[HPN] 1,100 meet to PROTEST limits on meal programs in Portland, OR, USA FWD USA FWD

[Tom Boland]

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/00/02/st021402.html
FWD  The Oregonian - Monday, February 14, 2000
     Portland, Oregon, USA

CHURCH'S SUPPORTERS MEET TO PROTEST LIMITS ON USAGE

Many of the people attending hope to see the City Council
overturn a ruling concerning a Southeast Portland church

By Wade Nkrumah and Paul Duchene of The Oregonian staff

	More than 1,100 people attended a meeting Sunday to have their say
about a city hearings officer's ruling that limits attendance and revokes
meal programs at a Southeast Portland church.
	And if those people have their way -- as many of them plan to
during City Council consideration of the matter March 1 -- the council will
overturn the mid-January decisions by Elizabeth Normand.
	That was the overwhelming message of speeches and testimonials
during a 90-minute afternoon gathering at First United Methodist Church in
downtown Portland, where the 800-seat sanctuary overflowed with a
cross-denominational mix of religious leaders and worshippers.
	The meeting was a show of support for Sunnyside Centenary United
Methodist Church, which has been saddled with attendance limits for
services and had its conditional-use permit for two weekly meals revoked by
Normand, a city land-use hearings officer.
	She made the decision last month, but it has been appealed to the
City Council, which is scheduled to consider the appeal March 1. Meanwhile,
on Friday, the city attorney's office recommended backing off on the
attendance limit while keeping Normand's recommended restrictions on other
church programs.
	Normand's ruling, which said only 70 people could use the
400-person sanctuary during Sunday and Wednesday morning services, outraged
Portland area religious leaders and worshippers. They denounced it as an
unconstitutional infringement on religious freedoms, protected by the First
Amendment.
	But the ruling also was disheartening for people long-associated
with the Sunnyside meal program, such as Pat Schwiebert.
	"Maybe we should put up warning signs at our churches saying,
'Caution, you are entering a compassion zone.' "
	She said the meals program is much more than a service for people
who are homeless, and enjoys widespread support within the church and
Sunnyside neighborhood.
	"Our churches should be proud that we can offer food and compassion
for just a few hours," she said. "We don't have to apologize for that."
	The feeling was much the same Sunday morning inside Sunnyside
Church, where members filed into the sturdy brick building for the 11 a.m.
service, with reporters boosting attendance close to the limit of 70
attendees.
	"I don't agree with this," said an elderly parishioner who wouldn't
give her name. "It's driving members away."
	But outside, church neighbors Gary Beaver and his wife, Julia, were
visibly upset about the situation.
	"I think people are afraid to talk," Gary Beaver said.
	He cited threats from transients but also said it's difficult to
speak out against the program without sounding cold-hearted.
	"I testified in December," he said. "I couldn't sit back and not
say anything. It's the proximity of the park that concerns me. People
having sex on benches and syringes in a play structure? Why should that be
part of a child's day?"
	After repeatedly cleaning up empty bottles, trash and drug
paraphernalia, the couple finally built a $1,000 fence around part of their
backyard at Southeast 36th Avenue and Yamhill Street after Beaver's wife
was told by neighbors that a transient was living there.
	"I confronted him -- he was about 6-foot-5 and I'm 5-foot-3," Julia
Beaver said. "He said, 'This is my place.' I said, 'This is my yard!' and
finally he grumbled and left."
	"I know this is an emotional issue on both sides," Gary Beaver
said, " but if this was a bar and there was this kind of behavior going on
-- would it still be in business?"
	Most of Normand's 30-page ruling deals with the meals program. The
review was requested by leadership of Sunnyside Neighborhood Association in
response to complaints from some residents that the meals were attracting
people involved in alcohol and drug-related activities.
	Normand's decision would end a weekly Wednesday night dinner and
Friday night coffeehouse gathering. But her relatively brief mention of
restrictions on the number who could attend worship services is what
propelled the issue from neighborhood skirmish to a question of
constitutional rights.
	Swelling opposition in recent weeks to that decision seemed to be
overshadowing the status of the meals program. But the religious
community's staunch support of the Sunnyside program was strongly affirmed
in comments by Valerie Chapman, who helps operate a similar meals program
at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Buckman neighborhood.
	"The crisis at Sunnyside is symptomatic of deeper problems in our
area," she said. "This is a livable city . . . but the hidden costs, the
human costs, are very high. The city has developed downtown and encouraged
gentrification. And by default has evicted the poor."
	"Communities of faith," she added, "as those who have gathered
today, find themselves taking up the slack."

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