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street roots
March 1, 2013
Businesses, readers and vendors work together
S
Effort to control sidewalks
sidesteps civil liberties
regon statutes are filled with preemptions, those
law-of-the-land overrides on local government.
O
They have their supporters and detractors,
depending on what side of the argument you’re on, but in
the best of matters they can be protections against the
whittling away of civil rights that we hold self evident.
One such preemption is that if you’re going to get
removed from a public sidewalk for being a nuisance, the
people removing you had better have a good reason. The
burden of proof that you intended to be a nuisance is on
them.
That’s been a thorn in the side of Portland’s sidewalk
laws for years. Locally, sidewalk laws have tried to
prohibit people from sitting and lying on public
thoroughfares,
but they
get
tripped up when
the
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him a t
israel @streetroots. org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
We should be rolling up
our sleeves looking for
ways to work better
together, not slipping
through back doors to
grab the upper hand.
state says you can’t just
wholesale remove or
harass people just
because you don’t want
them around. Freedom
of expression prevails.
The first significant
chip in this civil liberty
is winding its way through the State Legislature now. It’s
a bill that would change state law to prevent it from
preempting a city’s authority to regulate or control the
public’s use of its sidewalks. The Portland Business
Alliance is pushing the bill, with the less than veiled
intention to ban sitting and lying on sidewalks entirely,
homeless included. In other words, Oregon — on this
issue - keep those pesky civil liberties off our sidewalks.
To be sure, there is illegal behavior on our sidewalks,
and aggression and violence should be met with police
enforcement, just as our laws currently allow. And indeed,
sidewalks are intended to facilitate pedestrian traffic,
which our laws protect as well. In addressing violations,
the onus is on the police, where it belongs. Extending
prohibitions on sitting and lying on sidewalks beyond this
is to target people not intentionally breaking any laws or
blocking a single step. And history bears out that the
people caught up in this net are predominantly homeless.
Street Roots wants to see a thriving business
community. We want safe sidewalks, and we want
individuals and organizations to respect one another and
work in partnership toward a better tomorrow. With a
$25 million shortfall in our city’s budget, and 10 percent
cuts hitting our most vital services for sheltering our
city’s thousands of homeless men, women and children,
we should be rolling up our sleeves looking for ways to
work better together, not slipping through back doors to
grab the upper hand. The House should kill this bill.
Oregon’s founding fathers crafted a constitution that,
like its federal counterpart, makes paramount the
protection of free speech, but with even broader strokes:
“No law shall be passed restraining the free expression
of opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write, or
print freely on any subject whatever; but every person
shall be responsible for the abuse of this right.”
To that we say, hear, hear. And here, too, if you please.
treet Roots is growing. At the core of
what we do is our vendor program.
More than 80 individuals and families
who sell Street Roots in the community
collectively represent the idea that people
experiencing poverty
and homelessness can
provide for themselves.
Of course, it takes a
great newspaper team, a
loyal readership and the
B y Israel Bayer
larger community to
make vendors
successful.
What often times gets
left out of this narrative is how the business
community plays a critical role in helping
people get a hand up. We have relationships
with more than 50 local businesses in the
community that work with our vendors to
maintain their livelihood.
Street Roots is in the process of expanding
our outreach in the community and to
vendors. The strategy is two-fold. First, we’re
working on providing more services to
vendors in-house. Our relationship with Jesuit
Volunteer Corps Northwest has allowed us to
think about creative and effective ways to
empower vendors to have the tools they need
to be successful in the community.
Our volunteer coordinator, Kara Dimitruk,
has been with us for a little more than six
months, ushering in a new volunteer
program and working one-on-one with
vendors to create an environment where they
can be more successful in sales. In the
coming year, we are working on
implementing a foot-care program, haircuts
and monthly motivational speakers for
vendors. We couldn’t be more thrilled with
Dimitruk’s work and the work of the JVC
program. If you would like to get involved
with Street Roots by volunteering on one of
these projects go to streetroots.org and fill
former Jesuit Volunteer himself, has started
doing quarterly outreach calls and visits with
store managers and owners of local
businesses, letting them know we’re available
and asking how we can better serve their
needs. We believe having a happy business
that works with Street Roots equals a happy
customer and, ultimately, a happy Street
Roots reader.
