Street roots., October 14, 2011, Page 9, Image 9

Street roots
OcL 14, 2011
9
Liiaóit
CHALLENGER, from page 8
have to balance all those priorities.
A.W.: Do you think the issues o f camping
or the Drug Impact Areas need to he addressed
differently?
A.W.: How will you work with county and
state to develop a better strategy for addressing
the needs o f people experiencing poverty?
M.N.: There are very few people who
choose to sleep outdoors on a permanent
basis. I could choose to sleep outdoors
when I go hiking or backpacking, but there
are few people who want to rely on
camping, especially in urban areas, as their
abode. We have an obligation to make sure
that everyone feels safe, including people
who live or work near places where people
are camping, and the people in our
economic recession who have been thrown
into that circumstance.
Until we work together, with the county
and the state, to address the underlying
forces that drive people to have to be in
that position, all the ordinances in the
world, and all the exclusion zones in the
world, will not hâve long-term impacts for
the people who are homeless.
M.N.:Cities and counties, historically,
have had complimentary and distinct roles
(with county providing services for human
services and corrections, and the city
providing services for infrastructure-related
issues and
public safety). I
believe that
the division...
It would be important for (the
is legitimate. It
city's) proposals for any new
is largely a
county and
funding or bond measures or
state
levies be coordinated, so we're
responsibility,
not weakening the county's
but the city
certainly has a ability to provide vitally
role in making
important human and social
sure we’re n o t
services.
doing anything
to compromise
the county’s
ability to be
successful. It would be important for our
proposals for any new funding or bond
measures or levies be coordinated, so we’r
not weakening the county’s ability to
provide vitally important human and social
A.W.: Are you supportive o f the Office of
Equity?
M.N.: I fully and enthusiastically support
the goals and imperative of addressing
inequalities in the city. If the city really
wants to move the dial and improve our
record for all of our residents, then we’ve
got to put some accountability oh it. In my
experience, the best way to achieve real
results is to set specific, measurable
targets, put deadlines on them, and put
some kind of enforcement piece on it. Until
we do that with the Office of Equity, it’s
going to be very hard to achieve real results
that change anybody’s life.
A.W.: Despite a decades-old pledge
otherwise, the affordable housing inventory in
the city’s core continues to shrink. Meanwhile,
the w aitins .lists to obtain even a modest
affordable apartment are becoming absurdly
long or are closed. What are your ideas oh
how to increase the supply o f affordable
housing to lowerincome households in
Portland?
M.N.: I know there is a conversation and
debate going on about what kind of income
levels to target via available housing
resources from the Portland Housing
Bureau. I haven’t studied it well enough to
have a well-informed position on it.
A.W.: The city’s housing bureau is on the
edge o f what will become severe revenue
restrictions, with the decline in T IF funding
and federal grant cuts. What will you do to
create a sustainable revenue fo r housing and
homeless services fo r years to come?
M.N.: I do support doing th a t I will be
very supportive of efforts to expand to the
point where we could get back to achieving
the goal of doing no harm or preserving the
existing stock. I don’t have any magic
pockets of money to address that, though. It
has to be looked at in the context of the
city’s imperative to simultaneously do what
it can to support businesses that are
creating family wage jobs in Portland ... you
House Cleaning
By Kareem Ali
He emerges from junipers
Hidden in a cocoon of light
The mist of whiskey
Caught in his teeth like a fog.
His wrinkled, wizened face
Is transformed under a gust of wind
Yet he still manages
To collect bottles and cans
He still vacuums the cement
And mops the tops of trees.
By summer
He homesteads in the park
Sequestered
Under a trombone of heat
With the final dust rag of day
He can easily sweep up
The dark.
A.W.: Employment is at the foundation o f
self-sufficiency. What are you going to do to
help create jobs fo r people with multiple
barriers to getting hired?
M.N.: What the city can do to create jobs
is to make sure that we provide the best,
most cost effective and most timely services
to employers who employ most of
Portlanders. We have to retain the intent
and the integrity of our public health, public
safety and environmental standards, and
move as deliberately as possible to a ssist,
businesses when they’re poised to expand
and bring in or create new jobs.
. Specifically to people with multiple
challenges, all the same applies, but I’d like
to add to that any partnering the city can do
around transportation access and
affordability, and opportunities around
training and re-training to keep people
current and marketable in the economy as
it shifts.
thursday. October 20th B:30-9pm
world fo res try center * dinner & drinks
u i.L A B A i.n n t ;
an evening to benefit JOIN: Connecting the Street to a Home
Uproarious comedy from The Unscriptables!
Live music from eclectic rockers. The Usual Suspects!
Incomparable glamour and glitz from event emcee Darcelle XV!
A.W.: Every year, public transportation gets
more expensive for riders and the free zone
downtown gets chipped away and threatened
with elimination. What are you going to do to
preserve the free rail zone?
M.N.: Fareless Square is a TriMet
decision, but I think the city partners with
Trimet and Metro (the regional governing
body for Multnomah, Clackamas and
Washington counties) on all manner of
transportation issues. Certainly, asserting
the priority of keeping transportation
accessible as well as affordable for people in
entry-level, working-class and middle-class
jobs is something the city can assert some
leadership on.
Street Books, A bicycle-powered mobile library,
coming to a street near you!
To find out more
about the project, or
to donate paperbacks,
contact Laura Moulton
laura@ideacog.net.
Library Location &
Hours:
Currently lending
books near
Skidmore Fountain
for fall and winter
shifts.
3035 S.E. D ivision • P ortland, O R 97202
503.234.7499