Dignity Village's topics - tribe.net

Dignity Village and the future of the Earth

2008-07-03T21:11:53Z

I just sent the following message to MAHVI the moderator:

Hi! I am writing an article in which I am using Dignity Village as an example for some points I am making, but I want to make sure that the statements I make in the article about Dignity Village are correct. The DV homepage is down, the myspace page doesn't show any sign of activity since Aug 2007, and the contact info on the myspace page doesn't work either .... these are not good signs. Hm. But anyway, I thought you or someone you know could check on what I wrote. I could send either the entire draft or just the section that talks about Dignity Village, depending on how much reading time you have at the computer. Thanks.

In solidarity,
Gayle

PS Although I am a Portlander, a good part of the last few years have been spent in the jungles of Ecuador, so that is why I may have missed some significant Dignity Village news.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

But after sending the message, I decided to post the section of the draft that talks about Dignity Village here on this tribe, so that others could read and comment. I may have written about DV a little too idealistically; I based what I wrote about on what I had read on the DV web page some time ago, but I know that creating a community, especially of wounded people, is not easy and I am sure there were many internal problems. Nevertheless, I think that what I wrote is valid in principle. But I would like to make sure that it doesn't sound too wacky/idealistic, and also doesn't distort the history of the relations between DV and the City of Portland.

[section of article follows:]

.... Here in Portland, known as one of the most liberal and sustainable-minded cities in the US, if not the world, there is a community called Dignity Village. It started out as a tent city of homeless people who banded together to form a community of mutual sharing, protection and support. They organized as a community, kept the place clean as best they could, and banned alcohol and drugs in the tent city and helped to protect each other from the dangers homeless people are subjected to, etc. The community kept being forced to move from place to place as residents all over the city did not want a homeless tent city by them. They proposed to the city that the city lease them some property in exchange for volunteer labor by the community members helping maintain the city. The city rejected this proposal. Finally, the city allowed them to move to an old parking lot out by the airport, in an effort to put them as far out of site in as yucky a site as possible, noisy and asphalted and full of fumes. Nevertheless, the community organized, cleaned up the site, started planting gardens and building a true community, and then started writing grants to foundations to help them to create a real ecological community, with cob houses (a small cob house or strawbale house can be built for a few hundred dollars if you have volunteer labor, and of course everyone was available to labor for everyone else), water catchment systems, bicycle generators so that people could generate their own power by their own labor together; fruit and nut trees and permacultured gardens -- basically looking to create a true community, self-sufficient, self-reliant, and self-regulating, working on mutual support, mutual protection, mutual help, and offering volunteer labor to the city as rent for using this land.

The city of Portland, this famously liberal and sustainable city, has been unrelentingly hostile to Dignity Village and has refused to allow this kind of community to be built on city land. The phrase always repeated by the Portland city commissioners and the local daily has been that "Dignity Village is a failure." WHY is Dignity Village a "failure"? BECAUSE people have remained in Dignity Village for the long term. Homeless services are deemed "successful" only if they succeeded in transitioning homeless people back into the system, working a wage job, paying rent, buying stuff, turning on the TV every night as anesthesia. Dignity Village, on the other hand, was trying to create entirely new institutions. Long-term community. Real community.

Even here in liberal Portland, this is too revolutionary. It is absolutely unthinkable to allow people to live outside the money economy. Everyone MUST be dependent on money in order to live -- that is the first commandment of this economic system. People who live outside the money system cannot be tolerated. That is why self-sufficient indigenous people and subsistence farmers the world over cannot be tolerated. Self-sufficiency and independence from the money system cannot be tolerated. If you want land to live on and be self-sufficient, you have to subscribe to their commandment that land is "property," a "thing" to be bought and sold, and you must have money to legally acquire the land, to continue to pay property taxes, and to get all the stuff you need to create your self-sufficiency. You cannot do it unless you have acquired money somehow through the money system, and unless you have a continued source of money, however modest.

The system is meant to make it impossible to escape from dependence on money. It is one thing if money is used as a way to simplify barter so that people can more easily exchange surplus goods with one another. It is quite something else when you have to have money in order to live. You have to have money even to have a place to sleep and live. You have to have money in order to eat. You have to have money in order to have water to drink. You have to have money to keep yourself warm. Without money, you literally cannot survive.

So your life is regulated by the need for money, and money makes most of the decisions about where people live, how people spend their waking hours, what they choose to study in school, and how they interact with each other. In a tribal society, people's way of organizing their interactions is according to what kin relationship they have; in modern society, people's way of organizing their interaction is according to what money relationship they have -- employer/employee, vendor/customer, ... etc. You may be lucky enough to have a job you like, but whether or not you like your job really us irrelevant. In the landof the free, most people are forced take some meaningless job in some factory or office or store.

You cannot just move on to some unused spot of land, build a strawbale house for next to nothing, plant a garden and keep some chickens to feed yourself, catch rainwater to drink, make a low-tech sawdust composting toilet to poop in, and basically live, well, like "poor" people do throughout the Third World. (The word "poor," when used by the development folks, lumps together self-sufficient subsistence farmers with people who are starving and lack the necessities of life. If you make "a dollar a day" it's all the same.) Self-sufficient subsistence farmers and indigenous people are under attack the world over, their lands being taken and ripped apart by mining companies, lumber companies, etc., or taken over by corporations for mass monocropped global agribusiness plantations. Once people's lands are lost or destroyed, they must have money to live, and then they become part of the labor pool for agribusiness sweatshops. People work in these conditions because the only other choice is to starve, literally.

Watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bhodyt4fmU

So the system absolutely depends on people being forced to depend on money. And that is life for homeless people is everywhere made hell. Because if you don't keep working at your job (no matter how much you hate it), don't keep paying your mortgage at the bank, etc, you could lose your home and be homeless. You would be living in hell. Just as, in Third World countries, the threat of starvation is necessary to force people to work in sweatshops (so all self-sufficiency must be destroyed) so, in countries like the US, the threat of homeless hell is necessary to force people to keep paying their mortgages on their overexpensive homes.

So this is why a community like Dignity Village was such a threat even to a supposedly liberal, sustainability-minded city like Portland. If people who are living outside the money economy (as homeless people do) were to establish communities where they live a decent life through helping each other rather than through the money economy -- then that would demonstrate that it is possible to live a decent life outside the money economy. It would demonstrate that you do not have to slave at that shit job at that cubicle, because there are other ways to live and have a decent life. In fact, you can have a rich and satisfying life without things -- without buying stuff all the time in an effort to fill the inner void. Making your own music in the evenings, rather than consuming some corporate-packaged canned entertainment. It can be deeply satisfying to work together with others in a common effort of creating a good life.

This cannot be tolerated. And that is why even in Portland, although the remnants of Dignity Village still camp by the airport, the project of the permanent self-sufficient community was opposed. Homeless people have to represent life in hell, not a living alternative way of life.

But -- right now, according to official statistics, about 1/3 of 1% of the US population is homeless. But what happens when it becomes five percent, ten percent of the population, or even more? The governments will have no choice but to step out of the way and allow people to band together and create their own alternatives, alternatives that don't require money.

The collapse is inevitable, for a number of reasons. But the collapse doesn't have to happen as one big crash. It can be a smooth downward glide, which is the best possible scenario. This is what in fact appears to be happening, because (according to what I get) the spirit guides of our species know that adding more trauma on top of trauma will just make it harder for our species to heal. They are trying to work together with us to help us to exit from the system gradually, building alternative institutions gradually, as we move into the Transformation....

...

posted in Dignity Village - 2 replies

Dignity on Myspace

2007-05-27T10:55:03Z

The Dignity Village homepage is currently not functioning, we're working on setting up a new and improved version but in the meantime our internet presence is at www.myspace.com/dignityvillage. I just ran across this page while searching for images, sorry I haven't posted sooner, I'll do my best to keep up with the activity here!

posted in Dignity Village - 1 reply

anyone still there?

2007-05-25T22:23:03Z

hi, i've been waiting for awhile to see any activity,
just wondering if there is still anyone there at Dignity
Village.
also i'm wondering how to go about starting a similar village
here in iowa, any help would be greatly apreciated-

posted in Dignity Village - 3 replies

mexico city sister camp?

