Rantz: (UPDATE) Portland’s ‘red house autonomous zone’ activists won’t leave

(Update 12/14/20 9:45am) The agreement to break up the Red House Autonomous Zone in Portland is no more. After it was revealed the Kinney Family hasn’t yet made contact with the new owner of the red house, activist refused to leave the occupation.

Mayor Ted Wheeler indicated his office served as an intermediary between the family and the new homeowner, but he contradicted himself a number of times today. While it appeared the Portland activists were readying a departure from the red house autonomous zone, there was a change of heart. While much of the road is clear, activists (some armed with paintball guns) and a small roadblock remain.

Like much of what Wheeler touches, he botched this negotiation.

Original report on Portland Red House Autonomous Zone

The family behind the Red House Autonomous Zone in North Portland owns a second home just two miles away. Even more disturbing is that Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office negotiated with the new homeowner. The goal was to appease criminal activists. And the activists won.

It’s the latest twist in a bizarre, dangerous, and absurd story.

While the news of a second home should change the narrative from the Antifa agitators and other criminal agitators who are holding a neighborhood hostage, it likely won’t. When dealing with fringe activists, they seldom let facts get in the way of their narrative. As for Wheeler’s involvement, it’s another reminder that he’s a feckless coward.

So it turns out the family behind the #RedHouse Autonomous Zone… might consider themselves sovereign citizens. I suppose it makes sense they're in an autonomous zone. This isn't about gentrification. It's about crazies. My latest report for #TuckerCarlson. pic.twitter.com/hqpWi6OAaj

— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) December 11, 2020

Family owns second home near Portland autonomous zone

The so-called Red House was foreclosed in 2018 after failure to pay their mortgage. Since then, they’ve been living in the home illegally and causing all sorts of criminal problems for the neighborhood, which I detail in my FOX News editorial.

The narrative was set by Antifa and other criminal agitators: The Black and Indigenous family is a victim of gentrification and will be rendered homeless in the middle of a pandemic. It’s outrageous! It’s also false.

The Kinney family took out a mortgage to help pay bills associated with then-17-year-old son William’s legal problems. After speeding through a red light, he struck a car, killing one of the occupants. Since then, he’s had some other legal issues, as the family got into a back and forth with the loan servicer.

Court documents reveal the Kinney family argued they believe themselves to be sovereign citizens who are not subject to the laws of Oregon or the United States. I suppose it makes sense, then, that an autonomous zone is set up to protect them from the years-long battle from the home they have no legal right to.

Though activists claimed the family would be rendered homeless if kicked out, it turns out they own a second home.

The second home just outside of Portland autonomous zone

The family bought their second home in 1996, according to media reports. It’s in Northeast Portland, just two miles from the Red House Autonomous Zone.

A reporter with Oregon Public Broadcasting visited the home on Friday and the occupant answering the door was William’s brother Michael, who last week vowed to “reclaim the land” of the Red House. He declined an interview, but confirmed they owned the home.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page was set up to raise money for them to repurchase the Red House. As of Saturday morning, it raised over $300,000 thanks to people who fell for the gentrification argument. Unaware of the legal troubles, and the sovereign citizen arguments, people donated to purchase the home back from its new owner.

But behind the scenes, Portland’s cowardly mayor has been undercutting his earlier promises to take control of the situation.

Ted Wheeler wheels and deals

Wheeler said the city would clear the Red House Autonomous Zone by any legal means necessary. Like much of what comes out Wheeler’s mouth, it was an empty threat.

Not only has the autonomous zone grown, his office was working to help get the family their home back.

Roman Ozeruga came to this country from Ukraine as a child. He started working at the age of 18 buying and selling real estate. Soon, his family-run business developed into Urban Housing Development LLC. He purchased the home at a foreclosure auction in 2018 and has been battling the Kinney family since.

Now, he’s willing to sell the home back to the family, at cost, due to concerns over his physical safety.

“We are a small family business, we don’t seek to hurt anyone of course,” Ozeruga told OregonLive.com. “We’re overwhelmed by the attention to this. We’ve already offered to sell back the property at cost because of course we’ve paid taxes, legal fees, bank fees, et cetera.”

But somewhat buried in the story is the revelation that Wheeler’s office has been involved in negotiations.

The negotiation

Ozeruga told OregonLive.com that staffers from Wheeler’s office reached out “to explore some sort of compromise.” The report says Wheeler is looking to negotiate a settlement to end the autonomous zone.

In other words, we do negotiate with terrorists?

Using violent force and ideology to take over land makes you a domestic terrorist. That Antifa and other agitators think they’re just in their cause doesn’t mean they are. Cliven Bundy and his supporters also thought they were just.

In this case, it worked.

Barricades start to come down

Barricades started to come down on Sunday after a deal was reached between the family and the Mayor’s Office to continue negotiations. The exact details of the arrangement are unclear, but social media reports police agreed they would not intervene in the future.

Wheeler and Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell also apologized for having the audacity to demand last week that a lawless autonomous zone come down.

“We apologize and understand that following our tweets earlier this week that your family received threats,” Wheeler wrote in a letter. “We did not intend to attract attention that results in threats of harm and violence to your family or that escalated tensions in our community. Nobody should be subjected to this kind of stress and harm, and we apologize for the role our tweets played in this.”

Activists declared this a win. They were right to: The city caved.

The message

Negotiating ensures this exact scenario will unfold the next time activists want to forward a scam narrative about gentrification. Not that Wheeler learns from mistakes.

After their own “summer of love” in Portland, Wheeler routinely enables and empowers Antifa criminals. It’s why their criminal, deadly behavior intensified.

It’s exactly what helped create an environment where an autonomous zone could be set up around the red house in the first place.

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