Escuela Viva Community School, a preschool in the Buckman neighborhood, threatened legal action against Multnomah County if it does not abandon plans to open a drug counseling center a block away.
In a letter to a committee the county had convened to implement drug enforcement, Escuela Viva said the county’s plan to open the center by September 1 was rushed and the deadline was artificial.
The legislature repealed parts of Measure 110 and reinstated illegal drugs in March through Act 4002. To avoid a new battle in the war on drugs, it required Oregon counties to release people arrested with consumable quantities from prison and allow them to receive treatment.
Multnomah County Executive Jessica Vega Pederson is leading a group of psychologists, public defenders and police officers behind closed doors developing a diversion plan based on a special building. The county has insisted the center must open by Sept. 1 and has leased a warehouse on Southeast Sandy Boulevard to be converted for the diversion.
“Escuela Viva is committed to being a welcoming neighbor, but we are troubled that the diversion center proposal has complete disregard for the safety of Escuela Viva’s children and staff, and we are dismayed that you have rushed to the artificial September 1 deadline behind closed doors and without the transparency required by Oregon law,” says the letter, which was obtained by WWsays.
Escuela Viva opened in 2004 and has been at its current location on Southeast Pine Street since 2010. It has participated in Multnomah County’s Preschool for All program since 2022.
“As you know, under HB 4002, counties are completely free to implement diversion programs and there is no deadline for such programs,” Escuela Viva’s letter states. “And the law says nothing at all about physical diversion centers. Your race to open the diversion center by September 1st after only weeks of planning and millions of dollars of taxpayer money is unreasonable and likely illegal, and threatens to cause egregious harm to Escuela Viva and its community.”
In the meetings, county staff and representatives of Tuerk House, a Baltimore-based nonprofit that was hired to run the diversion center, did not tell Escuela Viva parents how they plan to protect their children and parents from people who are picked up for drug possession and dropped off at the diversion center, the letter said.
“Escuela Viva has not been provided with an external security plan to ensure the safety of the blocks surrounding the center,” the letter states. “Worse still, the proposed center operator, Tuerk House, confirmed that its security guards will not provide service outside the building, and district staff will not commit to a police presence around the center.”
“Their plan involves bringing desperate people addicted to fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine to the diversion center, confiscating their drugs, and then letting them walk out of the center at any time — with no transportation from the center required,” the letter states. “This plan will attract a flood of drug dealers to the neighborhood, and drug use, violent crime, and disruptive sidewalk camping will result. Since the 900 Southeast Sandy location was announced in late June, we have already seen an increase in open fentanyl use nearby.”
According to Escuela Viva, the county “intentionally kept plans for the center secret” until the end of June, just two months before the center’s scheduled opening.
“Instead of allowing the community to comment on a controversial plan with an artificial deadline, the leadership team left the public in the dark,” the letter said, violating Oregon’s public meetings law.
The Multnomah County press office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