2007-05-25T22:22:04Z

i'm in mexico city and just was introduced to a camp here to the south of the city. It was seized and people began building their homes and community about ten years ago as part of a land reform platform. Is anybody interested in hearing more and maybe making a connection of some kind with this group? maybe i can at least get their story and pass it on to folks.

by the way, i'm a portlander and have worked with groups like yellow brick road street outreach and made visits to dignity village...once when rabbit was showing the film about the albany landfill community. i can't remember now what it was called.

posted in Dignity Village - 1 reply

Pagan Community Cafe & Outreach Program

2004-11-16T07:05:13Z

Back in “91 ”to “93 ”when I was in college in Burlington, VT. I volunteered at an Anti-Profit (not Non-Profit) Cafe called “The Last Elm Cafe ”. Its was quite a experience. You go in, pick an open shift on the calendar & sign up for it. During that shift the cafe was yours to do with within the rules of the cafe. I mostly signed up for night shifts & always booked Singer/Songwriters & bands to play there. We had a magazine/newspaper rack with every underground & political activist rag you could find on it. We host meeting space for EarthFirst! To Food Not Bombs or whatever other political group needed a place to meet. This place was really a special place. I used to let kids crash at my place & started bringing them to the cafe at night and got them involved. They have since closed the place down. But it gave me some of my best memories. Some years ago I found myself down & out while living here during my daughter ’s pregnancy & discovered Sister ’s of the Road Caf é. I thought this is great. I returned to Santa Barbara after my granddaughter was born. I hung at a Coffee shop called Sienna. The back porch was always full of the homeless kids & local teens. The new owner decided he wanted to be more like Starbucks & started running the kids off. Slowly the kids were run off from every Coffee shop in SB. One day I was sitting on the back porch of Sienna talking to my friend Kina about how it was sad the street kids didn ’t have a safe social hangout away from the more frightening homeless population & the local subculture kids as well. Our friend Candy was sitting there whom at the moment was couch surfing. The only reason Candy hadn ’t been run off was she had once been the manager of the Cafe. I was telling Kina about the Coop Coffee shop in VT & the Homeless Diner in Portland & said it would be nice if we had a hybrid form of them in SB for the kids. Candy was like I get involve totally. Kina was like lets do it. Well it didn ’t happen for a few reasons. 1 being the high high high rent in SB for the space. When I move to Portland. Kina & me was talking about it, & Kina was like that go over real well here in Portland. So I started hammering out the original vision with some revisions.

Before I go into my Vision, allow me to point out a few things I ’ve learned over the years.
1. I was a teenage street kid myself once.
2. I have found that a vast majority of the street kids I ’ve met & helped over the years were Pagans. Misinform ones but Pagans never the lest.
3. Most of the street & local subculture teens are drawn to coffee shops.
4. Street kids won ’t go near homeless resource places due to mistrust of the older, harder homeless people.
5. Most street kids are part of the subculture scene & connect with the local subculture teens for survival as well as friendships.
6. Many of the kids that I watch growing up on the streets in SB, ended up with places to live & getting jobs, guess where? Yep! At the very coffee shops they hung at earlier.
7. I have found that you can help these kids find normal lives without having to change their dress style, hair color etc. Look at most of the kids around town who work at say the Fresh Pot Cafes.

Heres my Vision:
A Pagan mentored, Teen volunteer run Coop Coffee Shop, With a Pagan Community Outreach Office to take care of the people in the Pagan Community. Outreach programs, for street kids, out of place subculture local teens, Counseling for Pagan Teens (why not? They have counseling for gay teens.).

We would staff the Cafe with older Pagan mentors to guide the Teen Volunteers. Street kids could volunteer for credit towards coffee & other drinks just like they do at Sisters of the Road Cafe for food. It would be The Teen Cafe & Pagan Community Outreach Center or something along those line. With their own music, their art on the walls, etc.. etc …It be open for the Community at large (have to make money to run the cafe, plus allow customers to see that these kids deserve a chance.) but mainly tailor towards the Teens & young adults. The Cafe could be a springboard & Community outreach base to help the larger Pagan Community. Like helping single & battered Pagan Mamas, Single Pagan Mamas, and Legal help for Single Pagan Parents fighting non- pagan parents for child custody on grounds of pagan beliefs. (How many single parents lost custody battles because they were pagan?) The Cafe could not only host fund raising musical gigs & art gallery shows to raise money for the Cafe & Pagan Outreach Program, but also host Pagan Land Fundraising events. The space could be used to hold workshops, pagan/wiccan/druidic study groups etc …. There are tons & tons of thing that a Pagan run Community Coffee shop could be used for. Every penny made would go back into the Cafe & the Programs it supports. It be all volunteer, including the Pagan mentors & staff. My mind is to clutter with ideas to get them all down. But I think you all know what potential such a space for us would do in the Community at large. I was also thinking that the Cafe could have book shelves full of donated Pagan books, magazines & literature as well a soical & political stuff.

What do you think we could do with such a space? Comments? Like to make this vision come to light? Contact me & we can work to set such a meeting up with those interested in the Pagan Community.

You can call me on my cell at (805) 689-2690. Call leave a message & I ’ll call back.
~Gypsy

posted in Dignity Village - 0 replies

Question!

2004-10-21T02:00:55Z

I do not understand the sign "homeless front" It looks like you DO have a home! With wonderful and beautiful people with whom you share!

posted in Dignity Village - 3 replies

Why does Portland need a campground for homeless people?

2004-08-23T18:43:43Z

How would a camp like this benefit the community?

Why should the city of Portland support such an effort?

Businesses downtown complain about homeless people urinating in their doorways. Visitors complain about homeless people panhandling them. Neighbors complain about homeless people causing them fear of crime. Parents complain that homeless people scare their children. Library patrons complain that homeless people smell bad. Neighborhood associations complain that services for homeless people attracts more homeless people to their neighborhoods. Grocers complain that homeless people steal their carts. What can be done? How to relieve these problems?

A campground would provide a safe haven to homeless people. Somewhere they can sleep without interfering in the operation of business downtown. Somewhere they can be safe from the drug dealers and crime scene rather than being confused with this criminal crowd. Somewhere they can use a sanitary restroom or get clean to look for housing and employment. Somewhere they can receive mail and phone messages from landlords and employers. Somewhere they can hook-up with service providers, outreach workers, and medical assistance. Somewhere they can store their belongings, prepare healthy meals, network with others looking for work and housing. A campground would solve a host of problems from relieving health issues, providing safty and resources, to giving service providers a good central location to hook-up with those most in need of their services.

Background
Currently it is illegal to be homeless in Portland. The basic human necessities of living have been criminalized for ninteen years now. An anti-camping ordinance makes it illegal to sleep anywhere outside including on public property. Loitering, trespassing, exclusions, and other laws are also being used to keep homeless people on the move. Yet, homeless people have no where else to go. Most homeless people in Portland originated from neighborhoods here and desire to remain here, near their family, friends, and other support networks. It is not practical nor moral to expect homeless people to give up their communities and go elsewhere. Even if they could, other communities don't want homeless people either.
The numbers of homeless people, especially youth and families has been growing despite the so-called economic boom. Businesses, property owners, and local police have been frustrated and overwhelmed by the problems homelessness poses for them. People sleeping in doorways, under bridges and overpasses, hidden out on porches and in backyards. Public restrooms are few and far between and are open for only limited hours creating santation problems when homeless people are forced to use alleys and doorways for relieving themselves. Lack of protection from the weather and unsanitary conditions lead to disease and infections for homeless people, many without health insurance to pay for care. Access to storage facilities for clothes, medical and hygiene items, and other belongings complicates the problems. A shortage of services such as shelters, medical services, showers, laundry facilities, clothing and food make daily survival for people without homes a difficult endeavor, at best.

Without stability, storage, sleeping and sanitation facilities homeless people are unable to find and maintain employment, training, permanent housing, and the other things they require to get back on their feet. This catch 22 perpetuates the problems and is bad for everyone. To overcome the current crisis of homelessness we need to accept the premise that for every human being, we need to provide a basic minimal safety net for survival. Emergency shelter, restrooms, showers, laundry facilities, storage, phones and mail for employer and landlord contacts, food, and clothing. Without these a homeless person cannot overcome their circumstance and get back on their feet.

Not to say that camping should be our ideal for a bottom line in housing. We are a wealthy nation and there is no reason why every American should not be able to have a decent safe and warm home. But, until we meet that goal we need to stop criminalizing homeless people and start providing a place where they can legally and safely go to find--without a waiting list--without difficult obstacles or requirements--a safe and sanitary place to survive.

Some people will argue that a campground in the city of Portland is unsanitary and poses a health hazard to the greater community. The lack of sanitation facilities is currently unsafe and is a health risk to everyone--homeless and housed alike. Being forced to deficate and urinate in public places for lack of facilities is dangerous to us all. A campground with porta potties or 24 hour public restroom access is the solution.

Homeless people are often accused of being drunks, drug-addicts, and criminals. Anyone living in circumstances where their very lives are in immediate and constant danger--anyone dealing with survival--anyone living in a war zone would begin to steal, prostitute, or lie. Anyone dealing with survival in a war zone might become mentally unstable, depressed, develop serious anxieties, become violent, paranoid, or suicidal. Anyone dealing with survival in a war zone might be tempted to seek temporary solice by numbing their mind with alcohol or narcotics. Don't tell yourself lies. Living on the streets is dangerous and homeless people know it and feel it every second they are out there. Hitting the streets with nowhere to go is a violent traumatic event that just keeps on going--but unlike the energizer bunny it's not pink, fuzzy, or cute. Despite these facts, most homeless people do not become criminals or drug or alcohol users. On the streets, integrity, dignity, privacy, and respect for one another are highly valued. People without this strength of character don't hit the streets--they committ suicide. Period.

