Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2013)
street roots 2 April 1, 2013 We're red hot potatoes, if I do say so myself t’s official! Street Roots is changing its format to online satire. We’ve given up on the idea of reporting real news. We’ve begged and borrowed to fund our journalism department for far too long. Newspapers are r j j changing. Profit margins are down and Street Roots can no I Just when you thought it was safe to return to the sidewalk ou know, we were just about to give up on writing editorials. That whole economic/social justice thing is exhausting when no one is paying attention. And then, Christmas came early - or actually a little late. Maybe it was Easter that came early, whatever. The local Chamber of Commerce clumsily rolled out their plans. Like a big fat machine scene coming a mile away over the horizon — sit-lie had returned! Like all of you, we find parsing out the square inches of our public sidewalks simply fathomless for entertainment, worth talking about ad nauseam, which is where it tends to go. Sadly, we had almost given up writing about our _____ favorite subject two years ago when the The talk is that folks are latest version of the going to try to ban all sidewalk management kinds of activities in our ordinance went into city's commons, and we play. Discussions all know that's good turned to solutions of business for everyone! ________________ homelessness and affordable housing. It was so boring*. Thank goodness the issue is getting a revamp, and a right-rounded good one at that! The talk is that folks are going to try to ban all kinds of activities in our city’s commons, and we all know that’s good business for everyone! Watch out skateboarder kids. You time here is limited. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. If this battle is going to have the savory splendor of sit-lies’ past, Y By Israel Bayer Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach him at israel@streetroots. org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. lon«er a«°rd t0 produce the quality content that readers have come to expect. With a changing media environment and all of the cheap labor that exists on the Internet, we’ve decided, who needs quality journalism, anyway? At least the kind where you spel and fact check, talk to actual “news” sources and present an issue in an educated manner. We’re fairly confident that there’s a significant amount of access to local news that already exists for free. For example, Byron Beck can cover most of Portland’s art and entertainment, bloggers can carry local sports coverage from their garages and government public relations departments will write any hard news that needs to be covered. Street Roots believes that by making up the news in each edition of the newspaper, we’ll actually be able to give a more in-depth look at what’s actually happening in Portland. Local foundations have asked us, “How do you measure the impact that your journalism has?” Our response to that is LETTERS p e o p le w ill h a v e to s t e p u p t h e i r g a m e . T hese Dear Street Roots, On behalf of the Board of County Commissioners in Clackamas we wanted to write and voice our displeasure with Street Roots’ advocacy. I can’t believe you would actually advocate for the government to help the poor. The government is the reason why people are poor. Take it from us, we know more than anyone. If Portland would abolish helping the poor, they would all just go away. The government should only help the poor that actually want to help themselves not be poor anymore. argum ents won’t ru n in circles all by them selves! City Hall can fill all the potholes it wants, as long as it keeps digging itself deeper when it comes to overregulating downtown foot traffic! Until then, we’ll look for other things to write about, but nothing has quite the visceral zing of arguing the 8-foot versus 10-foot thoroughfare high pedestrian zone delineations, or the subtleties inherent in defining predictable sidewalk topography as it relates to A-boards, sundry business signs and trendy wrought iron butt perches. We know you understand. So while we wait for the biological waste to hit the fan, we’ll continue chucking out the news of the day, although few issues have the same energy as sit-lie. Budgets are lame. Health care is a no-brainer, unless it’s fluoride, and then it’s a no-brainer no-brainer. Explaining the housing crisis actually takes work and stories of humanity, perseverance and survival are usually best told through sidewalk issues anyway. So bring on sit-lie - the businesses in pain, the homeless, the dogs, the advocates, the feet and inches of contention, the deserving and the undeserving, the perceptions and reality, the lawyers and civil rights arguments! Summer 2013 is going to be the best sit-lie season yet! We can’t wait! - BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, CLACKAMAS Dear Street Roots, I’m very concerned about Street Roots wanting to help people maintain better dental hygiene, especially the poor. People deserve bad teeth. People with bad teeth wrote the Constitution of the United States of America. Not having health care is about liberty and justice for all. It’s about not treading on my water rights. It’s about not chairman), Heather Stadick (Treasurer), Eddy Barbosa (Secretary), Rich Rodgers, Brad Taylor, Leo Rhodes, Ken Hawkins, Nora Coon, Darren Alexander Volunteers on Fridays, ana isavaitaoie exoi&iveiy usuuyu 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 Sarah Beecroft Kara Dimitruk, Jesuit Volunteer AmeriCorps Member kara@streetroots.org Grant 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 simple, “How about measuring the impact not having any local journalism has?” I’m going to quote myself (I love quoting myself) by saying, Producing a newspaper every two weeks that actually delivers engaging content while helping more than 400-plus individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty is overrated. We think we could just as easily help people by giving the public a newspaper made up of inconsequential drivel that doesn’t actually talk about solutions to problems facing our city. That’s why we’re really happy to have consultants from the Portland Mercury and The Oregonian helping us change formats.” Please take a gander through our new edition and let us know what you think. If you like what you see, you can show your support with the envelope we’ve attached in this edition of the newspaper. We’re going to need it. It’s readers like you that make Street Roots what it is. We humbly, yet very, very, very aggressively ask you today to “Give! Please, for Pete’s sake, Give! Give a little, Give a lot, but Give! We couldn’t do what we do without you. Oh, oh, it rhymes, rhymes. Why is this paragraph still in quotes you ask? We don’t know.” It doesn t change anything, does it? We hope not. We do appreciate your support and that’s no laughing matter. This isn’t even funny anymore? Was it ever? Stop, Israel. (Thinking to myself.) Your last paragraph could easily have been the last. Thank you for the love! Give! Please ... KJ Mary Pacios, Jan Bayer, Ann Ereline, Vinnie Kinsella, Sharron Thompson, Ann-Derrick Gaillot, Art Garcia, Joe Thick, Erin Fenner, Stacey Heath, Taurin Skinner- Macginnis, Amber Bielman, Bethany Hague, Michelle Holbert, John Lisifka, Rowen Canoles having the government «mwôl whal on inside my mouth. Your naïve editorials on dental care and fluoride are the reason this country is being destroyed. I come from a long line of people with bad teeth and I’ll be goddamned if you take those rights away from me. - D O N 'T TREAD ON MY TEETH Dear Street Roots, I’m a quasi-anarchist who very much believes in the Second Amendment. I don’t believe in taxes. I don’t believe in government. I don’t believe in deodorant, cars with wheels, toothpaste, or Cheez Whiz. I hate sports. I also hate people. I don’t believe in anyone or anything that represents the oppression of kittens. I love dogs too. I like your program, especially helping the poor, even if they are humans, but sometimes I feel like Street Roots is more and more a part of the establishment. I do care though and think you are doing a good job, most of the time. - S O FAR LEFT I'M RIGHT Street R each and sell them for ! donations and in-kind contributions. fis IO 7 »»•••.<« a«»»-. & 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. goes who sold you the paper printing costs Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office.
