{"id":1637748,"date":"2022-09-09T13:20:40","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T17:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637748"},"modified":"2022-09-09T13:24:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T17:24:00","slug":"two-time-paralympian-leads-lawsuit-against-portland-for-letting-homeless-block-sidewalks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/two-time-paralympian-leads-lawsuit-against-portland-for-letting-homeless-block-sidewalks\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-Time Paralympian Leads Lawsuit Against Portland For Letting Homeless Block Sidewalks"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftwo-time-paralympian-leads-lawsuit-against-portland-for-letting-homeless-block-sidewalks%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637748&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A two-time Paralympian is leading nine other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/portland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Portland<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/oregon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Oregon<\/a> residents, all of whom have physical disabilities, to sue the city, accusing it of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to remove homeless encampments from city sidewalks.<\/p>\n<p>Paralympian Tiana Tozer, the lead plaintiff, was struck by a car when she was 20, then <a href=\"https:\/\/bikeportland.org\/2022\/09\/07\/class-action-lawsuit-says-city-of-portland-violates-ada-law-by-not-keeping-sidewalks-clear-363034\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">underwent<\/a> 36 reconstructive surgeries on her legs that left her unable to walk. Still, she won bronze and silver in the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe City\u2019s failure to curb and reasonably control the proliferation of tent encampments has had a particularly harmful impact on persons with mobility disabilities,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/bikeportland.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/001-ADA-Complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawsuit<\/a> charges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndeed, a substantial number of the City\u2019s sidewalks \u2014 particularly those in the City\u2019s busiest business corridors \u2014 do not comply with applicable federal statutes and regulations because they are blocked by tent encampments and attendant debris, rendering the sidewalks inaccessible, dangerous, and unsanitary for people with mobility disabilities,\u201d the lawsuit adds.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit notes that according to a January 2022 survey of the Portland Metropolitan Area, 5,228 persons in Multnomah County were homeless, and 3,057 were unsheltered and sleeping on the street. Of the people sleeping on the street, many had made the streets unsafe and hazardous.<\/p>\n<p>One of the plaintiffs, Steve Jackson, 47, is legally blind and uses a cane. He told a news conference, \u201cOften there\u2019s tents blocking the entire sidewalk, where I don\u2019t see them because they weren\u2019t there the day before, and I hit the tent and then people are mad at me and think I\u2019m attacking them,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/oregon-lawsuits-portland-class-action-government-and-politics-e4dac58daf47221f08c8a13e185a7d24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Associated Press<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe denial of meaningful, equal, and safe access to the City\u2019s sidewalks for persons with mobility disabilities complained of in this Complaint is the direct result of the City\u2019s policies, procedures, and practices with regard to sidewalks and unsheltered persons,\u201d the lawsuit alleges. \u201cThe City has failed to adopt or implement reasonable administrative methods, policies, and procedures for inspecting, clearing, and maintaining the sidewalks, as required by the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported homelessness soared by 25% in the Portland area between 2020 and 2022, according to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n<p>According to residents living near Northeast 125th Place and Shaver Street, a homeless encampment in their neighborhood has stayed there for two years. One resident told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kgw.com\/article\/news\/local\/homeless\/neighbors-frustrated-ne-portland-homeless-camp\/283-9eb7e43b-e623-45bc-a212-b4aae81ac11d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KGW<\/a>, \u201cThey just spread their crap out. It\u2019s a different bunch of junk every year, every day. \u2026 They cover up the sidewalk and people can\u2019t walk by.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another resident said she had reported the camp every week to the city, lamenting, \u201cOh my word, I would average one to two times a week for two years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A two-time Paralympian is leading nine other Portland, Oregon residents, all of whom have physical disabilities, to sue the city, accusing it of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to remove homeless encampments from city sidewalks. Paralympian Tiana Tozer, the lead plaintiff, was struck by a car when she was 20, then underwent &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1637755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1637755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}