The fact of the matter is homeless people are the constant and unprotected victims of crime. Drug dealers, sexual predators, theives, and violent people prey on homeless people day in and day out. Violent, hate filled punks troll skid row neighborhoods looking to beat up homeless people, set them on fire, and harrass them for mere entertainment. The police seldom take serious these reports, leaving homeless people to fend for themselves. "Poverty pimps" offering exorbitantly overpriced flophouses for the night, check cashing and loan shark businesses offer to relieve emergency financial problems for exorbitant fees, immoral landlords charge high application fees knowing full well they are going to turn down certain, if hopefull, renters. The police issue a constant barrage of "nuisance" tickets to homeless people in an attempt to harrass homeless people to move on and use tactics to intimidate homeless people that violate the basic civil rights enjoyed by every other person in Portland. The pressure on homeless people is enormous. What crime, drug and alcohol use that is found in the homeless community should be no shock to anyone.

posted in Dignity Village - 0 replies

http://www.DignityVillage.org

2004-08-23T18:09:48Z

Latest Updates: Below are the latest updates to our web site and about Dignity Village.
Monday, August 9, 2004
Internationally and just in is this report about the recent Dairin Matsuri festival at Nagai Park, also many pics of our Osaka comrades' recent conference that we add to our updated Homeless in Japan page. More reports will follow.

Nationally, poor people are on the move. Fiery activist Cheri Honkala and an army of homeless men, women and children are currently marching across New Jersey and about to descend on the Republican Convention.

Regionally, NIMBYism blasts our Tent City 4 brothers and sisters. Here's a recent story from the King County Journal, also Tent City 4's info page.

Locally, we're pleased to post these pics of Patricia Cook working in the gardens of Dignity. Look for Patricia's "Building Community" in an upcoming WRAP zine.

Monday, August 2, 2004
Regionally, King County, Washington's Tent City 4 is in the news almost daily. Here's today's story about our brothers' and sisters' up-coming move from St. Brendans to nearby Woodinville, also "Inside Seattle's tent city debate" from the latest Street Roots.

Locally, the big news is that the City OKs $11 million for affordable housing which may also be found in Street Roots' latest issue. And while mayoral candidate Francesconi grandstands and some of the the money goes to the Transition to Housing project which includes our friends at JOIN, the vast amount of the money can only be used for bricks and mortar projects.

Meanwhile Dignity Village continues its straw and clay approach to building affordable housing. Dignity thanks the students from Portland State's Community Development Club who came out Friday to help us build the deck for our next cob house. Here's the Dignity News Release Crew's latest update, printed in full, from August's Portland Alliance.

Homeless people are dying of neglect on the streets all over the world in ever-increasing numbers, some to the violence of bush beaters who seek out isolated campers, others to diseases like AIDS. We're pleased to post this link to photographer Judy Jones' eye-opening spread THE BONES OF THE HOMELESS WILL RISE TO HAUNT THOSE THAT HAD CLOSED EYES and the letter she sent this Village.

Note that Ms. Jones says that while taking these photographs she was so overwhelmed at one point that she left her camera on a bus bench and never bought another. It is our hope that some kind benefactor somewhere send photographer Judy a camera that she may continue taking her haunting and awareness-raising pix.

Finally, our comrades from Osaka's Nagai Park Tent Village sent along this photograph from their recent exhibition taken during July's Dairin Matsuri festival. The exhibition depicts poor people's housing alternatives from around the world.

Monday, July 26, 2004
Regionally, Bothel's City Council approves Tent City 4's permitted land use but sets some pretty stringent conditions. Here's the story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Last week Tacoma/Pierce County's Coalition for the Homeless visited Dignity Village's coalition OF the homeless to check our model and each group was probably equally curious about the other. Here's the story about their road trip from the Tacoma Tribune. Meanwhile as Tacoma's service providers check a number of possible models and options, Winter is coming on fast and might beat a tent city to town.

Many school groups stop by Dignity to help us build and mud our houses, some coming from as far away as Idaho and Alaska. Dignity Village would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff and students of the City Survival Summer School of the Southeast Island School District who came all the way from Thorne Bay, Alaska, to help us build. Big thanks!

Monday, July 19, 2004
Ben Percival's essay Dignity Village: Creative Asset takes a look at what art can do for cities and how this relates to the citizens of Dignity Village.

Here's more about the Mumford Award from the latest issue of Street Roots, also more about the ten year plan to combat homelessness in Helping the Homeless from the recent Daily Vanguard.

If you wonder about what happened to Denver's Tent City Initiative and how that magnificent initiative got shot down, check Kimberly Peterson's Camping Commonalities.

We like pics and so apparently do visitors to our site. Here's a pic of Dignity's Treasurer and outreach coordinator Tim, looking every inch the mad, early 18th Century Luddite!

Monday, July 12, 2004
Regionally Tacoma's tent city, a viable model coming from the sidewalks up, isn't on Pierce County-Tacoma's Coalition for the Homeless' agenda, at least not yet. And while discussions continue about the ten-year plan to end homelessness, jail remains an option for those people forced to sleep outside in Tacoma, the least cost-effective "solution" for taxpayers and homeless alike.

Locally Dignity Village and community partners City Repair Project were recognized by national organization architects/designers/planners for social responsibility last Saturday evening at Sunnyside Piazza in Portland with the prestigious Lewis Mumford Award for development. Here's our release.

Finally we post some pics from Watchdawg's memorial service and a review of the Village Players' performance of The Filmore Hotel.

Monday, June 28, 2004
Regionally there’s a push underway to set up another tent city, this time in Tacoma’s Pierce County. Destiny Village’s set up date is July 10, 2004.

Locally Portland’s discriminatory and unenforceable sit-lie ordinance was overturned by a circuit court judge.

Not one but two letters responding to The Oregonian’s latest editorial sophistry saw print in that paper. Portland’s Right to Sleep campaign also saw some favorable coverage in The Oregonian.

We’re pleased to post pics of the Village Players on stage and in full effect performing Helen Hill’s The Filmore Hotel.

We’re doubly pleased to announce that Dignity Village along with community partners City Repair have been selected to receive this year’s prestigious Lewis Mumford Award for Development by Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility.

June 7, 2004
For more about the VBC4 and how you can repair your city, check Stephen Silha's "street-corner revolution" from the summer, 2004, edition of yes!, a journal of positive futures.
There's some great art work and poetry in the latest street roots, including this piece by militant artist Alex Lilly.

The kept press writes about the encampment under the Morrison Bridge near Dignity's third (not first) site, erroneously refers to Randy McKee as our Treasurer (new Secretary Randy replaced Secretary Brenda who recently made the transition to permanent housing), and takes the Village to task for not transitioning people from the streets into housing quickly enough. Dignity's current temporary freeze on admissions is necessary as we reconstruct the Village, tearing down sub-standard structures and replacing them with beautiful, environmentally-friendly ones as per our proposal.

When the kept press writes about us, an editorial is almost de rigueur. Here's The Oregonian's latest smear.

Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Internationally our Japanese tentcity comrades sent this link to their Summer Events 2004.

Regionally there’s a wedding at Tent City 4 in Bothel, WA.

Locally the Village Players performed Helen Hill’s The Filmore Hotel to acclaim and a packed house at the Pine Street Theater last Saturday night. For more pre-press about the play, click here.

Many of us appreciate the latest Francesconi jokes making the rounds. And Dignity Village topped the Super-Special Eight-Days-Later Election Edition winners’ barometer in last week’s Willamette Week. Nuff said.

Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Regionally there’s much excitement in the small King County, WA, City of Bothell where Tent City 4 became a reality last week. The City of Bothell immediately sues St Brendan’s Catholic Church on whose beautiful, grassy, cottonwood-shaded property Tent City 4 is currently hosted.

Dignity’s village council of course endorses SHARE/WHEEL’s Tent City 4 action and watches with close attention its upcoming legal fight. We say, "Go! TC4! Go!"

At Dignity we’re currently building many code compliant, earth-friendly dwellings in conjunction the 4th annual Village Building Convergence. For a calendar of this week’s VBC4 events, simply click here.

Dignity’s Village Players are also rehearsing our first play, The Filmore Hotel. Playwright Helen Hill’s original and compelling work has great promise and everyone’s cordially invited to attend.

Friday, May 14, 2004
There's a great flap in Seattle over the proposed Tent City 4 location, but none-the-less SHARE/WHEEL's direct action to save lives goes through on Monday, May 17. We'll see you there!

Monday, May 10, 2004
There's so much going on at Dignity Village lately that we add an events calendar to our site for more efficient coordination.

Locally The Willamette Week endorses Tom Potter's campaign for mayor of Portland and, if local polls are accurate, it looks like a runoff and a real race for the office of mayor of this town. The city and county begin looking at new ways to provide affordable housing for the poor.

Regionally SHARE/WHEEL's plan for Seattle's fourth tent city was met with fierce NIMBYism by local property owners who castigate King County Executive Ron Sims and file a lawsuit. Meanwhile TC4's set up date has been delayed until May 17th.

And oh the wolfpack journalists! Here's a recent and somewhat accurate story about the Dignity model transplanted to other places.

Monday, May 3, 2004
There's lots about the upcoming Village Building Convergence in the latest street roots. Here's Joanne Zuhl's front-page lead story Changing Spaces.

Dignity's visionary architect Mark Lakeman is running for Commissioner Randy Leonard's seat on City Council. Mark says it's time to end the social holocaust.

Watchdawg's memorial service was well attended yesterday. Here's a pic of the Watchdawg we all know courtesy of The Larson Legacy's archives.

