Americans with Disability Act violations are something the Homelessness and Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program takes very seriously and is working very hard to remedy the challenges across the City.”