Street roots., March 02, 2012, Page 6, Image 6

street roots
6
March 2, 2012
concrete reminders
A welcoming
sight for new
arrivals
by j.mccurdy
to the ones
whose shivers
remind us
of the work
we have yet to do
thank you
for your strength
thank you for the gift
your survival represents
to those who stand apart from
remember
you are related
respected
and loved
you and your part in things
are as necessary as the next
don’t take in
strangers’ opinions of your circumstance
they don’t pay your rent on the concrete
and they cant see
what took you there
or where your journey will end
they are lost
in the illusion of a security that doesn’t
exist
and addicted to outdated antiquated
notions
hold your head up
you are wild
feral
free
far more gifted at survival
and the real
than they
will ever be
remember
you
don’t require
the approval of inadequate
BY COLE MERKEL
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
nion Station, often bustling with
activity, is a gateway to the city for
many commuters and visitors.
Situated adjacent to the Bud Clark
Commons, it is also at a crossroads of
people who are homeless in the downtown
core. Eric Bradley, a Street Roots vendor for
the past six months, who has been selling at
Union Station since before Christmas, is an
ambassador between these two worlds.
Bradley stands quietly under the awning
of Union Station with papers under his arm
and a smile on his face. He greets people as
they come out of the building with a short,
friendly welcome, “New Street Roots. Hot
off the press.” Even if the potential
customers don’t acknowledge him in their
haste, he still keeps smiling.
U
« undos profile
Eric Bradley
Bradley knows the security guards and
bellhops of Union Station by their first
names and they all get along well with him.
Each morning, he memorizes the schedules
of the trains and buses to know when his
peak sales times will be. He engages with a
customer who was delayed for three hours
outside Seattle.
As the only vendor at the train station,
Bradley has many regular customers —
assessm ent
p e o p le w ho travel to P o rtlan d reg u larly on
business from Eugene or Vancouver. He
also encounters many individuals who have
never heard of a street newspaper before.
His solution is to educate them.
“I explain to them that it’s a paper that
helps people in poverty and people who are
homeless, to give them jobs so they’re not
out here just begging, they’re actually
working and doing something with their
lives so they can earn income,” he says.
He is fluent in sign language, the result of
We tip our mugs to Coffee
Bean International for
donating coffee to Street Roots
and keeping our vendors
warm in the morning!
Thank you!
coffee bean
Answers to puzzles on page 15
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volunteering at a deaf camp in his late
teens, and has been able to engage with
some deaf customers as a result.
“Help a family in poverty today,” Bradley
says to a person leaving the building. Family
is his main motivation for selling the
newspaper. Six months ago, after losing his
job in Eugene as a maintenance mechanic,
Bradley had to move away from his wife of
three years and 18-month-old son Elijah in
order to find work. “It’s hard,” he says. “I
send them money every week, if I can, and I
try to get down there and visit them as
much as I can. We talk to each other a lot.”
Bradley is working toward relocating his
family to Portland. “I’m trying my hardest,
trying to get back on my feet so I can get
back with my wife and son again. That’s the
main thing. There is more opportunity up
h e re ^ ± e says. ,tL
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took Bradley’s picture for this article, a man
who was homeless asked if I could take a
similar picture of him with his wife. “This is
for Street Roots,” Bradley told the man.
“I’m going to be in the paper. But you could
do it too and make some money. Come to
an orientation.”
With that, Bradley sent out a little hope
to a stranger, reaching out to others to help
them help themselves.
CORRECTIONS
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Re: Manufacturing their own community,
Street Roots, Feb. 3:
Two corrections: State law preempting
local governments from adopting rent
control — on any rental housing, not just
MH parks — is in state statute (ORS 91.225),
not the state constitution. The difference is
significant, since the constitution can only
be amended by a vote of the people, while
a statute can be amended or repealed by a
majority vote of the legislature.
Second, Oregon's law allowing for
Manufactured Dwelling Park Nonprofit
Cooperatives does not use the terms "stock"
or "stockholders." The park residents who
join a MDP NP Co-op are members, and
own a membership.
Street Roots strives for accuracy, but
we're human. So we also strive to correct
errors in our paper whenever possible.
Please report any errors to our managing
editor, Joanne Zuhl, at 503-228-5657, or
write to joanne@streetroots.org
Changing Lives
VENDOR WORK ADS
Craig Preston: Labor work, $12 an hour,
please call the Street Roots office to inquire:
503-228-5657
Building Communities
Creating Opportunities
Tibor S.: Available for any labor work
around a house. 1-201-539-1888.
Cassidy Morse: Looking for work. Will do
most anything, light and heavy. $10 an
hour, four-hour minimum. References
supplied. Please call 503-224-5398 or Street
Roots at 503-228-5657
www.centralcityconcern.org
503-294-1681