Vancouver, British Columbia's Hope Village Council recently sent along its proposal for a tent city, which we post in full. Dignity Village of course wishes the HVC all success in its endeavor!

And finally Dignity's Village Players are performing playwright Helen Hill's The Filmore Hotel at the Pine Street Theater later this month. It's the compelling true story of the gentrification of a hotel and the displacement of a community. Don't miss it!

Monday, April 26, 2004
Watchdawg's memorial service will be held at Dignity Village this coming Sunday at 2pm. For more information, phone our office at (503) 281 1604.

We recently reconstructed our computer network at the village which now includes 40 gigabyte hard drives, Barton 3200 AMD CPU, and 256-512 megabyte RAM. We've also upgraded our Web site which now has its very own search engine.

The first issue of Our Dignity, the village paper, recently saw publication. Here it is online.

Some of Portland's mayoral candidates talk about the diminishing stock of affordable housing in the latest Skanner. Here's what they had to say.

Monday, April 19, 2004
Some of Portland's mayoral candidates weigh in on homeless issues in the latest street roots. Phil Busse would increase the stock of affordable housing and roll back the current anti-poor laws. Brad Taylor would also increase the stock of affordable housing and also fling away the criminae.

Contender Tom Potter likes that we've taken control of our lives and are helping ourselves and other homeless people, a fact that seems to disturb some service providers and mess with their raison d' etre. Commissioner Jim Francesconi, on the other hand, doesn't think Dignity's pragmatic approach is the best solution for homelessness and says conditions in our clean, safe, well-run encampment are "less than subhuman."

Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich recently visited Dignity Village and talked about affordable housing, living wage jobs, the state of the nation in general. Here's what the candidate has to say about affordable housing.

Dignity Village's council recently formally endorsed SHARE/WHEEL's proposed Tent City 4 in Seattle which goes forward on May 6. For more information about SHARE/WHEEL's direct action to save lives, kindly contact either SHARE -- (206) 448 7889 -- or WHEEL -- (206) 956 0334.

And what's this? A curmudgeon? A Luddite? A chief Rasta? We like Westword's news editor Amy Haimerl's Pitching Tents for its honesty and also because she took the trouble to spend a day and night at Dignity Village to research and write her article. Amy's companion piece Gimme Shelter looks at tent cities across the nation.

Monday, April 12, 2004
Dignity Village was awarded a certificate of recognition last week for "winning designation as a campground due to their tireless struggle" at TC3's 4th year anniversary celebration by SHARE/WHEEL's TC3 Executive Committee, also a trophy for being "#1 in camping." We are pleased to post a copy of the recent resolution in support of a fourth tent city in Seattle, also their call to action on May 6. For more information and how you can help out, simply click here.

Denver's Tent City Initiative take their proposal for a tent city before their city council today. DERA's (Downtown Eastside Residents Association) proposal for a Hope Village, based in part on Dignity, goes before city council in Vancouver, B.C., on April 22nd. We wish them both success.

Locally we push for the Right to Sleep. And Jim Francesconi's pleading poverty? But we thought Commissioner Francesconi would never join our camp because he's rich and has plenty of assets!

Monday, March 29, 2004
The award-winning Bum's Paradise played at Dignity Village last night to rave reviews by all fortunate enough to see it. Tomas McCabe kindly left a copy of the film for our library that all who live in Portland's "Jerusalem of homeless encampments" may eventually see this important work. Thanks, Tomas!

Some of the brothers and sisters from Seattle's TC3 visited Dignity last week and presented our council with this letter, invited us to attend their fourth anniversary celebration. Big thanks, brothers and sisters!

Meanwhile, Portland's million dollar mayoral candidate Jim Francesconi introduced a rewrite of Portland's exclusion law which will allow even the concessionaires at golf courses to exclude those engaged in big money drug deals! Of course, this legislation as rewritten is likelier to impact on Portland's poor forced to sleep in public parks rather than drug dealers on golf courses and will allow police, security guards and yes, even golf course concessionaires, to arrest, try, and convict suspected offenders. Nice one, Jim!

Monday, March 22, 2004
Last Monday Denver's homeless rallied at their City Hall, calling loudly for a tent city. This Wednesday Portland's homeless rally at our City Hall and call loudly for the Right to Sleep for all homeless people. We hope to see you there, too!

The new, award-winning film Bum's Paradise is being screened at the Village as well as at a number of other local venues. For a complete list of venues and showtimes, click here. Bum's Paradise is currently touring the West Coast and being shown from Berkeley to Seattle. For more about this important, awareness raising film, check the filmmaker's site by simply clicking here.

Dignity Village is currently gathering materials to build its own ecologically friendly, code-compliant housing. We also seek funds to achieve our aims and do this in a number of ways.

One way we raise money is by marketing our popular tee shirts. Digni-tees cost $15 and are available at the Village as well as at EarthTones Imports at Saturday Market. Be aware that the full cost of our tees benefits not only Dignity Village but also the wider homeless community, that there are no administrative costs. All the money we raise goes to the cause!

Finally, Keith Vann's latest Street Roots column dispels many of the myths promulgated by the misinformed.

Monday, March 8, 2004
Portland's homeless recently won twice -- Dignity won its designation and the exclusion of some of the public from public parks was overturned on Constitutional grounds. Here's the Winners & Losers barometer from the Willamette Week and Happily Ever After from the Portland Mercury.

Soon Dignity's embarking on a massive building project which starts in May with the 4th Annual Village Building Convergence. Here's a list of tools and building supplies our building and maintenence committee is gathering toward that time and any donated tools or materials would be greatly appreciated!

Monday, March 1, 2004
Congratulatory letters pour through our site after the stunning win last week at City Hall, a victory not just for Dignity Village or Portland's poor but poor people everywhere. We were referred to as a "small band of rebels trying something that God forbid might actually work" but nonethless won our designation as a campground and were legalized.

This week we post our release and a commentary from the Portland Communique, a copy of the City Council's resolution which legalizes Dignity, today's street roots, also one reaction from The Oregonian's editorialists, our Service and Statistical Report for 2003, all in no particular order.

We're pleased to post the text of Denver's mighty Proposal for the creation of a tent city, a document recently received and still under review by our organization.

Our Japanese comrades recently updated their site to include some English. Kindly note the request for signatures for a petition for the release of Comrade K, arrested for providing a mailing address for local homeless people.

Monday February 23, 2004
In this post, a copy of this wonderful letter of support to Mayor Vera Katz and the City Commisioners from classic American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Ms Le Guin's letter arrived during a strategy session for our upcoming legal fight at City Hall this Thursday and was passed from hand to hand with much approval.

Letters of support, of course, are always welcome and appreciated. They should be sent to Mayor Vera Katz and Commissioners Erik Sten, Randy Leonard, Dan Saltzman and Jim Francisconi. Also appreciated will be your presence for this crucial vote at City Hall come the day. The day's this Thursday, February 23, at 2:30 PM and we hope to see you there.

Dignity Village generally gets its best coverage locally in popular papers like street roots, the Portland Mercury, The Portland Tribune, nationally in papers like The New York Times. Randy Gragg's "Preserving Dignity" came out over the weekend in The Oregonian, the paper with those consistently awful editorials about us. Randy's piece is beautifully researched, accurate, the finest piece written about this Village from an architectural perspective since Guerilla City appeared in Architecture magazine.

Monday February 16, 2004
Street roots' latest issue hit the streets yesterday and is just jam pack, full up with all the latest tent city news.

Tony Robinson's thoughtful opinion piece saw print not long ago in the Rocky Mountain News.

Monday February 9, 2004
Denver's Tent City Initiative refines plans for a tent city, not an easy pitch says the Rocky Mountain News. Dignity, of course, wishes Denver's homeless all success in their endeavor.

Portland's homeless community rallied during the Big Freeze. This story from the Daily Vanguard.

Monday February 2, 2004
Yurt clause could save Dignity Village? Here's the language in full of ORS 446.252, Exhibit C of our recent Proposal to the City of Portland.

If the Village's response time to enquiries coming through this Web site isn't at its usual rapid fire rate, please understand that our communications system is currently under repair from damage done to it by the cold of the recent Big Freeze.

Our friends and comrades of Osaka's Nagai Park tentcity send along these pics of recent anti-war demonstrations in Kyoto and even contribute a caption.

Monday January 26, 2004
This item about Dignity Village turned up not long ago in Italy's Libero magazine.

Denver's homeless start up their own tent city initiative which immediately draws fire from the Denver Post's editors in this "can of worms" editorial. The Oregonian, on the other hand, refuses to acknowledge -- let alone publish -- our recently submitted response to their latest warning. But we post it anyway!

We post loads of pics of the recent Big Freeze.

Monday January 19, 2004
Orion Gray's update sees print in street roots' latest issue illustrated with this pic of an interview with Osaka's one Rebel Jill. The name "Jill," incidentally, comes from a Chinese ideogram which translates approximately as "self-streaming." We post many more pics of Osaka's tentcities courtesy of the recently returned Dr Wendy Kohn and Heather Mosher of Kwamba Productions.

