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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2010)
MATTERS OF LIFE OR DEATH An interview with mental health activist Jason Renaud Page 4 Rings of fire Vancouver, B.C.’s street paper talks about how the Winter Olympics have reignited the homeless front to push back on gentrification and homelessness GENTgltM^ MfflNALlZAJJ BY JOANNE ZUHL STAFF WRITER or most viewers and fans,-the Olympics bring the world together in the celebration of sport. But in Vancouver, B.C., another team has been competing for recognition off the Olympic " grid and in the streets. Activists for housing and people in poverty been galvanized by the impact this mega-event is having on a city where between . 4,000 and 5,000 people live homeless. The Games have triggered very public demonstrations — including a massive protest for the opening ceremonies — and more private efforts as the community works to protect poor people’s rights and housing. For three years, Street Roots’ sister newspaper, Megaphone, has been covering the build-up to the Games and the dichotomy between the wealth of z local resources poured into the two-week event and the city’s failure to correct its housing crisis and staggering poverty. • While Vancouver’s major media houses were the happening in Vancouver, what it means for the “official” media for the homeless front there, and how a little street Games, Megaphone was newspaper was at the heart of it all. an independent voice, dedicating coverage to Sean Condon Joanne Zuhl: Why have these Games stirred up the people getting so much protest among the homeless and advocacy squeezed as policymakers, developers and community? Is Vancouver’s situation or experience corporations attempted to capitalize on the event with the Games any different than other cities? Megaphone’s coverage brought awareness to “Olympic evictions” and the criminalization policies Sean Condon: Past Olympic Games have that other media could no longer ignore. proven to be extremely painful for homeless and Megaphone Editor Sean Condon has been low-income people. In places like Atlanta, Sydney overseeing-the paper’s coverage during this time, and Salt Lake City, homelessness was essentially and he spoke to Street Roots about what’s F People from the streets and housing advocates demonstrated against the city of Vancouver’s policies in hosting thè Olympic Games, including calling for a tent city for people on the streets displaced by the event and housing Policies surrounding it. criminalized during the Games and hundreds of homeless people were swept off the streets so the city could be sanitized for the tourists. The Games have also, wherever they’ve taken place, been used as a catalyst to gentrify low-income urban neighborhoods, causing displacement and dispossession. Vancouver already had its own negative experience with a mega-event during Expo 86. Roughly 1,000 low-income housing units were converted to upscale hotels or market housing. So PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER BEVACQUA-FINK See RINGS, page 3 Sisters, PPB rub philosophies in resolving nuisance citation Negotiations continue in effort to curb complaint calls near cafe BY JOANNE ZUHL result in possible closure. Sisters leases the property from Central City egotiations between the Portland police and Concern. On Feb. 8, from the beginning of the first public Sisters Of The Road Café will enter their meeting on the issue between representatives from second stage as the two parties work to and the police, mediated by Judith Mowry address a chronic nuisance warning against the Sisters Old with the city’s Office of Neighborhood Town/Chinatown institution. Involvement, the underlying differences of Last summer, after police reported an increase philosophy was immediately made clear. Sisters Of in nuisance calls related to Sisters’ comer at NW The Road Executive Director Monica Beemer Sixth Avenue and Davis Street, the Portland Police prefaced the talks about the diverse population Bureau issued a chronic nuisance warning against around the table, including among those the 30-year-old organization, which serves representing Sisters, and the need for everyone hundreds of meals each day to people in poverty involved to feel safe in light of activities by police and homelessness. The café shut down voluntarily that have targeted homeless people and peace for a month afterward to address the situation, activists. The PPB officers who have been working only to receive a chronic nuisance citation. Sisters on negotiating an agreement include Capt Mark has been in talks with the police to develop an Kruger, who was addressed in.particular by Sisters’ agreement to have the citation and classification lifted and avoid further problems which could STAFF WRITER N staff person Richard Walden. Walden said he didn’t feel safe with Kruger at the table, referencing the captain’s “patterns of violence” and derogatory attitude against protesters dating back to 2002. Police actions in those protests resulted in major lawsuit settlements by the city. Kruger responded by saying that he would not spend this time defending the “lawful” activities of a police officer, and that he has made a good faith effort in these negotiations. He then offered to remove himself from the meeting if that was requested. “I don’t know what I can tell you that will make you feel any safer,” Kruger said. “At Sisters, we believe in second chances,” Walden replied, and said it was OK if Kruger See SISTERS, page 6
