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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 2012)
street roots 2 Aug. 31, 2012 I All types of people — one community paper S This is no political season for sitting on the sidelines ifty percent of people ages 18-40 in Multnomah County are not registered to vote. Not cool. F Some say that it’s a combination of people having moved from on address to another, or not voting in the mid-term and primary elections. In Oregon, that means you will need to register again to vote. Others say the poor rate is because demographics of Portland are changing, and many young people have yet to be introduced to the level of civic engagement that makes Portland special. It's tim e to tune back in. Apathy also plays a If you care about the part. Some voters world you live, regardless have tuned-out since of your issue or passion, the 2008 elections, placing your vote in That’s no excuse. November m atters. Maybe the past four years didn’t go exactly the way you wanted and the constant barrage of bad news about war, poverty, global warming and the recession has left a sour taste in your mouth. Whatever the reason, it’s time to tune back in. If you care about the world you live, regardless of your issue or passion, placing your vote in November matters. Seriously. Oregon offers one of the most progressive and effortless systems with vote by mail. Being able to have dinner parties with friends, or an evening with your significant other, discussing the many ballot measures and political races this November is civic engagement at its best. It’s the perfect time to be able to discuss a range of important issues and then directly weigh in on those issues with a vote. Street Roots will be publishing an election postcard this year highlighting our views on local and statewide ballot measures. We will also be running interviews with local candidates for mayor and city council. Look for coverage throughout the month of October leading up to the November election. Street Roots along with its partners will also be sponsoring a candidate forum on housing and homelessness where we’ll be drilling mayoral and council candidates on issues of poverty. The event will be held 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, at the Portland Community College Southeast Center at Southeast 82nd Avenue and Division Street. Be there. Registering to vote is easy as pie in Oregon. Go to www.oregonvotes.org and register, simple as that. You can also register to vote at your local post office or the Department of Motor Vehicles. There will also be an army of young people out and about at busy crossroads and on college campuses registering folks. Don’t put it off. The deadline is Oct. 16. Voter registration is down in Oregon and around the country. Let’s not follow the whole baby boomer, disillusionment-in-politics thing that happened after the 1960. Our global environment cannot afford it, literally. Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach him. at israel@streetroots. org LETTER Vendor's positive outlook reflects on customers WHAT DO YOU THINK? Send letters to the editor to the Street Roots office, 211 NW Davis St., Portland, OR 97209, ore-mailed to streetrootsnews® gmail.com. Program Assistant Kara Oimitruk, Jesuit Street Roots 211 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax; 503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org www.streetroots.wordpress.com transportation to housing and homeless treet Roots works hard to present the services. vendors and public with a great When Street Roots can, we work hard to newspaper each issue. We work hard be leaders on the homeless and housing to present voices on a variety of issues that front. We aren’t shy about highlighting and touch poverty. People giving voice to new ideas and to push local ask me all of the time, leaders and the broader community to think “ what’s the focus of about issues in a different way. 5 ; | » | « « l S r S the newspaper? Does The effects of poverty are constantly ,' Street Roots work to changing in our community. Everything is present in the paper interconnected — from high unemployment B v Israel Bayer people experiencing rates to domestic violence to gang activity yjy Israel aayer homeieSsness, or is it to how institutions respond to these issues. m h u m h m h i more of a community It all has an effect on our entire community. newspaper? My We dive deep into important issues and give answer is always the people the opportunity to have a global same — both. view on issues that matter. Street Roots believes that the changing For new readers just being introduced to demographics and highly educated Street Roots, we welcome you to our pages readership in Portland have created a public and hope you can find the time to develop a interested in a broad range of social justice relationship with a local vendor. For many issues. In each edition you will find poetry, of you who have been reading and artwork and sometimes opinion pieces from supporting Street Roots for years, we hope people on the streets. You will also find a you continue to enjoy what we produce and range of investigative reporting on local our path continues to offer you new and issues that matter, as well as with interesting ways to engage in the issue. We interviews with musicians, authors, experts are also open to suggestions and would love in a specific field, and many others. We do the feedback. Visit us at streetroots.org or our best to present local politics on issues on Twitter and Facebook, where a lively that affect people experiencing poverty, and discussion is always taken place. how policies and happenings will shape the Lastly, to find out more about Street lives of those we serve. Roots, visit our annual report in this We also believe in coalition building and edition. We sincerely appreciate your providing a platform for many individuals support, your readership and your and organizations to communicate to a engagement in this ongoing conversation. broader audience. Although we may not At Street Roots, we believe in humanity. We always be able to lead a specific campaign, believe in you. Thanks for believing in us. we can provide an outlet for those who are working on issues ranging from equity to Volunteer AmeriCorps Member kara@streetroots.org Grant Writer Sarah Cloud Accountant Heather Stadick Reporters Amanda Waldroupe, Jake Thomas, Devan Schwartz, Robert Britt, Sue Zalokar Photographers Leah Nash, Ken Hawkins, Kristina Wright I’m a manager at a restaurant on Fourth Avenue and Taylor. I take my breaks across the street near one of your vendors, Marlon Crump. I noticed him there in October, and ever since then I see him every day I work. He has become almost a family member to me. In the last 6 months I have lost 3 family members and I am over 1,500 miles away from home. He was the first person to lend an ear and a kind word to make me feel better. I notice that everyone who works in the area feels the same way. I can’t explain how much he has helped me, through more than just a great source of entertaining news articles. No matter what the weather, no matter what kind of day he’s had, he’ll be out there in dress clothes and a smile on his face. It’s reassuring to know that your attitude does not have to reflect the situation you are in. Having a positive outlook can not only change your own life, but also those around you. Indeed it has! Marlon is a fixture in that area. I couldn’t imagine him not being there greeting everyone that walks by. He tells me he loves his job, and is grateful every day for it. I thank you for creating a program that helps deserving people like him, and that you have brought his smile to our community. Thank you so incredibly much for what your paper is doing for those around me. And I hope you could give him some recognition for the above-and-beyond work he does daily. - A L Y X STEPHENS Portland Maty Racios, Leo Rhodes J a n Bayer, Eliese Baker, Sue Zalokar, Michael Moore, Robert Britt, Cynthia Kiehl, Hannah Schultz, Robyn Wirkes, Shannon Lattin, Jim Quinlan •mu Street Roots Rose City Resource Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a comprehensive booklet of 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. Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office