This article saw ink in the last Nojiren Newsletter. The article is about Dignity Village but reflects on Nojiren of Tokyo's fifth year of action. It arrived at the Village last week with a gift of twenty "Pride on the Streets" tee shirts sent "from the hearts and souls of the women and men of Nojiren" and this incredible photo of Yamamoto-san printing the shirts. We give thanks!

Dignity Village extends heartfelt thanks to our many friends and supporters near and far who are always there for us and never hesitate to step forward when asked. Big thanks! Dignity Village even thanks its detractor Lars Larsen who, in his own way, keeps Dignity in the public eye and shines the light of protekshan upon we.

Monday January 12, 2004
In a week dominated by stories of inclement weather and Winter storms, KPTV 12 accidentally stumbles on a real story. This story about our village came out in a recent edition of The Christian Science Monitor.

We post a recent press release about our new fire stations, more pics from our Osaka comrades. We hold off posting the Village's response to a recent Oregonian editorial until it has a chance to see print.

Monday January 5, 2004
In response to a recent fire at Dignity, villagers and friends from City Repair built three fire stations this past weekend. Each station features a rainwater catchment system with gutters, downspouts, plumbed rain barrels, and fire line buckets. Each station includes equipment cabinets with fire extinguishers, fire safety info, a fire axe. All are built using recycled equipment and materials and have photovoltaic lighting systems and living roofs.

This report from emissary Orion in Japan, new pics courtesy of our Osaka comrades.

Finally this news item about the dismantling of an encampment was spotted by a former villager. Dome Village in Los Angeles, of course, was an early Dignity inspiration.

Monday December 29, 2003
There's so much happening in the world today. Here are some pics just in of Kwamba's Wendy and Heather in Osaka, Japan. Wendy and Heather are in Osaka to film the visit of Dignity's emissary Orion Gray who is a guest of our brothers and sisters at the tent village in Nagai Park. More reports will follow.

Here are two articles from the Sacramento Bee about Billy McManus' trials and crosses sent along by Dignity's friend Paula.

Paula says McManus "went to court originally for 3 camping tickets. Jury decided 'not guilty' on one count. The other counts, hung jury (I think one juror saying 'guilty'). Kelly Tanalepe (attorney) used the necessity defense. Then the city took the hung jury counts to retrial. This time they brought the big guns, Samuel Jackson, THE City Attorney and his entourage to prosecute. The Judge would not allow the necessity defense to be brought up. The city quickly won. Then those two guilty charges, defense took to Appellate Court which they did not win, or appeal refused (I'll have to verify which). So original charges were 30 days in jail, Stay Away order for the American River Parkway and Sutter's Landing, and 3 years informal probation. His most recent 6 camping tickets that Tommy Clinkenbeard, Public Defender, was defending for Billy, were just dropped."

"In the [accompanying] articles," Paula says, "Billy is accused of 'choosing to be homeless', 'service resistant,' 'militant'? He is a very pleasant man. I asked him a couple months ago if he had a place indoors with a little yard for his dogs, wouldn't he choose to live indoors? Of course he wouldn't hesitate to choose 'indoors'. It was even presented in court about Billy's love for his dogs, they are his family. He couldn't consider abandoning them. For what, a two week stay in a shelter? Poster boy for the homeless? Actually he has been the main target, scapegoat, for the police and rangers. They have put immense effort into harassing him in particular, and their efforts toward assuring Billy lost. I haven't gotten the final estimate of how much it cost the city to fight Billy this hard, but we got intelligent estimate before that it would cost them, probably $200,000 in the end, and I don't know if that is including Samuel Jackson's salary portion. Do you think they may have considered that for $200,000 they could have bought Billy a nice, nice house with a big yard, outright? They never offered him any service that would have gotten him and his dogs indoors. I haven't talked to him today, so I haven't confirmed if he will definitely have to go to jail. I'll try to find out if his dogs are alright, too. Here's the two articles, letters to editor can be sent to jhughes@sacbee.com."

Over the last week's Oregonian, first "Fire strikes Dignity Village..." which in turn elicits the predictable editorial "Fire should serve as warning," this time with the finger of warning firmly wagged at Portland's City Council.

Monday December 22, 2003
The results of recent village elections are the topic of this OPB broadcast.

We're all pretty pleased with the new council configuration. Dignity's council is now 13 councillors broad. Ron Wold, former village security chief, is Dignity's new chairman. Jack Tafari moved to the vice chairman slot while Brenda Gray and Tim McCarthy retained their seats as secretary and treasurer respectively.

Meanwhile, the City has until January 10th to respond Lars Larson's complaint. For more about "radio ratings monster" Larson's bizarre motivations, here's what Chuck Currie has to say.

Monday December 15, 2003
Sarah Linn's AP story hits the national newswire and turns up in various newspapers around the world.

Beware of those dodgy charities that give 85 percent and more of every dollar collected to the telemarketing firms they employ. Be aware also that 100 percent of every dollar that Dignity raises goes for the benefit of its membership and the wider homeless community, pure homeless helping homeless.

Monday December 8, 2003
This week we maintain our site, write grants, await word on our proposal, and post a few pics of visitors.

Monday December 1, 2003
The fight over the I-405 corridor escalates. "Dignity Village: a social experiment reaches a crossroads" turned up initially in a smalltown paper a state away. Now it seems to be turning up everywhere.

Monday November 24, 2003
We thank People's Food Co-op for the holiday feast, also those who made last weekend's Carousel event a resounding success.

Hubbird's reminiscence "Dignity Village - Nonviolent Warriors for Homeland Peace & Justice" should see ink in next month's Oregon PeaceWorker. We submit our own co-written article "Dignity Village Submits Proposal to City" to the Portland Alliance. In other news, Arizona's homeless and others protest their criminalization.

The good news is that number crunchers announced recently a 0.4-percent drop in Oregon's high unemployment rate. Also good is that the village Job Line is up and fully functioning.

Monday November 10, 2003
There is an outpouring of letters responding to the Oregonian's latest editorial, some of which see print. Eli Spivak's professionalism and patience pay off with this online guest column. Street roots' director Israel Bayer's letter is printed, as is Jeff Maag's. Lydia Doleman had less fortune, but we post her letter anyway.

Professor Susan Finley's rethink of the politics of homelessness and poverty, The faces of dignity, was recently published in Qualitative Studies in Education. This work we post along with its companion piece, The power of space.

Our recent proposal to the city remains under consideration. Tomorrow we're hosting a free veterinary clinic and Saturday we are attending a performance of the play Carousel.

Monday November 3, 2003
The Oregonian's recent myopic editorial attacks the village and says time's up. Here's one response to that editorial which probably won't see the light of print. Thankfully the Oregonian's aren't the only editors in town. Meanwhile, Boston's Ranting N. Irishman attacks everything from DV to the fair city of Portland itself! Oh, well, Portland's loss is Boston's gain.

street roots reports the sweeping of Village Integrity, the facts about our new proposal, and news of a hurdle overcome by another homeless village in Berkeley, CA.

Since October's Baraccopoli Village article appeared in L'espresso, Italian television picks up the story. Stay tuned to Italian TV network La7 for news of an upcoming one-hour special about poverty in America later this month.

Monday October 27, 2003
Small town pioneers is what London's Guardian newspaper calls us while the Oregonian... well, here's Dave Austin's 135th article about Dignity Village for that paper. And here's Baraccopoli Village from Italy's L'espresso.

We presented our new Dignity Village Proposal, 2004- to Mayor Katz and all four city commissioners last Wednesday and now await the City's response. What we propose is ambitious and our proposal's an impressive piece of work, a starting place as Commissioner Sten says.

Local conservative talkshow host Lars Larson, possibly in a bid to boost his program's ratings, filed a code complaint with the City last week against Dignity Village. Building code is all about safety and as per our proposal, we hope to come into code compliance soon. Dignity Village is much safer than living under a bridge.

Why did Dignity Village succeed in Portland while a similar effort failed in Sacramento? Jason MacCannell's recent study, A Tale of Two Tent Cities, compares the tactics, social geographies and political cultures of these two West Coast cities.

Our good friends and allies at crossroads are doing some impressive work on the Grassroots Ten-year Plan to End Homelessness. Here's the latest news.

Dignity Village gets many visitors and this week we post pics of mayoral candidate Tom Potter, supporter Kathy Larson, Sarah Kershaw of the New York Times, and a recent visitor and delegate from Osaka's Nagia Park Tent Village.

Monday October 20, 2003
This well-balanced article came out in the latest edition of street roots and this letter saw print in the Oregonian. We post a few more pics on our visitors page.

Monday October 13, 2003
Our new proposal, due for presentation to the City this Wednesday, arouses some interest in the local media as "Finding a little dignity" on OPB News shows. A poorly thought-out letter to the editor from the director of the Goose Hollow Family Shelter first sees print in the Portland Tribune and is later wickedly spun as "Dignity misguided" in the Oregonian. To read one response to Ronald Williams' letter, click here.

Meanwhile we await the visit of a comrade from the Nagai Park tentcity in Osaka, Japan, and the arrival of copies of a recent edition of the Italian L'espresso which we hear features a piece about our village. Now if only we could read Italian...

Monday October 6, 2003
We hear murmers in one paper this week about a study group formed in the village -- our GED study group apparently isn't newsworthy -- but the real news this week is Sarah Kershaw's balanced and well-researched article in the Sunday New York Times. Here's the article online with one of Alan S. Weiner's pics in full colour and also what the article itself looks like in all its pulpy glory.

