A 64-year-old Portland business owner, Paul Rudinsky, set up a tent outside City Hall to protest a new homeless shelter being placed next door to his Pearl District apartments. Within hours, police arrested him for trespassing. Meanwhile, across the city, sprawling homeless camps line sidewalks, parks, and storefronts with little to no enforcement.
Rudinsky owns the Oro Apartments and says he’s worried about the city’s new “low barrier” overnight shelter opening on Northwest Northrup Street. Low barrier means people don’t have to be sober or meet other requirements to stay, as long as they aren’t actively using inside the facility. Rudinsky argues this approach invites chaos, worsens crime, and threatens both businesses and residents.
To prove his point, he pitched a tent 15 yards from City Hall’s doors, roughly the same distance he says he’ll soon face from people lining up outside his property each night. Police called it trespassing…