OPB’s First Look: A year of the camping ban

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Good morning, Northwest.

It’s been a year since Portland enacted a ban on public camping to try to move more people off the streets and into shelter.

OPB’s Alex Zielinski reports on the effectiveness of the policy in its first year and whether it’s truly putting people on a path out of homelessness. Her story starts today’s newsletter.

In other news, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon lays out Democrats’ plans for the new Congress.

First Look will be off tomorrow for Veterans Day. We’ll be back in your inbox Thursday.

Here’s your First Look at Tuesday’s news.

— Bradley W. Parks

Top story

A year into Portland’s camping ban, some people face a cycle of citations and arrests

On a cold April day, a Portland police officer gave Renee Crisp a choice: Go to jail or talk to a city outreach worker about moving into housing.

It was the second time in three months that Crisp, 40, had watched city contractors stuff her tent, blankets, clothes and other belongings into trash bags as they told her she couldn’t camp on a public sidewalk.

Crisp chose to avoid jail and speak with an outreach worker, who she said took her to a downtown Portland day shelter, where she was only allowed to stay for three hours.

“And then I was back out on the street,” Crisp said, speaking to OPB on a sidewalk in Portland’s Old Town neighborhood in October, waiting in line for lunch at Blanchet House. “I had nowhere to sleep. I had no plan.”

That wasn’t the outcome Portland’s leaders envisioned when they first adopted the public camping ban in 2024. (Alex Zielinski)

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3 things to know

• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden said Democrats will hit the ground running in January and plan to use their newfound power to attempt to walk back major cuts to healthcare and safety net programs. But overhauling Trump’s signature policy achievement — the tax and spending bill known as H.R. 1 — would be a tall order and could face a veto. (Bryce Dole and Amelia Templeton)
• Resounding electoral victories typically offer a measure of job security to political leaders. But after a banner Election Day in which Democrats appear to have won their largest-ever majority in the Oregon House, Speaker Julie Fahey’s time atop the chamber is in question. (Dirk VanderHart)
• Attorneys for the families of workers who died in a paper mill incident in Longview, Washington, have filed a third lawsuit following the deadly chemical spill that killed 11 people this spring. The latest suit is more sweeping, targeting multiple wood product companies in the Southwest Washington city. (Erik Neumann)

Northwest headlines

• More than 800 Portland workers are on strike over wages (Alex Zielinski)
• Washington schools prepare to sue the state for failing to fund public education (Aspen Ford, Washington State Standard)
• How scientists are mapping fish, shellfish in Washington rivers (Courtney Flatt, NWPB)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• From widespread detentions to federal trial, OPB’s ‘The Crackdown’ chronicles immigration enforcement in Oregon
• Cities on Oregon’s North Coast report ongoing mail delivery issues

One more look

This Portland veteran revived the Veterans Day parade through passion and a willingness to learn

Portland had a Veterans Day parade for over 40 years, until it didn’t. There was no parade in 2020 because of the pandemic. Then the event lost its sponsor, and there were no plans to bring it back.That’s when Napoleon Hodgers stepped in.

“Wheels started turning in my head,” Hodgers said. “I was like, no, we’ve got to make this happen.”

Hodgers is a veteran of the Marine Corps, the Army National Guard and the Air Force Reserve. His main inspiration for restarting the parade was the Vietnam War veterans he met.

“When they came back, they weren’t thanked for their service. They were called names, spat upon, etc.,” Hodgers said. “I was thinking they sacrificed so much. The very least we can do is have a parade to honor their sacrifice.” (Geoff Norcross)

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