Wednesday October 1, 2003
In Friday's PDX Updates in the Portland Tribune, there's a great photo of our strawbale house. Here's a pic of what the inside of what that beautiful example of affordable housing looks like. We also post photos just in from Bologna of the woman who may be Portland's next mayor, Dignity's own Jada Mae Langloss, and of Tibetan Lama Geshe La who blessed this village not so long ago with his presence and his prayers. Mark Lakeman, City Repair and Dignity's visionary architect, accurately describes what Dignity is and has become this way:

"Dignity Village is the ONLY model of participatory, self-governed community with an ecological vision in this town. It is the ONLY walkable community, not dependent on or invaded by cars, with a localized economy which encourages communication and cultural development. It is also the most efficient self-help model for homeless people in the nation."

Here's a news item about the way other homeless people not blessed with a village or adequate housing in Portland are living. And finally, here's the Oregonian's predictably dire editorial which rightly commends the placement service JOIN's laudable efforts at getting people into what affordable housing there is but wrongly denigrates our vision and minimizes our efforts to help ourselves and others. Check our site Monday coming up for a perhaps less-biased view about Dignity Village in an up-coming article in the New York Times.

Monday September 22, 2003
A number of stories appeared in the local press last week about the expiration of our lease at Sunderland Yard including this "treading water" assessment in the Oregonian. The Portland Tribune writes about Dignity's eleventh hour and also a short item about our strawbale house and last week's Build It Green! home tour. And as we begin talks with the City about housing some of our membership, we reflect upon the housing situation of our brother and sister tencityites in Toronto a year after TCTO's sweep and take down.

Monday September 15, 2003
We've been getting lots of great letters of support lately and this week Dignity Village posts a letter to our supporters and friends. This solid editorial just came out in street roots' latest edition. We also post poems by the Out Loud Poets and we begin talks with the Oregon Department of Kick Ass about a suitable night for an outdoor film fest.

Monday September 8, 2003
Here's an update by visitor Steve Savage who dropped by the village not too long ago. Washington feels it needn't insure that everyone has enough to eat, this from The Nation. Meanwhile, villagers look to other countries for answers. This item turned up on the Korean Central News Agency newswire about a study group headed by villagers JP Cupp and Travis Dandy. And finally, has anyone seen Turtle? This lost village dog is greatly missed and if you see him, please phone or email Dignity Village.

Monday August 25, 2003
No, we won't stand for it at all!

This Thursday Dignity's hosting an anti-war poetry reading and potluck picnic. It's absolutely free and everybody's welcome. Bring food, poetry and songs to share if you can. For more information, click here. To find out where we are, just click on the URL.

Monday August 18, 2003
The City cracks down and sweeps the Peace Camp. At Dignity, activist Tim McCarthy gets out the homeless vote and Jada Mae announces her mayoral candidacy while downtown six activists get arrested at the sit-lie in at City Hall. This Wednesday everyone's welcome to a paint party at Dignity Village to finish our strawbale house. It goes from dawn 'til done and we hope to see you there!

Monday August 11, 2003
Big thanks to Ayleen, Joel and all the good mechanics at the Community Cycling Center who came out and helped us fix our bikes at the second annual Dignity Village Bike Repair Day!

Monday August 3, 2003
Dignity's first strawbale house is entered in Portland's second annual Build It Green! home tour.

Monday July 28, 2003
Dignity's move to buy land meets with nuff resistence. "The NIMBY syndrome is alive and well and spreading faster than cockroaches in a boarding house" a Canadian supporter comments. Professor Susan Finley's work with Dignity Village gets a mention in another Oregonian article. Here's a preview of a soon-to-be published story about our first strawbale house and a photo of Uncle Ben.

Monday July 21, 2003
Seattle's TCIII wins over its neighbors. And we add a few more pics of visitors.

Monday July 14, 2003
This week we simplify our web site, but dial in next Monday for the latest updates.

Monday July 7, 2003
Many voices got heard in City Hall last week, among them local criminal Keith Vann's. Also from the latest street roots, more about our right to organize plus a solid editorial. Meanwhile at Dignity, a new game becomes the latest craze.

Monday June 30, 2003
Street roots interviews KBOO 90.7 FM's news journo Orion Isis Gray this issue who talks about the importance of Dignity among other things. Dignity was there in force at City Hall last week supporting crossroads' effort to repeal the camping ban once and for all with their Right To Sleep campaign. More about the latest body count and Portland's mean streets. And the Oregonian's most recent and predictably sour editorial takes Sisters of the Road to task for organizing and empowering the poor.

Monday June 23, 2003
"It's Not Like That" says The Portland Mercury and other more sensible voices. "A New Vision of Housing Transforms a Wasteland" reports the Bay Area's Street Spirit. And to complete our beautiful strawbale structure, this Saturday we are having a work party.

Monday June 16, 2003
Talks begin with a friendly seller about Dignity's possible permasite. In the wake of Jessica Williams' murder, the Oregonian's latest editorial links Dignity and the Peace Camp to homicide and calls for a greater application of the "stick" of enforcement against the poor. Good Samaritan Greg West's visit to the village makes the papers. And Portland's "terreno libero" is featured in this month's D Magazine's "Nelle case dei senza casa".

Monday June 2, 2003
Is Dignity's green, sustainable urban model the start of a better society? street roots certainly seems to think so!

Monday May 26, 2003
In the current issue of Portland's street roots, John Hubbird calls for "two, three, many tent cities" while Genny Nelson busts some shots at the camping ordinance. Meanwhile downtown at the Peace Camp the struggle continues.

Monday May 19, 2003
This week we simply post more pics of the building of a strawbale house.

Monday May 12, 2003
A strawbale house goes up at Dignity Village as part of this week's Village Building Convergence. Two new articles about homelessness come out in the Portland Mercury.

Monday May 5, 2003
This week there are articles about Dignity Village in street roots, Little Beirut, the Dog Nose News; even the kept press ran a story. In Sacramento our brothers and sisters fight against the camping ban.

Monday April 28, 2003
This weekend we began building a strawbale house and set up the village job line.

Monday April 21, 2003
Opening up a second front? Camping With Vera talks about the "Hicks" decision and the Camping Ban that never really went away. The Bay Area's Street Spirit reports on the continuing Dignity saga.

Monday April 7, 2003
SHOC pressures Sacramento to set up a tent city. More about that city's homeless agenda in Arrested Development. We start a new photo page.

Monday March 31, 2003
April's new look, bi-monthly street roots hits the sidewalks. Commissioner Sten throws his hat into the ring in Portland's streetfighter. A number of homeless groups march against the war. Dignity Village stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Toronto.

Monday March 24, 2003
This week we post a copyleft preview of street roots' new column Tent City News & World Report, coming out bi-monthly starting in April.

Monday March 10, 2003
This week we post a letter to Ontario's Attorney General and stories from the Daily Tidings in Ashland where the homeless, apparently, are revolting. Better late than never is this exchange between Sacramento's Homeless Organizing Committee and the Mayor and City Council there. More about Sacramento's tent city effort in this month's street roots. Meanwhile the "tent cities" discussion continues in StreetViews Magazine and elsewhere. And here's a couple of colorful pics from our brochure distribution party with a promise of more to come.

Wednesday March 5, 2003
This week, due to technical difficulties, we only post one important disclaimer.

Monday February 24, 2003
Sacramento's homeless try to help themselves. An update from Paula in Sacramento.

Monday February 17, 2003
Today there's an action in Sacramento, tomorrow there's a party at Dignity Village. And one day in the not-too-distant future, this entry will appear in a dictionary of modern social movements.

Monday February 10, 2003
Dignity celebrates a graduation and mourns a tragic loss.

Monday February 3, 2003
A letter to the Sacramento News and Review says "Let them live", a response to "It takes a different village" and the recent killings there.

Monday January 27, 2003
Last week's peace march drew thousands of people and Dignity was there. This story from the Portland Observer.

Monday January 20, 2003
The Sacramento News and Review takes a stand and endorses the tent village model. Dignity was one of many organizations that endorsed last Saturday's Peace and Justice Rally. And we add more pics to our visitors page.

Monday January 13, 2003
We post a great poem and more letters to the Oregonian's editors. Meanwhile people are dying in Sacramento but allowing a tentcity in Muir Park would violate city code!

Monday January 6, 2003
Marc Jolin: Defending Dignity Village sees little ink in the Oregonian but at least a virtual vershan appears. We're in December's Waking Planet Chronicles and Civic Dignity goes to press in the Groundswell newsletter in the UK. Meanwhile in Portland there's a groundswell of popular support as people respond to our ads and brochures with many letters.

Monday December 30, 2002
We get letters responding to the Oregonian's mean-spirited editorial. We post ours but wonder if they'll ever see the light of print. And here's a map of where we are.

Monday December 23, 2002
Dignity Village is no solution in the opinion of the Oregonian's editors. If you have a different view, please write and let them know. We post more photos and a short video trailer by Kwamba Productions of the Dignity Village documentary.

