Street roots
June 21, 2013
Heavy lifting still needed to solve City’s budget problems
BY STEVE NOVICK
vulnerable populations.
But there is some reason to hope that
n March 6, KATU conducted a poll of next year will be better for people in need.
Portlanders, asking their views on
On January 1, the Affordable Care Act will
various options to help close the
become fully effective, which means that
City’s deficit. The poll found that 85 percent
thousands of people will suddenly become
were opposed to closing “the Clark Center,
eligible for Medicaid. Right now, the city
a 90-bed homeless shelter.” The idea of
and especially the county spend a lot of
closing the Clark Center drew the
money on health care (including “regular”
opposition of more Portlanders than any
physical health care, mental health services,
other cut that the poll mentioned.
and alcohol and drug treatment) for those
In subsequent weeks, Nick Fish, Amanda
who are uninsured. If Medicaid starts
Fritz and I all let Mayor Hales know that we
picking that up, your local governments
placed a very high priority on preserving
should have more money to spend on other
not only the Clark Center, but the other
services — such as affordable housing.
safety net services championed by Street
Personally, I am interested in exploring
Roots. On April 30, Mayor Hales released a
the question of whether national and state
proposed budget that preserved the safety
health reform provides an opportunity to
net services. The budget the Council finally
restructure the way emergency medical
adopted made significant cuts to police, to
services, including the huge percentage of
fire and rescue, to administrative services,
the fire and rescue bureau’s work which
to planning; it assumes that city employees
falls into the medical category — are
will not receive a full cost of living increase;
delivered and paid for. Right now, fire and
but it made no cuts to the safety net
rescue’s medical-related work isn’t covered
services.
by health insurance. I hope that I, as
Unfortunately, there will still be cuts in
Commissioner for the Bureau of Emergency
safety net services this year. The support
Communications, along with Commissioner
services that the Portland Housing Bureau
Saltzman, as Fire and Rescue
provides, for instance, were forced to absorb Commissioner, can talk with the medical
a nearly $1.3 million reduction from the
industry about forging partnerships whereby
Federal government. That affects programs
we change the way we do business in-a way
like rental assistance, transitional housing,
that helps reduce their emergency room
and permanent housing and access for
costs. In return, they can help bear some of
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
O
Commissioner Steve Novick
was elected to Portland City
Council in 2012. He
currently heads the city’s
Transportation, Emergency
Communications and
Emergency Management
Bureaus.
the cost of our medical services. If we are
successful, that too could free up local tax
dollars to improve other services.
Now that I have been assigned the role of
Transportation Commissioner, I have
another set of inequities and funding
shortfalls to try to figure out how to deal
with. I want to work with TriMet to see how
soon we can add more frequent bus service
in underserved areas, such as along 122nd
Avenue. I want to add sidewalks in places
where there are no sidewalks, so children
can walk to school and seniors (and others)
can walk to transit. But we also need to
figure out how to address a $750 million
street maintenance shortfall, over the next
10 years ($75 million a year; we’re only
spending $10 million a year now).
Those are going to be heavy lifts. But I
don’t think they’re impossible lifts. After all,
Portland families, businesses and
governments spend $244 million a year on
car maintenance and repair, and over $600
million on gas. We should be able to come
up with a small fraction of that for street
maintenance, plus some additional funds for
sidewalks and transit.
I look forward to working with you on
these and other issues. I thank you for your
advocacy for services for the vulnerable in
the city budget. And I am grateful to my
fellow commissioners and the mayor for
responding to that advocacy.
Sometimes, finding a good friend in the rain is just Ducky
had been in Portland for about a month
looking for a place to sell my Street
Roots. I was on the MAX when I noticed
Trader Joe’s in the Hollywood District. I
decided to try my luck. Standing in front of
Trader Joe’s, my sales were going great.
Then one of the workers from Trader Joe’s
told me I couldn’t sell in front of the
building. But I could sell on the sidewalk by
the main road, just
not in front of the
¡À
store. I looked toward
the sidewalk, there
wasn’t very much foot
Leo Rhodes
traffic. On the other
side there were a lot
more people walking.
