While walking through the Foster Floodplain Natural Area recently, we noticed a group of people offering breakfast to people camping in tents, (“Portland has dramatically escalated tent sweeps,” Dec. 10).

Although I appreciate the idea that people want to help other people, especially with necessities like food, wouldn’t it be nicer to get the campers out of an area designed to flood, and where signs state that camping and campfires are not allowed?

City employees know that people have been camping here for months. Now it is the rainy season when flooding can occur. Some of these camps are near the banks of Johnson Creek and we have seen them completely flooded out in years past. It still seems very odd to me that as a taxpayer and a Portland water utility customer, our family cannot walk a leashed dog in the asphalt paved trail that runs through the Foster natural area, but other people can continue to camp there with campfires and dogs.

Recently, the city “swept” a large portion of the Springwater Trail across the street. This area was not designed to store floodwater as the Foster natural area is. However, it is much more visible to the public.

If the city really wants to help the houseless, why don’t they help people who are in danger of being flooded out? Why won’t the city stop selectively enforcing rules?

The city has thrown millions of dollars at this issue, and nothing seems to have improved. Where is the leadership?

Robert Cummings, Portland

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