Monday December 16, 2002
Lee Thomas talks about one option for Portland's homeless in today's Oregonian. And we add new pics of our visitors.

Monday December 9, 2002
Dignity tries a little publicity The Oregonian says in today's story. And the mighty Uprite Dub Arkestra releases their awesome "Land and Freedom dub."

Tuesday December 3, 2002
Dignity's Hood River excursion finds its way into the Oregonian in "Students scale the barricades in the name of dignity."

Monday November 11, 2002
Dignity Village residents enjoy a dinner and a show from the Hood River News. More about Les Miserables and The Power of Love. Photos of the outing to Hood River. And Dignity gives thanks.

Monday November 4, 2002
Dignity thanks Hood River. And we post more pictures of our visitors.

Monday October 21, 2002
Social psychologist Robert Biswas-Diener's Report to Dignity Village indicates that comparatively Dignity Villagers are better off in a number of ways than the Fresno homeless who camp out, who in turn are better off than the Fresno homeless in shelters, but that we haven't caught up with the Two Thirds World yet. To read the full report, click here. Dignity's friend Red Emma is having a CD release party. The lyrics to her song Welcome to America we include among the writings, poems, and songs by villagers and friends.

Monday October 14, 2002
Kwamba Productions' trailer for the Dignity documentary hits the film fest circuit today. And Dignity co-founder John Hubbird was beaten, jailed and released without charge at the protest in Eugene.

Monday October 7, 2002
Director Mark Steighner brings the cast of Les Miserables to Dignity Village. The story makes the Hood River News. The director and cast invite Dignity to opening night!

Monday September 23, 2002
The Duke of Dignity Village makes the cover of Willamette Week which rates a note from our chairman. The UK's Institute for Social Inventions features Dignity in its book Future Perfect as does Seattle's Real Change News. More pictures of Bill Bradbury's visit. And a prototype of what we intend to build is featured in the Oregonian.

Monday, September 16, 2002
Dignity's granted an extension -- what remains is to negotiate terms of our lease. We make the front page of street roots (again!) and gain some favorable national recognition. A soon-to-be-published story by John Hubbird about the rising in Eugene.

Monday, August 26, 2002
At the village's request, Dignity supporter Lee Larson, who happened to be traveling to Japan, visited some of the tent cities there as an emissary or ambassador of Dignity Village to our Japanese brothers and sisters. To read his fascinating report, click here.

"Most of us have been watched by Geheimnis Polizei or state violences like the FBI or COINTELPRO... Some day, I hope you will be able to see your comrades friendly faces on our web site." -- Rebel Jill. To see a digitally-masked photo of Lee Larson, click here.

Monday, August 12, 2002
A new, superficially "balanced" story in the Oregonian fails to point out that many of us work outside the village and casts a pall of gloom over our situation vis-a-vis sites. A tongue-in-cheek solution to the siting dilemma appears in this week's Willamette Week. And we update our disclaimer with photos of the suspected perpetrators.

Monday, August 5, 2002
New photos just in of the New World Flag presentation ceremony. And we're selling the village bus.

Monday, July 29, 2002
Dignity Village awarded the New World Flag. New photos just in. And we Wine, Dine & Bovine at Intel's Global Aviation Jet Hanger at the Kows for Kids fundraiser.

Monday, July 22, 2002
Shantytowns a viable option? Now magazine feature's Toronto's tent city. An open letter to Toronto's Mayor. New Connexion editorial gives Dignity a favourable mention. And Dignity Village is being awarded the New World Flag.

Monday, July 15, 2002
Portland Fire. And we issue a disclaimer.

Monday, July 1, 2002
Benefit bombs. Dignity rocks. We give thanks. Digsville update.

Monday, June 17, 2002
The text of our recent Proposal to the City. "Dignity's Last Stand -- Again!" appears in this week's Portland Mercury but Dignity doan done yet, Dignity is a hard ting fe dead! And Phil Busse got the date wrong for our benefit.

Monday, June 10, 2002
A slew of new articles hit the local press this week. There was some quality reportage on OPB. Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon writes a strong letter in support of Dignity. And our Land & Freedom benefit takes shape.

Monday, June 3, 2002
YM Magazine's Molly Rosen writes about Portland's homeless youth, one of whom lived for a time in Dignity. And as the July 1st move date approaches, Dignity Village is having a benefit.

Monday, May 27, 2002
This month Dignity's featured in YM magazine, on Next TV in Canada and other countries (although not this one), and in Architecture magazine. New pics just in of our Kow party.

Monday, May 6, 2002
Dignity's partnership with EMS makes the front page of street roots. Seattle's Pastor Rich Lang writes a letter to President Bush. Seattle's churches step up to the plate. Photos of our new banner. And Robert "Bathrobespiere" Norse sums up this weekend's Summit in Santa Cruz.

Monday, April 29, 2002
Willamette Week outs our primary site a little prematurely as far as the Site Development Team's concerned. We have pictures just in from Digsville Farm's new site plus the official farm t-shirt.

Monday, April 15, 2002
News Flash

Monday, April 8, 2002
Red Emma's lyrics get posted at last. The earliest known photo of the Homeless Front. And last but not least, Dignity Village now has its own cow.

Friday, April 5, 2002
A Place for Dignity from the Spring 2002 issue of Yes! magazine

Monday, April 1, 2002
Roving tent city can build on its legal foundation - Seattle becomes the first West Coast city to adopt a progressive policy towards its tentcity as Tent City III there becomes "legal."

Homeless Summit in Santa Cruz, CA, set for May 3-4, 2002.

Monday, March 25, 2002
Homeless Summit in Santa Cruz, CA, imminent. New page of photos from our Tech Day at WSU.

Monday, March 18, 2002
The Radical Cheerleaders, to whom Dignity lost out in last year's Anarchist Awards in the "Best Choreography of a Protest" category, recently attended a village council meeting. Here are some of their cheers. Also Allegations from Old Town, a statement by artist Alex Lilly.

Monday, March 11, 2002
History: Peace and Damnation. A new poem by JP Cupp.

Monday, March 4, 2002
Two new articles on our articles page.

Tuesday, February 19, 2002
OSPIRG's National Student Campaign against Hunger and Homelessness will be holding a photography exhibit about homelessness and a benefit art auction for Dignity Village.

Friday, February 8, 2002
A Letter to the Mayor and City Council

Monday, February 4, 2002
A song by Utah Phillips. New article added.

Monday, January 14, 2002
A new poem by Coyote Rose. New photos added.

Monday, January 7, 2002
New article has been added to the articles section.

Monday, December 17th, 2001
Added more new photos.

Monday, December 10th, 2001
Added a new page of photos.

Monday, December 3rd, 2001
Three new articles have been added to the articles section.

Thursday, November 1st, 2001
In a close vote held on Monday, Dignity Village members voted to remain at their current location for the next six months. Dignity is currently located at Sunderland Yard, a leaf composting site owned by the City of Portland. Until this week, village members had planned to move from the city owned site to a privately owned site in inner southeast Portland to make way for leaf composting scheduled to begin at Sunderland Yard this month. A recent deal with the City has made it possible for the Village to remain at the city-owned site. In exchange, Dignity will compensate the City for the cost of composting leaves elsewhere. Click here for recent commentary.

Saturday, October 27th, 2001
Over the past week, Dignity Village has engaged in negotiations with two separate land owners to lease a plot of land to be used as a new site for the Village. Dignity will move from its current city-owned site at the end of this month to make way for scheduled leaf composting. Dignity Village has decided not to move to the first of the privately owned sites, located in 3000 block just south of Powell Boulevard, after meeting harsh resistance from local residence at a Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood association meeting held last Tuesday evening. The Village will, instead, move to the second privately owned site at an undisclosed location in east Portland. Dignity residents and supporters will begin moving tents and people to the new site next week.

Click here to read more about the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood association meeting, or click here to read coverage of the move in the Oregonian.

Sunday, October 21th, 2001
The Oregonian reports on the current legal status of Portland's camping ban, and the Portland Mercury reports on life at Dignity's current site at Sunderland Yard and attempts by the village to find a new site by the new November 1st deadline. Click here to read more.

Monday, October 15th, 2001
We have added two new pages of photos.

Tuesday, October 9th, 2001
Dignity Village has made steady progress towards realizing the "sustainable green urban village" of its dreams, and performed important work of real value to the Portland community along the way. But now it is facing another hearing before City Council on October 24, and another forced move on October 31 from its current location at the city-owned Sunderland Composting Yard. Click here for an update on these recent events.

Sunday, October 7th, 2001
With one month left before Dignity needs to move to a new site, villagers and supporters have been working diligently to find a new site to which the village can relocate. Recently, members of Portland State University's student senate voted to support relocating the village temporarily on to a vacant lot on the university campus. Click here to read more from the Oregonian.

A note: This is the first update to the site in the past few weeks. However, as things begin to heat up again we will update this site more often. Check back for new updates to the site in the next week.

Saturday, September 15th, 2001
We have added a more comprehensive listing of articles covering the events surround Dignity Village over the past couple of weeks. Click here to take a look.

