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
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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.