PORTLAND, Ore. – Day five of a homeless sweep along the Springwater Corridor is focused on the Beggar’s Tick wildlife refuge, and the trail that runs nearby.
A city official told KGW most of those living in Beggar’s Tick moved out over the past six weeks, thanks to outreach ahead of the sweep. But the remaining homeless campers were being told Thursday was the day to move along.
A homeless woman named Laura said the crews are giving her and others the day to make several trips removing belongings from the area.
“Today’s the day no matter what, to get as much into storage as we can and find another place we can at least take a nap, where we don’t have to worry about getting up and taking care of this and getting it done,” said Laura.
Nearby, inmate work crews and contractors were cleaning up camps already abandoned.
As of Wednesday the city had accumulated some disturbing but telling statistics:
Over four days of work, crews have cleaned up:
- 1,770 needles
- 22 gallons of urine
- 11 gallons fecal matter
- 16 propane tanks
- 3 gallons motor oil
- 2 gallons of paint
- 30 tires
- A mattress, chair and other furniture were removed from Johnson Creek
- Five 40-yard dumpsters of trash (for reference, 1 dump truck is 10 yards)