So I went over to sell by Panera Bread,
coming to an agreement with another
vendor to share the turf. I took the
mornings.
Days went by and it started to rain.
Panera Bread has an over hang with tables
and chairs under it. When the rain got too
bad I would get some coffee and wait until it
stopped or slowed down. If it were warm
enough I would stand in the rain.
A few people said I was crazy. “Why don’t
you get out of the rain?” Others would ask if
I had an umbrella, and some would even
offer me one, saying they would bring me
one next time they came by. The next time I
saw them they would tell me they forgot the
umbrella.
One day a guy came up to me and we got
to talking. At the end of our conversation he
said, “I have an umbrella for you if you want
it.” I said sure, I’ll take it.
“It’s a small one,” he said, “Do you still
want it?” I looked him in the eye and said,
I
Leo Rhodes is a street
activist and homeless
advocate. He is also a
vendor with Street Roots
and a regular conributer to
the newspaper.
•<<r'
“Yes, I’ll take it. Hey, every little bit helps.”
He looked at me, smiled and shook his head
a little, then said, “OK, remember you asked
for it.”
I looked at him, puzzled, and then
thought, “Aw man, what’s he going to bring
me?” A few days later he walked up to me
with a big smile on his face. Excited, he
said, “I brought your umbrella.” I watched
him as he grabbed it out of his bag. The
first thing I noticed was a duck’s head.
Smiling, he gave me the umbrella. It was a
little kid’s umbrella. I was shocked. I guess
it showed on my face, because he
immediately said, “Well, if you don’t want
it.” With a sad look on his face he tried to
grab the umbrella out of my hand. I pulled
the umbrella close to my chest and told him,
I want it.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “Yes.” I replied.
He looked at my face for a while. I repeated,
“Yes I’ll take it.” He started smiling again.
Then he told me the umbrella was his
daughter’s. She was happy to give it to me.
He started laughing telling me his daughter
is in college and outgrew this umbrella.
Some people smiled at me, others
laughed at me. Still others made the
comment, “That’s a small umbrella. I have a
bigger one if you want it.” So I ended up
with four different umbrellas, one bigger
than the next. Months later the guy that
gave me the little umbrella came by. .
Disappointed, he said, “Where’s my
umbrella that I gave you? You gave it away?”
I pointed to my bags and said, “It’s over
there.” He got happy and stayed a while to
talk. He asked if I still use the little
umbrella. I told him, “Yes, I use it to protect
my bags.” By the look on his face I knew he
Thank you for lending a hand up in
Portland and supporting your
neighborhood vendor!
didn’t understand so I showed him. He said,
“Wow, that’s cool.”
The years have gone by and I’ve had
many umbrellas. Since 2009, I’ve had the
little umbrella. It kinda became my security
blanket. Hell, it was with me when the rent-
a-cop told me I couldn’t sleep in a doorway.
It was with me when I was walking in the
rain in the freezing cold and in the hot
summer days and nights. I started to call
the little umbrella, my Little Ducky. Then I
shortened it to Ducky. During the rough and
hard times I would say to Ducky, “One of
these days we’ll have a place and we’ll be
inside.”
I was staying at a friend’s place, when I
noticed Ducky was gone. I panicked and
started looking for Ducky. I didn’t find him.
Sadly I went to sell my papers at Whole
Foods in the Hollywood District. I felt like I
had lost my best friend. My regular
customers noticed I was sad. They asked,
“What’s wrong?” I didn’t tell them, I felt
they wouldn’t understand. After a while I
thought to myself, what are you doing.
Ducky was only a little umbrella, stop acting
like this. I started laughing at myself.
Another thought went through my mind, the
movie “Cast Away” with Tom Hanks, and
how he felt when he lost his friend Wilson,
the volleyball. Sometime later I found
Ducky, and now, just like I promised we’re
inside.
I and other homeless and formerly
homeless people make documentaries about
homelessness. The project is called,
“Empowered Voices Media Project.” EVMP
is through Sisters of the Road, with support
from Portland Community Media. The name
of my operation: Ducky Productions.
This m an works.
So does
Street Roots.