Question about forest park homeless? (Portland: neighborhood, living in, stores)

[portlandparkman]

I was reading an article about a father daughter family that was living in forest park for 4 years... Is the park really that big? Or have isolated and/or quiet enough areas where homeless people can actually live? Just curious if this actually happens, or if this is an isolated case?

[Urbanlover85]

Forest Park is very large and essentially a vast wilderness area. While
I haven't heard of the particular case you mention, I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were homeless populations living deep within the park. Portland is teeming with homeless people, however, most of them congregate in Old Town/Chinatown since that's where most of the homeless services are.

[portlandparkman]

Originally Posted by Urbanlover85

Forest Park is very large and essentially a vast wilderness area. While
I haven't heard of the particular case you mention, I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were homeless populations living deep within the park. Portland is teeming with homeless people, however, most of them congregate in Old Town/Chinatown since that's where most of the homeless services are.

How close is forest park to downtown? Is it within walking or bicycling distance? It seems to me, if I was homeless, I would definitely want to sleep in a wilderness area where no one can see you sleeping.. Instead of sleeping on concrete where police and passerby can watch! It just seems logical that the park, if it is truly that big, would attract homeless people that don't want to be seen(or bothered)?

[Urbanlover85]

One can easily walk to Forest Park from downtown within 15 minutes. The problem with much of Portland's homeless population is that many are addicts and/or mentally ill who rely on the food and shelter services in Old Town/Chinatown. Many homeless are also street kids who choose homelessness as an alternate lifestyle. All of these groups rely heavily on the services available downtown so there really is no incentive for them to inhabit the wilderness of Forest Park when all the basic services they need is right at their feet.

[portlandparkman]

Originally Posted by Urbanlover85

One can easily walk to Forest Park from downtown within 15 minutes. The problem with much of Portland's homeless population is that many are addicts and/or mentally ill who rely on the food and shelter services in Old Town/Chinatown. Many homeless are also street kids who choose homelessness as an alternate lifestyle. All of these groups rely heavily on the services available downtown so there really is no incentive for them to inhabit the wilderness of Forest Park when all the basic services they need is right at their feet.

Really? They'd rather sleep on the cold concrete where ANYBODY can see them? Instead of in the quiet woods(which can be walked to or biked) where they may be able to sleep at night and walk back in the morning to all their "services"? Amazing..

[Nell Plotts]

You can not bike IN Forest Park except, perhaps, on the fire road that starts at the end of Thurman Street.

The park (which has several names recognizing families that donated the land) actually starts on its south end at Washington Park then continues north along the top of the ridge beyond the Linnton neighborhood... miles.

[Larry Caldwell]

Forest Park is 5000 acres of old growth timber inside the city limits. There is plenty of cover for anyone who wants to get out of sight, but it lacks amenities. There are no convenience stores or liquor stores in Forest Park. There is nobody to panhandle from. There is no place to get out of the rain.

[davemess10]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

Forest Park is 5000 acres of old growth timber inside the city limits.

This is a common misconception, and Forest Park is in fact mostly made up of second growth, previously logged land.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_...rtland,_Oregon

It's not exactly the "pristine" nature reserve people make it out to be. I find it odd that the dozens of times I've been there (and have covered ever foot of the wildwood), I have almost never seen any wildlife. Just the occasional bird or squirrel.

Parts of Forest park are open to bikes (namely a few of the fire lanes, Saltzman Rd, and Leif Erikson (which is actually a pretty busy biking way). Hopefully the city can find a way to accommodate mountain bikes more in the future, as the current options for trails are VERY limited. For a well-parked city that is supposed to be the bike capitol of the US, the mountain biking in or close-adjacent to Portland is pathetic.

Also some info about the father/daughter you talked about in the above link.

[aajn1983]

also a book written about the father/daughter you mentioned in the original post:

My Abandonment by Peter Rock - Powell's Books

[EnricoV]

Originally Posted by davemess10

This is a common misconception, and Forest Park is in fact mostly made up of second growth, previously logged land.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_...rtland,_Oregon

It's not exactly the "pristine" nature reserve people make it out to be. I find it odd that the dozens of times I've been there (and have covered ever foot of the wildwood), I have almost never seen any wildlife. Just the occasional bird or squirrel.

Parts of Forest park are open to bikes (namely a few of the fire lanes, Saltzman Rd, and Leif Erikson (which is actually a pretty busy biking way). Hopefully the city can find a way to accommodate mountain bikes more in the future, as the current options for trails are VERY limited. For a well-parked city that is supposed to be the bike capitol of the US, the mountain biking in or close-adjacent to Portland is pathetic.

Also some info about the father/daughter you talked about in the above link.

This is a better link to a Wikipedia article.

While you might think that mountain biking in Portland is pathetic ... no one said it was the mountain bike capitol of the US. And since preservation was the point of the park in the first place, I can't say not allowing much mountain biking bothers me too much. But then, I'm not a mountain biker.