Clean and Safe billboard.jpg

The billboard went up at Southwest Fourth and Morrison on March 1. It shows a person holding a cardboard sign that reads "Your spare change funds my addictions."

(Clean and Safe)

Clarification appended.

A group managed by the Portland Business Alliance plans to replace a controversial downtown billboard that critics argued stereotyped homeless people as drug addicts.

The billboard, at Southwest Fourth and Morrison, shows a person holding a cardboard sign that reads "Your spare change funds my addictions."

The sign was put up March 1 by Clean and Safe, the nonprofit overseen by the Portland Business Alliance. It is part of an ongoing campaign by the chamber of commerce to discourage people from giving to panhandlers, whose presence can hurt businesses when they set up outside their doors, the chamber said.

The decision to replace the sign comes after mayoral candidates Ted Wheeler and Sarah Iannarone spoke out against it, and after a petition asking the chamber to remove the sign garnered nearly 1,000 signatures.

In a statement posted on the Portland Business Alliance's Facebook page Wednesday, Clean and Safe Chair Mark Schlesinger said the group plans to change out the current billboard message and image in the coming weeks. (Last week, Clean and Safe Executive Director Lynnae Berg said the billboard would stay up for months unless the Clean and Safe board of directors agreed to remove it.)

In his statement, Schlesinger said the group was pleased with the attention the billboard brought to its outreach efforts. The campaign's purpose, it says, is to encourage people to donate to social service providers instead of handing cash to panhandlers. He also pointed out that most homeless people do not panhandle.

Chamber officials have said they chose to address addiction on the billboard because a 2013-14 survey of Portland panhandlers showed many used donations for drugs and alcohol, and because of the negative impact of addiction on the community.

In an interview with The Oregonian, Schlesinger said he didn't think the billboard's imminent replacement is a response to the petition, but part of the campaign's evolution.

"We've agreed that it's time to move on to the next phase of the program," he said.

The current sign was the campaign's first billboard, he said. Schlesinger said the content of the replacement billboard is being reviewed by a committee, and the new sign will be up within a month, as soon as it's produced. He declined to share what the next billboard would say, as it's still under review.

Either way, petition author Mary Nichols is pleased the current message has an expiration date.

"It's a small but powerful victory," she said.

-- Anna Marum

amarum@oregonian.com

503-294-5911

@annamarum

Clarification: Clean and Safe, which has its own board of directors, is a nonprofit managed by the Portland Business Alliance.