During our outreach, the overwhelming
majority of store managers and owners talked
about how happy they were to have Street
Roots vendors in front of their
establishments. Having a Street Roots vendor
greet customers with a smile and a “thank
you” creates a stable environment in front of
stores. It also allows vendors to become part
of the fabric of local neighborhoods and gain
a sense of belonging and dignity. It also
allows individuals the ability to establish
themselves financially.
We know that we aren’t perfect. Everyone
at Street Roots didn’t get here because they
woke up one day and wanted to be a Street
Roots vendor. For many, it’s a matter of
survival. For others, selling the newspaper
helps improve their quality of life.
Whatever the reason for selling the paper,
it is hard work. You have to be a salesperson.
You have to endure rejection and decades of
stereotypes about homeless people. Some
people are verbally or physically threatened
or abused. On the flipside, for every negative
interaction there are numerous positive ones.
People begin to know vendors by name and
learn their interests. They engage in dialogue
about the neighborhood and about what’s in
the latest edition of the paper. Class and
cultural lines are bridged and new
conversations emerge.
We have vendor feedback and incident
report links on our website (streeroots.org)
that let readers write in about vendors. We
welcome your feedback and input. It helps
o u t o u r nifty v o lu n teer application.
m a k e t h e e n t i r e S t r e e t R o o t s t e a m s tr o n g e r ,
The second part of the outreach strategy is
developing stronger relationships with the
businesses where Street Roots vendors sell.
Our vendor coordinator, Cole Merkel, a
and a stronger Street Roots means a stronger
community. We can’t thank vendors,
businesses and readers enough.
LETTERS
Reemergence o f sit-lie controversy sparks reader response
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
Send letters to the
editor to the Street
Roots office, 211
NW Davis St.,
Portland, OR 97209,
or e-mail joanne®
streetroots.com.
ne of the main problems with
Portland’s sit-lie ordinance is that it was
enforced sparingly, and then only when a
person was assumed to be homeless. Never
once was I asked to “move along” when I
was sitting on a sidewalk waiting for a bus
or MAX. I can assume it was because I
don’t appear homeless.
That said, something needs to be done
about aggressive panhandling in Portland’s
downtown streets. I am one of those who
will not give money to panhandlers, but will
purchase food, especially for animals/pets.
Maybe the secret is in taking away the need
to panhandle. Novel idea.
O
e already have laws prohibiting
negative public behavior, and we have
been through this ad nauseum for as long
as I’ve lived in Portland, over 20 years now.
Business owners, we love you and value you
and like spending money with you, but if
you cannot deal with the urban landscape
looking urban, it is time to open up shop in
SE Portland or somewhere that is more in
accordance with your needs. And Charlie
Hales — I was worried you would be too
much in bed with business, and this gives
me a sinking feeling that maybe I was right.
Charlie, I like you: Please prove me wrong!
W
ORION
Portland
CARMEN DUNNIGTON
Portland
Board of Directors
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
on Fridays, and is available exclusively through our
street vendors or by subscription. We are proud
members of the North American Street
Newspaper Association and the International
Network of Street Papers.
Street Roots
211 NW Davis St
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax:503-227-3117
www.streetroots.org
www.news.streetroots.org
joanne@streetroots.org
Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sarah Seecroft
Program Assistant Kara Dimitruk, Jesuit
Volunteer AmeriCorps Member
kara@streetroots.org
firant Writer Sarah Cloud
Development Assistant Cynthia Kiehl
Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Robert
Britt, Sue Zalokar
Photographers Leah Nash, Ken Hawkins, Kristina
Wright, Christopher Onstott
Stay connected with us online
through Facebook and Twitter
IJ ld
Bruce Anderson (Chairman), Michael Anderson (Vice-
chairman), Heather Stadick (Treasurer), Eddy Barbosa
(Secretary), Rich Rodgers, Brad Taylor, Leo Rhodes,
Ken Hawkins, Nora Coon, Darren Alexander
Volunteers
Mary Pacios, Jan Bayer, Ann Ereline, Vinnie Kinsella,
Sharron Thompson, Ann-Derrick Gaiilot, Art Garcia,
Joe Thick, Erin Fenner, Stacey Heath, Taurin Skinner-
Macginnis, Amber Bielman, Bethany Hague,
Michelle Holbert, John Lisifka, Rowen Canoles
TOK ('M irteti
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.