[Hpn] Dignity Village Update - TENT CITY Homeless in Portland OR USA
elijah huffman
hobo_poet@hotmail.com
Tue, 09 Jan 2001 15:54:42 -0500
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<P>Yes!!!!! Thank you!!! Keep it up!!! You give me hope!!! I wish I could be there!!!</P>
<P>You have gained my heart (by you, I mean all involved). This is the best piece of news I've heard for a lomg time. The co-ordinization. The organizational logistics.. You have to continue!. You have to win! Dxxx, I miss Portland right now. Let your effort be an example for all of us to follow!</P>
<P>'WE' are power!</P>
<P>. You and I seperate, are nothing!<BR><BR></P></DIV>
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<DIV></DIV>>From: "Remona Cowles" <REMONA@PORTLAND.QUIK.COM>
<DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: "Remona Cowles" <REMONA@PORTLAND.QUIK.COM>
<DIV></DIV>>To: <HPN@LISTS.IS.ASU.EDU>, <NASNA@EGROUPS.COM>
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: [Hpn] Dignity Village Update - TENT CITY Homeless in Portland OR USA
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 02:05:18 -0800
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Dignity Village
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Good morning, all troops and supporters on this list, good morning Tim
<DIV></DIV>>Harris of the Real Change, the Big Issue in Wales and LA, good morning
<DIV></DIV>>DC, LA, Seattle, Calgary, London, good morning America, Canada, and the
<DIV></DIV>>UK.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Dignity Village, this country's first fully mobile tent city here in
<DIV></DIV>>Portland, Oregon, USA enters into the third week of its existence on its
<DIV></DIV>>third site. We are presently located on a grassy triangle of ODOT
<DIV></DIV>>(Oregon Department of Transport) land next to the Morrison Bridge.
<DIV></DIV>>Shopping cart parades are our stock in trade, our "Burnside Cadillacs,"
<DIV></DIV>>as shopping carts are locally known, were seen by millions of viewers
<DIV></DIV>>across the US and Canada the day after Christmas in a parade led and
<DIV></DIV>>marshalled by our number one soldier John Reese, a double-amputee
<DIV></DIV>>Vietnam-era vet in his wheelchair, when we were cruelly driven from our
<DIV></DIV>>second site by ODOT and the Portland Police. Dignity Village now has
<DIV></DIV>>several cell phones. Our phone number is (503) 347 9831. We have a
<DIV></DIV>>Port-O-Let, light, heat and we are presently building a cookshack. We
<DIV></DIV>>now have a camp truck. We have a legal team, support teams, an outreach
<DIV></DIV>>team, a site-selection team and a press release machine. We have come a
<DIV></DIV>>long way from the doorways, parking lots, from under the bridges and on
<DIV></DIV>>the mission floors where many of us formerly lived and we are not going
<DIV></DIV>>back. As far as we are concerned, we have solved the problem of
<DIV></DIV>>affordable living space which continually climbs beyond the reach of
<DIV></DIV>>poor people in this country. It is called nylon and it comes in the form
<DIV></DIV>>of tents. We say, "Two, three, many tent cities!"
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Last night Dignity Village held its first tumultous village
<DIV></DIV>>organizational meeting. Thank you Paul and Shira of Portland Copwatch
<DIV></DIV>>for the use of your loud hailer. Some of us are hard of hearing, some of
<DIV></DIV>>us soft-spoken, there is a lot of background noise at our present site
<DIV></DIV>>and it is essential that the voice of each and every one of us be heard.
<DIV></DIV>>It was decided that these meetings will take place at least twice and
<DIV></DIV>>possibly three times a week to allow us to hammer out the form of good
<DIV></DIV>>rule and governance that the village will eventually live by. Much was
<DIV></DIV>>accomplished and much remains to be done. We are growing at an
<DIV></DIV>>exponential rate which clearly demonstrates the need that our tent city
<DIV></DIV>>satisfies. We have many problems of logistics and mobility that must be
<DIV></DIV>>quickly dealt with for our very survival as an entity. We have many good
<DIV></DIV>>and committed soldiers and supporters, our support steadily grows in the
<DIV></DIV>>community as a whole.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>> Much love and respect to all soldiers and crew. There is only one
<DIV></DIV>>direction in which we can go and that is ever forward.
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Jack Tafari
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>street roots,
<DIV></DIV>>For those who can't afford free speech
<DIV></DIV>>http://www.streetroot.org
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>Dignity Village
<DIV></DIV>>tentcitypdx@yahoo.com
<DIV></DIV>>http://www.poorpeoplesguide.org
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>>
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<DIV></DIV>>_______________________________________________
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