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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 2012)
2 street roots July 6, 2012 EDITORIAL Summertime offers so many opportunities I Whitten keeps stirring the pot on housing justice ore than a month into his hunger strike, Cameron Whitten has maintained his campaign against housing injustice for longer than many people probably expected. But then Whitten has never been one to bend to conventional expectations. The former mayoral candidate is using his Occupy-backed celebrity to draw attention to homelessness and call for housing justice. And attention is what he’s getting. He has been camping outside City Hall since early June, and has attracted followers to his cause, usingw the stage to Whitten's response is to talk about the issues. rebel against the shoulder- He has three requests of shrugging resignation of the city. The first is to another summer with withdraw the fines against homelessness. the owners of the lot leased by Right 2 Dream Too, a homeless overnight rest area. The city is fining the owners more than $1,200 a month for code infractions. The second request is the put a housing levy measure on the November ballot, something the city has abandoned in the wake of other failed levy attempts. The third request by Whitten is for the Multnomah County Sheriff to issue a one-year moratorium on home foreclosures in the county. In varying form, all of these concerns have validity. Right 2 Dream Too needs support, not sanctions. The foreclosure crisis has devastated families, and the city has to find another, sustainable funding stream for low-income housing. While several city commissioners, including the mayor, have talked with Whitten at his 24-hour sidewalk camp, they have shown no signs of moving forward to accommodate his requests. But something else is happening here. You can fault him for not having the answers to the problem, or using tactics that you might not agree with. But who among us has the solution we all want to hear? Neither passersby nor the occupants of the corner offices in City Hall have put forward definitive answers to the constant stream of people hitting the streets. Despite Portland’s progress in getting people into housing, getting people sober, employed and off the streets, our ultimate success is undermined by economic stagnation, joblessness, housing costs and regressive attitudes toward people who are down and out. Our response as a city is measured more by how we react to this landscape than our ability to change the landscape altogether. Whitten’s response is to rebel against the shoulder- shrugging resignation of another summer with homelessness. It’s not about the list of unmet demands, or the sideshow atmosphere that flares up around these kinds of campaigns. It’s about presence - and sacrifice. This effort, and the many before it, remind us that behind the rhetoric on homelessness and interm ittent coverage in the media, there beats a real passion to call out the injustice in housing, and work to improve the lives of people who lack shelter, safety, health care and hope. It takes community to bring it all together, and that’s what Whitten is building - through social media and in the press. People are talking, and even that helps move the ball forward. t’s summertime, and for many people on the streets, including Street Roots vendors sleeping outside, it makes for a challenging time of year. We all know winter can be a tough for people on the streets, but summer brings its own set of issues. For many people, it means bedding down hours later than they normally would, and staying hydrated By Israel Bayer becomes essential. ■■■ m b h h h h m h For Street Roots vendors, being able to maintain a stable income means everything. Your support of the vendor program and newspaper allows vendors to be able to be independent day-in and day-out, giving people on the streets much needed resources to be able to end their homelessness. Having money can mean having a healthy meal and getting a hotel for the night. It may mean being able to sustain oneself indoors, or the ability to put down -J n/A-rr, M Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach him a t israel@ streetroots.org Street Roots serves people with all kinds of backgrounds and circumstances. Some people sell the newspaper for daily survival, while others are using the sales of the newspaper to maintain a small flat or cover basic health care costs. Your support of the vendors allows people to have a hand up, and . gives hope to individuals and families who have found themselves on the fringes. We know how much vendors appreciate their regular customers and developing new relationships with Portlanders. If you are hosting friends or family this summer, introduce them to your local vendor. If you have a break room or lobby at your place of work, share a copy of the paper for others to read. The biggest barrier Street Roots faces in the community is people believing that the newspaper is a paper for the homeless and not the entire community. You can help change this, and in the process continue to help people change the way we address poverty in our community. The social change, literally, is in your pocket. From all of us at Street Roots, thanks for the love. Editorial on free rail zone loss strikes chord WHAT DO YOU THINK? Send letters to the editor to the Street Roots office, 211 NW Davis St., Portland, OR 97209, or by e-mail to joanne® streetroots.org. accountability to citizens, yet has a power of taxation, policing, and legislation. It is time for the citizens to fight back and eliminate TriMet. The state law already riMet decided to double contingency provides for a takeover of TriMet by Metro, funds from $10 million to $20 million and we all need to pressure Metro to this year, citing concerns about the ongoing assume control over the regional transit labor dispute. TriMet expects, nevertheless, system, which would not only bring that not all of that $20 million would be accountability to our public transit, but also spent on employee health insurance and would save taxpayer money by reducing the pensions. Indeed, some of the $20 million overlapping layers of regional bureaucracy. would, ostensibly, be used to administer a -S A R A H MORRIGAN grant program that allows qualified social service agencies to distribute free tickets to hen a certain mental health company their clients. gave me a job and I moved to Portland Had TriMet lowered the contingency fund then yanked it away in less than three to $15 million, it could have easily saved months, I depended on Fareless Square. I both the free rail zone and student passes, got my groceries, etc. Every time I went on each of which costs under $2.5 million a a job interview it was $5 for a day pass. year, while still reasonably covering the Thank you, TriMet for making Portland a possible liabilities for funding employee city out of reach for us now. benefits when TriMet loses the arbitration. -C O N N IE SEYMOUR This has never been about TriMet’s fiscal crisis. TriMet and the City of Portland’s war ’ve always found it sadly ironic that on free rail zone/Fareless Square has been Portland has invested a lot of time and continuing for years. In 2008 it attempted money to provide a safety net for green to eliminate the Fareless Square, only to spaces, but the safety net for people is encounter a popular opposition from practically gone. citizens. In 2009 it once again attempted to -M A R IL Y N JOHNSON eliminate Fareless Square, this time using the opening of the Green/Yellow lines as an areless Square going away was worse, in excuse for ending free bus services. At the my view. Portland was famous for it. same time, TriMet also tried to end free But, what the (Portland Business Alliance) service in the evening (failed) and also to change the free zone boundaries from Lloyd wants, the PBA gets, no m atter how harmful it is to the health of Portland’s Center to Convention Center (failed).... (TriMet General Mananger) Neil cultural or civil society as a whole. I’ve McFarlane presided over the worst service never forgiven them for killing off Artquake, cuts and worst fare increases in TriMet’s which was the most awesome thing history. The TriMet board, appointed by the Portland ever spawned during my life here. governor at his pleasure, has no - KATIE BRETSCH Many o f you wrote in on our editorial on the loss o f the free rail zone (Street Roots, June 22). Here are a few o f the responses: T W I F Mary Pacios, Leo Rhodes, Jan Bayer, Eliese Baker, Sue Zalokar, Michael Moore, Robert Britt, Cynthia Kiehl, Hannah Schultz, Robyn Wirkes, Shannon la ttin Street Roots Rose City Resource Street Roots 211 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax: 503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org www.streetroots.wordpress.com Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a comprehensive booklet o f services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. To inquire about getting an order of the Rose City Resource for distribution, please write to pdxrosecityresource@gmail.com. Resources are also available online at www.rosecityresource.org. goes directly to the vendor who sold you the paper Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office