Tuesday, September 11th, 2001
Police arrested two of protesters gathered at "The Field of Dreams" this afternoon. The police issued citations to other protesters gathered at the site in protest of Portland's continued enforcement of its anti-camping law. Portland's camping ban was ruled unconstitutional last year by Multnomah County Circuit Court Justice Stephen L. Gallagher, Jr. To view the text of Judge Gallagher's ruling, click here.

For more details from the Oregonian, click here.

Monday, September 10th, 2001
Activists, including members of the Homeless Front and members of Dignity Village, are camping at a site called the Field of Dreams tonight in an ongoing protest of Portland's camping ban. This site was chosen by the HLF because it was chosen as a possible site by Dignity Village and rejected by the City for no discernable reason. The Field of Dreams is located between SW Naito and SW Harbor at SW Grant St. The activists are inviting supporters to come out and camp with them for the duration of protest. Click here for a map showing the location of the Field of Dreams.

Sunday, September 9th, 2001
Portland police confronted roughly thirty homeless activists this morning. The homeless activists, including members of the Homeless Liberation Front and members of Dignity Village have been camping on public land in protest of Portlands camping ban for the past two nights. For more details from Indymedia, click here

Later this morning supporters and villagers gathered at Dignity's new site, Sunderland Yard, to build a deck for tents and erect several structures donated by City Repair, including a tower and a dome. The deck was constructed to keep tents off the pavement which is subject to flooding, and Dignity Village's flag was placed on top of the dome. The work party was followed by a pot-luck this afternoon.

Friday, September 7th, 2001
As of today thirty-eight of the seventy villagers that were living at Dignity Village's former location have moved to Sunderland Yard. Another fifteen villagers are staying on the land of a supporter, in Forest Grove. We expect that those fifteen will transition to the Sunderland Site within coming weeks. Of the seventeen villagers who are unaccounted for, we believe several are at Dignity Village's farm, some are staying with other supporters, and others have moved to other encampments elsewhere in the city.

We still have a lot of work to do at the Sunderland site. There will be a work party at the new site, this Sunday starting at 10:00 a.m., Sept. 9th, to make the Sunderland site livable for the next 60 days. We would like to thank City Repair for spearheading the work party. All supporters are invited to show up for the work party, and we will be having a pot luck later that day at 1 PM. People are welcome to come to either or both events!

A street map showing the new locations can be viewed here, and a Tri-Met bus map can be viewed here.

Wednesday, September 5th, 2001
Despite grave concerns about the new site, a group of Dignity Village's residents packed up their belongings and moved to Sunderland Yard today. Sunderland Yard is a leaf-composting site near the airport in outer Northeast Portland. The City announced last Wednesday, August 29th, that Dignity would have to move to Sunderland Yard for the next sixty days or face a police sweep. Portland City Police issued a 24-hour notice to vacate Dignity's current site at 11:00 a.m. yesterday.

Other villagers have decided to move to alternate encampments around the city instead of relocating to Sunderland, which they feel is too far from jobs and social services in the urban core.

For more on todays events click here.

Sunderland Yard is located at the end of the Tri-Met 10 line next to the Columbia River Correctional Facility, to access a Tri-Met bus map and schedule for the 10 line, click here.
Click here for a street map to Sunderland Yard.

Tuesday, September 4th, 2001
Police arrived at Dignity Village's current location at 17th and Savier to post a 24 hour notice demanding villagers vacate that location. Police informed villagers that they would be returning at 11:00 am tomorrow, Wednesday Septemebr 5th, to sweep the village. We urge as many supporters as possible to come to the site as witnesses and to dissuade a police sweep. We also urge supporters to call Mayor vera Katz's office: (503)823-4120.
It is also important that supporters call Governor Kitzhaber's office: (503) 378-4582. The site currently occupied by Dignity belongs to ODOT, the Oregon Department of Transportation. It is ODOT who has asked the police to evict the villagers, and it is the Governor's office that has authority over ODOT.
Dignity announced at a press conference yesterday that it will not move to the City-proposed site in outer Northeast Portland as earlier planned. The Village sited inadequate resources and conditions in and around the proposed site as the reason it will not move to the new location. Adding that the inability of many of the villagers to move to the new site would result in a de facto break up of the village. Dignity's statement to the press can be found here.

For up to date information form Portland Indymedia click here.

Oregonlive is taking an online poll on Dignity's decision to not move to the City-proposed site. The poll is worded strangely, so if you support Dignity's decision not to move to the new site, select "No, the City of Portland is being unfair and should leave Dignity Village where it is."
To take the poll click here.

Monday, Spetemeber 3rd, 2001
Dignity Village announced at a press conference today that it has reversed its decision to move to the Sunderland Yard site, which the City has offered as a temporary location for Dignity for the 60 days. The village reversed its decision in reaction to new information regarding water drainage and possible environmental hazards at the proposed site. Villagers were also upset by Bureau of Maintenance's decision to surround the site with a barbed wire fence. Click here for more details.

Sunday, September 2nd, 2001
Dignity Village is preparing to move this Tuesday to its new location at Sunderland Yard. This site has been described by the City Council as temporary and unacceptable for long term occupation. Some villagers have described it in more severe terms. We have more on the site, including photos and a short real video clip, in our news section.
We have also added photos from Dignity's historic Martin Luther King Day shopping cart parade to our photos section.

Friday, August 31th, 2001
The City Council voted 4-1 yesterday in support of a resolution granting official support Dignity Village. At the same meeting Dignity Village made clear its intention to accept the temporary site that the City has chosen for Dignity. The site has been offered to Dignity only for the next sixty days, and its location forty minutes outside of Portland urban core as well as its other features have come as a disappointment villagers. Click here for more details from the Oregonian.
For more information about Dignity's move to its new location look in our news section.

Wednesday, August 29th, 2001
On day before the City Council meets to decide whether it will continue to work with Dignity and two days before Dignity will be required to vacate its current site, the City has offered a temporary location for the village. The proposed site is located in NE Portland, 40 minutes by bus from downtown Portland. Click here for more details form the Oregonian. Please, also look in our articles section for other recent stories.

Monday, August 27, 2001
As the September 1st deadline and an August 30th City Council decision on Dignity approach. The media is once again focusing on Dignity. We have added a couple of new pieces from the Oregonian to our articles section, and you can read our latest press release here.

Monday, August 20, 2001
News Update: Digsville Farm is having a celebration on August 26th and everyone is invited.
Articles Update: The Vancouver Columbian takes a look at Digsville Farm.

Wednesday, August 1, 2001
News Update: Dignity announces Digsville's first harvest , along with updates on ongoing land negotiation.
Articles Update: Street Roots newspaper dedicated its latest issue to Dignity Village. Take a look at some the articles.
Poems and Writings Update: New works by Dignity Villagers

Tuesday, July 24, 2001
Photo Section Update: Take a look at some of our new photos.

Monday, July 9, 2001
Dignity Village Update: Over the past two weeks, a number of major developments have occurred that present a new set of opportunities and challenges to Dignity Village. Click here for a full update. Also, we have more articles.

Thursday, June 28, 2001
Article Update: Dignity Village can stay for now. City officials have announced that they will not sweep the village on July 1st and will continue "good faith" negotiations.

Tuesday, June 26, 2001
Oregon-Live talks with Cheif Kroeker, Mayor Katz, and Dignity Village supporter John Hubbird about Dignity Village. Community potluck this weekend at Dignity Village.

Thursday, June 21, 2001
More Articles, Dignity Villagers building sense of community - from The Oregonian, It Takes a [Dignity] Village by MR Lee in the Portland Tattler, and Dignity Village's proposal for a permanent site.

Tuesday, June 12, 2001
Updated Articles Don't sweep these people back under bridges - from The Oregonian.

Saturday, June 9, 2001 - 11:43

News updated: A discussion of alternatives to the July 1st provides mixed results.
Also, please enjoy our lovely new photos!.
Added to the Writings section is the poem by JP Cupp, Two, Three ... Many Tent Cities!!!.
For an insight into a villager's experience at Dignity, read Friday Night in Dignity Village by Sheila Shortell.
Tuesday, Jun 5, 2001
Two new articles on the proposed July 1st deadline for Dignity to leave public land.

Thursday, April 19, 2001
Added many more photos.

Monday, March 21, 2001
New photos added! See our photo page for the pictures...

Monday, February 5, 2001
Started a poetry and writing page. Read the words by the residents of Dignity Village!

Thursday, February 1, 2001
We have updated our articles section, and will no doubt be adding more!
A photos page has been added to the About Dignity section. More to come.
We've got a page listing What We Need as well. Please check it out.

Wednesday, January 24, 2001
New web site up! Welcome!

posted in Dignity Village - 0 replies

Dignity Village:

2004-08-23T18:02:41Z

On December 16th of the year 2000, a group of eight homeless men and women pitched five tents on public land and Camp Dignity, later to become Dignity Village, was born. We came out of the doorways of Portland's streets, out from under the bridges, from under the bushes of public parks, we came openly with nothing and no longer a need to hide as Portland's inhumane and Draconian camping ban had just been overturned on two constitutional grounds. We came armed with a vision of a better future for ourselves and for all of Portland, a vision of a green, sustainable urban village where we can live in peace and improve not only the condition of our own lives but the quality of life in Portland in general. We came in from the cold of a December day and we refuse to go back to the way things were.

posted in Dignity Village - 0 replies